Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Tennessee State
Raiders Set to Host TSU in Midweek Matchup
3/26/2018 4:19:00 PM | Softball
Date: Tuesday, March 27
Teams: Middle Tennessee vs. Tennessee State
Location: Blue Raider Softball Field – Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Live Stats – Live Video
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – With rain in the forecast, the Middle Tennessee softball team has moved up its home contest with Tennessee State to tomorrow, Tuesday March 27 at 6pm.
This will be the 52nd meeting all time between the two teams with MT holding a 43-8 all-time record versus TSU.
Last season, the Tigers came out on top, 7-4, in Nashville. The Blue Raiders committed four errors in the game that led to all of TSU's runs. Middle mustered six hits, two off the bat of Summer Burgess. Precious Birdsong also had a hit to go with a RBI and stolen base. The Tigers had ten hits and seven RBI in the meeting. Sarah Snell went 1-for-4 with 2 RBI while Erica O'Kane accounted for a hit and run scored.
Scouting the Blue Raiders (22-10, 5-4)
Middle is coming off another series win last weekend as the Blue Raiders took down Charlotte in a doubleheader on Saturday. MT won 1-0 and 4-2 to take the series behind home runs from Keely McGee and Lexi Cushing. Cori Jennings was dominant in the circle in the two wins, pitching nine shutout innings and striking out nine.
Burgess continues to lead the Raiders in batting average with a .406, third best in the conference. She also leads the squad in hits (43) and stolen bases (14). Her hits mark puts her in the top 30 in the nation. As a team, MT is also top 30 in the nation in batting average with a .311 mark.
Cushing leads Middle in RBI with 26, third-most in the conference. She also leads the Raiders in home runs (7), doubles (9), slugging percentage (.800), and total bases (60). Her slugging percentage mark is second in the conference and 42nd in the nation.
In the circle MT has the top ERA in C-USA with a 2.25. This is good for 42nd best in the nation. Jennings posts the second-best ERA in C-USA with a 1.88 in 82 innings of work. She also leads the Raiders with 58 strikeouts and 10 wins.
Scouting Tennessee State (3-28, 0-4)
The Tigers enter the midweek matchup with just three wins in their 31-game season thus far. Those wins came over Drexel (March 3), Cornell (March 4) and Bowling Green (March 10). TSU lost a pair of games to WKU and Rhode Island, and a single game to Fort Wayne, all opponent MT has defeated on the year.
Snell paces the Tigers at the plate, hitting .284 on the year with a team-high 23 hits, 11 runs scored, 11 stolen bases and seven RBI. Four other TSU players have posted seven RBI on the year including Reese Weber. Weber has a double and two home runs on the year. O'Kane also has two homers on the year to go with a team-best six doubles.
Tori Hart and Lauren Powell are the main hurlers for the Tigers with 55 inning and 82.2 innings, respectively. Hart owns a 4.71 ERA while Powell holds a 5.17 ERA and a team-leading 53 strikeouts.
