University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Softball Opens Conference at Middle Tennessee
3/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss softball team travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn. to open up Conference USA play against Middle Tennessee at the Blue Raider Softball Field. The Golden Eagles and Blue Raiders take the field on Saturday, March 12 for a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. The series concludes on Sunday with a single game at noon.
Live stats and in-game tweets (@SouthernMissSB) will be available throughout the weekend series.
Southern Miss enters conference play with a 13-11 overall record, while Middle Tennessee is 11-11. The Golden Eagles are coming off of an 8-2 victory at home over Southeastern Louisiana, while the Blue Raiders enter the weekend after back-to-back wins over Alabama State (W, 5-4) and Alabama A&M (W, 9-4).
The Golden Eagles are currently batting .304 as a team with five everyday starters hitting .317 or higher. Morgan McKeever paces the team with a .375 batting average, leading the team with 30 base hits. Katie Cleary leads the team in doubles and RBI, while Samantha Reynolds has the advantage in triples. Lauren Holifield and Samantha Robles are tied for the team-lead with a pair of home runs each.
In the circle, Robles leads the way with a 3.31 earned run average in a team-high 84.2 innings pitched. She has a team-best 54 strikeouts. She is joined by Danielle Block who is second on the team in ERA, innings pitched, strikeouts, and batting average against.
The game marks the first home contest of the year for the Blue Raiders, while the Golden Eagles have played only one true road game this season -- at No. 23 South Alabama in the Mardi Gras Classic. The Black and Gold are 7-7 overall away from home, competing in three early season tournaments.
The Golden Eagles own a 4-3 (.571) advantage in the all-time series with the Blue Raiders. The series began in 2001 with a single game and Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee next met in 2014 when the Blue Raiders joined Conference USA.
The series over the weekend marks the first time the two teams have met in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
The two teams first met in the 2001 Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill, S.C. with the Golden Eagles notching a 4-3 victory.
The last two seasons, the Golden Eagles and Blue Raiders have met six times at the Southern Miss Softball Complex. The two teams have played even in C-USA action with the Black and Gold finishing 2-1 against the Blue and White in 2014 and Middle Tennessee edging Southern Miss two games to one in 2015.
In 2014, Southern Miss opened the series with a 9-2 victory before Middle Tennessee evened the series with a 6-3 win in 11 innings. The Golden Eagles earned the series win with a 5-4 win.
Last year, the Golden Eagles opened play against the Blue Raiders with a 3-1 win. Middle Tennesee claimed the series winning back-to-back games (W, 5-2; W, 5-3).
The last time Southern Miss played in the state of Tennessee came in 2012 as the Golden Eagles took on Memphis in a three-game C-USA series. No current member of the team has played a collegiate game in the Volunteer State.
