Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Hosts First Place Tulsa in Weekend Series
4/13/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 13, 2012
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall softball will welcome Tulsa, currently sitting in first place in Conference USA, to Dot Hicks Field for a pivotal three game set beginning Saturday.
The two clubs will battle it out starting Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. then wrap up the weekend with a single game on Sunday at 12 pm. Admission is free for all games. A MLB Pitch, Hit & Run competition will be held following the Sunday game.
The Golden Hurricane comes into the weekend sitting in first place. UT (27-8) has compiled a 10-2 C-USA record with losses to UCF and Memphis. Marshall (24-16) has a 10-5 league record and sits in fifth place. A log jam of teams with records of 9-3 is between the Hurricane and the Herd with two of those teams, UCF and UAB to square off this weekend.
The Thundering Herd is coming off a Wednesday sweep of Ohio in which it scored 27 runs, recorded 23 hits, and drove in 24 runs. Alysia Hively was the fore front of the attack; she drove in seven runs in the first game of the doubleheader. The seven RBI set a new Marshall single-game record while the team drove in 17 in game one to also set a new single-game record.
Marshall has won all but one of this season's C-USA series. The Herd has used great pitching from Andi Williamson, who has compiled a 1.32 earned run average in conference games to lead the league. Her team has needed her as MU has won its ten C-USA games by an average of 2.8 runs. Half of the team's conference wins have come by one run.
Tulsa sits in first place of Conference USA thanks to the ruthless batting team that leads the conference in average (.326) and ranks in the top portion in a variety of offensive categories. Jill Barrett leads the attack with the second best C-USA batting average at .418. The power bat for the Hurricane is the current C-USA hitter of the week, Samantha Cobb. She has 40 RBI to pace the team and has 20 extra bases for a team high.
In the circle, Tulsa has two pitchers who lead the squad. Lacey Middlebrooks enjoys a 1.87 earned run average to top her squad. She is 11-3 on the year in 104.2 innings pitch. Aimee Creger has a team high 13 wins and 125 strike outs. She has compiled a 2.58 ERA in 95 innings pitched.
Tulsa holds a commanding lead in the series history, winning 14 of the 19 all-time match-ups. Three of the Herd's wins have come at home though.
Each game of the weekend will be available through GameTracker and Herd all-access, which are both available on HerdZone.com. WMUL 88.1 FM will also carry the games both on air and through the web at www.marshall.edu/WMUL.
