Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
UAB
MT Goes to Birmingham for C-USA Series
3/29/2018 10:00:00 AM | Softball
Date: Friday, March 30 – Saturday, March 31
Teams: Middle Tennessee at UAB
Location: Mary Bowers Field – Birmingham, Ala.
Live Stats – Live Video
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee softball team heads out to Birmingham, Ala. for a three-game conference series this weekend. The Blue Raiders will square off with the UAB Blazers in a doubleheader on Friday, March 30 at 3pm and a single game on Saturday, March 31 at 1pm.
Middle leads the all-time series between the two sides, 7-4. Two of those wins came last season as MT won the series over the Blazers in Murfreesboro.
Cori Jennings threw a two-hitter in game one of the 2017 series to give MT a 3-1 win. UAB took game two, 3-1, on a three-run home run. Danielle Munoz also hit a home run for the Blue Raiders in the game. Then in the rubber match, MT picked up the 4-2 win. Precious Birdsong was 2-for-3 in the contest while Pattie Ruth Taylor got the save in the circle.
Scouting the Blue Raiders (23-10, 5-4)
Middle is coming off a 7-1 win over Tennessee State midweek. Freshman Amber Baldwin struck out nine in six innings of work, a career-high for her. Baldwin now has eight wins on the year and a 2.20 ERA. Morgan Harris was 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI to push her season batting average up to .372. Harris also propelled herself up the MT career record books as she is now second all-time with 90 RBI.
The Blue Raiders continue to lead C-USA in batting average (.316) and ERA (2.21). Summer Burgess and Lexi Cushing also continue to pace the conference at the plate, both in the top five and both hitting over .400 on the year.
Burgess also leads the conference in hits with 46 which places her 17th nationally in the category. She also currently leads MT in on base percentage (.480). Birdsong has also picked up the MT offense, leading the team in runs scored (27) and stolen bases (15). Cushing paces the squad with seven home runs, 26 RBI, and a huge .800 slugging percentage.
In the circle, Jennings has a team-low 1.88 ERA, which is also third-lowest in the conference. She also paces MT with 82 innings of work and 58 strikeouts.
Scouting UAB (11-21-1, 3-2-1)
The Blazers are coming off a bye week in conference play, last playing at UTEP. UAB took the series over the Miners, two games to one. The Blazers most recently played two midweek games, defeating Alabama A&M (10-1) and falling to Jacksonville State (1-4).
UAB has had two players of the week in Destini England (March 19) and pitcher Emily Kachel (Feb. 26).
England leads UAB at the plate with a .405 average, placing in the top five in the conference. Rachel Rogers lead the team in RBI with 17 and doubles with 10. Natalie Erwin has three doubles, triples and home runs on the season to lead the squad in slugging percentage (.538). Analyse Petree holds the team lead in home runs with five.
Kachel has thrown over 100 innings on the year for an 8-9 record and a team-low 3.19 ERA. Claire Blount is the Blazers other go-to pitcher with 85 innings of action on the year. She has a 1-10 record with a 4.36 ERA. Both Blazers have over 60 strikeouts on the year.
