Softball Travels To Birmingham for Week 2

msuracers is on Mixlr

Date: Feb. 13-15
Tournament: Samford Softball Classic
Site (Venue): Birmingham, Ala. (Bulldog Softball Field)
Audio: Mixlr.com/msuracers (PxP: Parker Griffith) [Gardner-Webb, Nicholls-2 Only]
Web Stream: SoCon Digital Network [Samford]
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
Twitter In Game: @RacersSoftball
MSU Record (Streak): 3-2 (W1)
MSU vs. The Field: 5-1
All-Time Series vs. NSU (Streak): MSU leads 1-0 (W1)
All-Time Series vs. GWU (Streak): MSU leads 1-0 (W1)
All-Time Series vs. GU (Streak): MSU leads 3-1 (W3)
MSU Next Games: Feb. 20-22 at 2015 Chanticleer Showdown (Conway, S.C.)
MSU Next Home: Mar. 22 vs. Tennessee St.

This Week
The Racers will continue their 2015 season at the Samford Softball Classic in Birmingham, Alabama. While in the Magic City, MSU will take on Samford, Gardner-Webb and Nicholls State.

Last Week
The Racers opened the 2015 season by winning three out of five at the Red & Black Showcase last weekend in Athens. Murray State picked-up wins over Coppin State and Illinois, lost to Georgia and split a pair of games with Winthrop while in the Peach State. Jocelynn Rodgers led MSU with a .462 average including three doubles, three walks and 10 RBIs.
In the loss to Winthrop, Rodgers accounted for all five of MSU's RBIs in the contest and hit two doubles. Jessica Twaddle also had a great opening weekend, hitting .444 with a .647 on-base percentage thanks to six walks and a hit-by-pitch. The sophomore tallied a hit in four of five games and reached base safely in each of the five. Mason Robinson went 2-0 for the Racers in Athens with complete game wins over Illinois and Winthrop, including eight strikeouts.

Against The Field
Nicholls State - The only other meeting between the two teams took place in 2013 with the Racers topping Nicholls, 3-2, also in Birmingham, but across town at UAB.

Gardner-Webb - The Racers and Bulldogs met last season at Alabama State's Hornet Invitational, where Murray State defeated GWU, 4-2.

Samford - Murray State will enter Saturday's matchup with a 3-1 record against Samford but have not faced the Bulldogs since 2012. The two teams split a doubleheader in Birmingham in 2010, but the Racers have now won the last three meetings in the series with a DH sweep in Murray in 2012.
Scouting Nicholls State
Despite a disappointing season in 2014, the Colonels hit the ground running in 2015 with a 4-1 record in the Lion Classic in Hammond, Louisiana last weekend. Nicholls opened with a win over Southern, then fell to Omaha, before reeling off three straight wins over Texas-Arlington, Alcorn State and UT Martin.

Sophomore Haley Stevenson led her team on the weekend by going 8-for-14 for a .571 clip with three runs, three RBIs, a walk and a stolen base. As a team, Nicholls State had a great opening weekend hitting .308 with five doubles, one home run, 26 RBIs and five stolen bases. Hannah Haydel went 2-0 in Hammond where she allowed just two earned runs over 11.0 innings with five strikeouts for a 1.27 ERA. As a staff, the Colonels posted a team ERA of 1.06, while striking out 24 batters and limiting opponents to a .147 average.

Scouting Gardner-Webb
The Runnin' Bulldogs opened the season with a 1-3 record after splitting a doubleheader with Charlotte on Saturday and being swept in a DH by East Tennessee on Tuesday. As a team, Gardner-Webb is hitting .279, while opponents are hitting .364.

Scarlett Harris leads the team with a .538 average, while Rachel Cumiskey follows at .400. Harris currently has two doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs on the season for a 1.154 slugging percentage, while Cumiskey is slugging at .800 with a double, a home run and five RBIs. Summer Darnell has the only win for GWU as a pitcher at 1-0 to go along with a 6.30 ERA and four strikeouts over 10.0 innings. As a staff, the Runnin' Bulldogs are currently allowing 7.00 earned runs per game and allowing opponents to hit at a .364 clip.

Scouting Samford
The Bulldogs went 4-1 on opening weekend in the Rosemont Rumble, but fell at home to No. 3 Alabama on Wednesday evening, 7-1. Megan Dowdy and Shelby Maze are each hitting .455 on the season and are followed by Karsin Spinks who is hitting .368 with a team-high .737 slugging percentage. As a team, Samford is hitting .324, while opponents are managing just a .277 average.

In the circle, Samford boasts a team ERA of 4.67 to go along with a .277 opponent's average. Leading the way for the Bulldogs is Grey Adams, who is currently 2-0 with a 1.85 ERA and is limiting opponents to a .238 average. Mollie Hanson is 2-1 on the season with a 3.15 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts with 10 compared to just one walk.

A Decrease In Power
Murray State is now 2-1 all-time against power conference Big Ten, after Saturday's 5-3 win over Illinois. The win came in 2011 when MSU topped Iowa ,7-2, in Fullerton, California, while the loss was against Minnesota in Baton Rouge in 2014, 8-2.

Softball 101
With her run in the loss to Winthrop, Alexa Becker became just the second Racer in program history to score 100 runs, joining leader Megan Glosser, who ended her career with 127. She currently stands at 101 career runs and is on pace to tie or beat the record, as she averaged 31.3 runs in her first three seasons. In addition, she became just the third player to reach 100 RBIs and with 101 she is just four off of Jenna Bradley's record of 105.

Ripping RBIs
In Saturday's 8-6 loss to Winthrop, Jocelynn Rodgers came up with five RBIs for the second time in her career. The sophomore ended the weekend with 10 RBIs, despite never crossing the plate herself. The first five-RBI game for Rodgers came last season at home against EIU and included a walk-off grand slam.

Walk On
Jessica Twaddle recorded a walk in four out five games last weekend and ended with six walks and a hit by pitch. When paired with a .444 batting average, she ended the first five games with an on-base percentage of .647.

Double Up
Through five games in 2014, Murray State has already turned five double plays for an average of 1.0 per game. The Racers turned just 16 in all of last season and the most they have ever turned is 20 in 2012 with the fewest coming in 2012 at eight. Last season, Utah led the nation in double plays and double plays per game at 46 and 0.84, respectively.

In The Mix
Select Murray State softball away games, will be broadcast this season on the internet via Mixlr. Fans can listen, free of charge, on any computer at mixlr.com/msuracers or by downloading the Mixlr app, available on Apple and Android devices, and searching msuracers. The games will be broadcast by MSU softball media relations contact, Parker Griffith. The broadcast schedule can be found on the softball schedule page on GoRacers.com.

Next Up
Next weekend, the Racers will travel to Conway, South Carolina to take part in the Chanticleer Showdown hosted by Coastal Carolina. While in the on the east coast, MSU will take on Sacred Heart, Bucknell, Boston College and Coastal Carolina twice.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alexa Becker

Mason Robinson

Jocelynn Rodgers

Jessica Twaddle

Murray State University Athletics