Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Thursday, March 9
Murfreesboro, TN
5:00 PM CT
Middle Tennessee
vs
Southern Illinois
Softball Hosting MTSU Invitational this weekend
3/8/2023 3:58:00 PM | Softball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee softball will host their first home game at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 9 taking on Southern Illinois. The Blue Raiders will play five home games this weekend against Green Bay, Appalachian State, and Western Illinois.
To start off the tournament MTSU will play Southern Illinois for their first home game of the year. The Blue Raiders will play two games on Friday, March 10 at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, MTSU will face Western Illinois at 3 p.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively, to close out the tournament.
This weekend's games will have live stats that can be found here.
Quick Hits
· Laura Mealer is hitting .508 on the year and ranked 11th in the country.
· Laura Mealer earned her first career C-USA player of the week.
· This Thursday's game is the first home game of the year for the Blue Raiders.
Series History
The Blue Raiders have faced Appalachian State just once in 2002 where MTSU won 2-1 in a neutral site game. Against Green Bay, MTSU leads the all-time series 2-1 where the most recent matchup was in 1998. Southern Illinois leads the series 5-2 all-time against the Blue Raiders dating back to 2020 where the Salukis won 3-1 in a neutral site game. MTSU leads the all-time series with Western Illinois 3-0 with the most recent matchup being last year.
Scouting the Competition
Southern Illinois is off to a 14-2 start to the 2023 season with wins over Kansas and Butler. As a team they are hitting just below .300 at .291. They have scored a total of 82 runs this season, while only allowing 48. Junior Pitcher, Madi Eberle has pitched 41 innings so far with a 1.20 ERA and 23 strikeouts.
Green bay sits at 7-10 overall this season and hitting just .204 as a team with 36 runs scored. The pitching staff for Green Bay has an ERA of 3.51, while Brittany Baneck has 60 innings pitched. The Graduate senior has a personal ERA of 1.87.
App State comes into the tournament at 11-5 with wins over Seton Hall and Georgetown. As a team they're hitting .261 with 57 runs scored. The team ERA stands at 2.41 with a balanced rotation of three pitchers having thrown more than 20 innings.
Western Illinois comes into this weekend with a 6-11 record. They're hitting .236 as a team with 47 runs scored and 85 runs allowed.
Last Time out: The Spring Games
The Blue Raiders went 3-2 on the weekend with wins over Georgetown, Yale, and LIU. Laura Mealer earned C-USA player of the week for her performance over the weekend.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Softball on social media on Facebook (Blue Raider Softball), Twitter (@MT_Softball) and Instagram (@mt_softball).
To start off the tournament MTSU will play Southern Illinois for their first home game of the year. The Blue Raiders will play two games on Friday, March 10 at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, MTSU will face Western Illinois at 3 p.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively, to close out the tournament.
This weekend's games will have live stats that can be found here.
Quick Hits
· Laura Mealer is hitting .508 on the year and ranked 11th in the country.
· Laura Mealer earned her first career C-USA player of the week.
· This Thursday's game is the first home game of the year for the Blue Raiders.
Series History
The Blue Raiders have faced Appalachian State just once in 2002 where MTSU won 2-1 in a neutral site game. Against Green Bay, MTSU leads the all-time series 2-1 where the most recent matchup was in 1998. Southern Illinois leads the series 5-2 all-time against the Blue Raiders dating back to 2020 where the Salukis won 3-1 in a neutral site game. MTSU leads the all-time series with Western Illinois 3-0 with the most recent matchup being last year.
Scouting the Competition
Southern Illinois is off to a 14-2 start to the 2023 season with wins over Kansas and Butler. As a team they are hitting just below .300 at .291. They have scored a total of 82 runs this season, while only allowing 48. Junior Pitcher, Madi Eberle has pitched 41 innings so far with a 1.20 ERA and 23 strikeouts.
Green bay sits at 7-10 overall this season and hitting just .204 as a team with 36 runs scored. The pitching staff for Green Bay has an ERA of 3.51, while Brittany Baneck has 60 innings pitched. The Graduate senior has a personal ERA of 1.87.
App State comes into the tournament at 11-5 with wins over Seton Hall and Georgetown. As a team they're hitting .261 with 57 runs scored. The team ERA stands at 2.41 with a balanced rotation of three pitchers having thrown more than 20 innings.
Western Illinois comes into this weekend with a 6-11 record. They're hitting .236 as a team with 47 runs scored and 85 runs allowed.
Last Time out: The Spring Games
The Blue Raiders went 3-2 on the weekend with wins over Georgetown, Yale, and LIU. Laura Mealer earned C-USA player of the week for her performance over the weekend.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Softball on social media on Facebook (Blue Raider Softball), Twitter (@MT_Softball) and Instagram (@mt_softball).
Players Mentioned
SS/2B
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