The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tennessee State University
Weekly Preview: Softball Travels to Tennessee for TSU, MTSU
3/14/2023 3:59:00 PM | Softball
BIRMINGHAM – UAB Softball (11-13, 1-2 C-USA) travels to Tennessee where they take on the Tennessee State Tigers and the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders. The Blazers concluded their conference against FAU with a 7-0 win after dropping the first two games.
UAB enters week two of conference play with a mid-week non-conference meeting with the three-game win streak TSU. They'll then travel down to Murfreesboro to continue their conference run against MTSU, who also enter on a streak of their own with four wins under their belt.
UAB (11-13, 1-2 C-USA) vs. Tennessee State (12-10-1, 3-0 OVC)
March 15 | 4 PM | Tiger Field | Nashville, Tenn.
Watch Live | Live Stats
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Blazers battle a team sitting at a record of 12-10-1. Their schedule saw numerous SWAC meetings, partnered with a meeting with Princeton, Louisiana, and Texas. Their one tie came from a meeting last week with Incarnate Word with a score of 3-3.
Entering this matchup, the Tigers had their first 4-0 start since 2008 with wins over Alcorn, Grambling, Jackson State and XULA. TSU then went on to tally two run-rule games and went to five extra inning games, including the 3-3 tie with UIW.
The Tigers totaled a team-high 41 at-bats against Lindenwood, along with four more team-highs against the Lions in Runs Scored (14), Hits (18), RBIs (12) and Doubles (18). Players to watch for include Ryla Taylor, who leads the team in batting average with .338 and second in hits with 22. In the circle, Caitlyn Manus leads in wins with nine on the season so far, along with pitching a total of 83.2 innings as of March 13.
UAB (11-13, 1-2 C-USA) vs. MTSU (18-6, 0-0 C-USA)
March 17-19 | Blue Raider Softball Field | Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Watch Live | Live Stats (Statbroadcast)
SCOUTING THE BLUE RAIDERS
MTSU enters the 2023 season on a high note with an 18-6 record overall for their conference opener. The Blue Raiders came off the previous week with four wins on their belt over Western Illinois, Appalachian State, and Green Bay. Throughout their schedule, they've taken on the likes of FGCU, UC Riverside, Coastal Carolina and Southern Illinois.
MTSU sits with a home record of 4-1, with their only loss coming from the Salukis in the MTSU invitational. The Blue Raiders' Shelby Echols currently holds C-USA Player of the Week honors for the current week after batting .588 in the home invitational, with ten hits on two doubles, three RBIs and five stolen bases. As of now, she totals 20 stolen bases this season. In the circle, Gretchen Mead leads the team in ERA with an average of 2.33. Mead has pitched a total of 54 innings, with 49 batters struck out as of March 13.
As a team, MTSU leads Conference USA in batting average with .320, with a team total of 654 at-bats. In the pitching category, the Blue Raiders sit at fourth place with a team ERA of 2.48. They also totaled a team-high of three homers against Yale, being on the conference leaderboard in this category.
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