GAME DAY LINKS -- 
McKENDREE at WILLIAM JEWELL -- Saturday, April 7, 2018, Noon (DH)
Cardinal Field -- Liberty, Mo.
WATCH LIVE (William Jewell Broadcast)
LIVE STATS
McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS
WILLIAM JEWELL SEASON STATISTICS

McKENDREE vs. TRUMAN STATE -- Monday, April 9, 2018
Site and Time TBA
McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS
TRUMAN STATE SEASON STATISTICS

(LEBANON, Ill., April 6)--The McKendree University softball squad returns to play this weekend with a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheaders. First, the Bearcats will be in Liberty, Mo., to face William Jewell College on Saturday at noon. Then, due to the forecast of inclement weather on Sunday, the remaining two games against Truman State University have been postponed until Monday. The Bearcats and Bulldogs are slated to play in Kirksville, Mo., but the games could also be moved to Bearcat Field in Lebanon. The teams will make a determination on a site for Monday's twinbill on Sunday. 

McKendree, which received votes in this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II poll, had a nine-game win streak snapped last Saturday in a doubleheader loss against the University of Illinois Springfield in Chatham, Ill. The Bearcats are now 24-9 on the season and 10-4 against GLVC foes. McKendree is one of three teams with at least 10 victories in conference play. 

As a team, McKendree remains in the top four in the GLVC in both hitting and pitching. The Bearcats currently hold down the fourth spot in the league in batting average at .305. McKendree leads all conference teams with 31 home runs entering this weekend, and the Bearcats have drawn the most walks of any team in the GLVC with 118. On the pitching side of the ledger, McKendree ranks second in the league in ERA at 2.62, trailing only Indianapolis (2.42) in the category. 

Individually, Rebecca Franke (Trenton, Ill./Wesclin) ranks second in the GLVC with a .430 batting average. Franke also ranks in the top 10 in the league in hits (43), runs scored (26), doubles (10), walks (17), on-base percentage (.533) and slugging percentage (.620). Miranda Gajewski (Kronenwetter, WI/D.C. Everest) is sixth in the GLVC with a .389 batting average, is fourth in the conference with 42 hits and is tied for fifth among GLVC players with 11 doubles. Brooke Gajewski (Kronenwetter, Wis./D.C. Everest) is tied for third in the conference with eight home runs and is tied for eighth with 30 RBI. Haegen Boyer (Eddyville, IA/Eddyville) has moved into a tie for fourth place in the conference with 29 runs scored. Miranda Gajewski (Kronenwetter, WI/D.C. Everest) is tied for the GLVC lead with 14 victories in the circle for the Bearcats. 

After the games against Truman State, McKendree is scheduled to play Lindenwood University in a non-conference road doubleheader on Tuesday. The Bearcats will then host their final regular-season games of 2018 at Bearcat Field on April 14 against Drury University and on April 15 versus Rockhurst University.

ABOUT WILLIAM JEWELL
The Cardinals bring a 19-13 record and 6-6 GLVC mark into Saturday's games against McKendree. William Jewell's last game action came on March 31 at home with a doubleheader sweep of Missouri S&T. As team, the Cardinals rank ninth in the league in batting average at .288 while they sit 12th in the conference in ERA at 3.75. Offensively, Brooke Bernard leads William Jewell -- and is fifth in the GLVC -- in batting average at .396. Bernard is also tied for the team lead with 25 RBI. Phoebe Dabbour, a .303 hitter this season, leads the squad with five homers and is tied with Dabbour at 25 RBI. 

In the circle, Madelynne Greenstreet and Anna Biondo each have eight victories for the Cardinals. Greenstreet tops the team with a 3.11 ERA and 108 strikeouts, while Biondo has tossed 11 complete games this season. 

McKendree and William Jewell have not met since the 2016 season, when the teams split a doubleheader in Liberty. The Cardinals took game one 5-1 before the Bearcats rolled to a 9-0 triumph in the nightcap. 

ABOUT TRUMAN STATE
The Bulldogs are 17-11 on the season and 6-6 in the GLVC entering a Saturday doubleheader at home against the University of Southern Indiana. Truman State has won its last four games, including a non-conference doubleheader sweep on Wednesday at Southwest Baptist University. Although the Bulldogs are 12th in the conference with a .277 batting average, the Truman State pitching staff is third overall in team ERA at 2.75, trailing only Indianapolis and McKendree. 

Christa Reisinger begins the weekend as the top hitter in the GLVC at .443 to go along with a team-best four home runs while driving in 16 runs. She is also a perfect 24-for-24 in steal attempts, which leads all conference players. Reisinger is also the lone GLVC player averaging more than a run per game at 1.18. Ashley Murphy has driven in a team-high 19 runs for the Bulldogs. The Truman State pitching staff has a solid 1-2 tandem in Alyssa Hajduk and Lauren Dale. Hajduk is 9-3 with a 2.47 ERA and a team-best 72 strikeouts over 73 2/3 innings in the circle. Dale is 7-6 on the year with a team-low 2.32 ERA. 

McKendree and Truman State met in an early-season GLVC doubleheader back on March 24, 2017 at Bearcat Field. The visiting Bulldogs registered a 10-1 win in the opener before the Bearcats answered with an 8-2 victory in game two.