Softball Welcomes Blue Raiders to Dot Hicks Field

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall softball team is back in action as the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders come to Dot Hicks Field for a three-game, Conference USA series over three days, March 25-27. Game one is Friday at 1 p.m.

The Thundering Herd enters the series with a 16-9 record overall and 0-3 in C-USA play. The Blue Raiders are 15-15 overall and 2-1 in league action. This will be the first time that Middle Tennessee has been in Huntington since 2018. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ as well as broadcast on 88.1 WMUL-FM. Links are below.

Series Details
Marshall Game Notes (PDF)
Friday at 1 p.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats
Saturday at 1 p.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats
Sunday at 12 p.m. ESPN+ | Live Stats
Marshall Radio: 88.1 WMUL-FM with audio streamed online at www.marshall.edu/wmul
Series History: 23 all-time meetings, Marshall leads 19-4
Last Meeting: April 9-11, 2021, in Murfreesboro – Middle Tennessee won 3-of-4 to take the series

Marshall looks to rebound after a rough week suffering a loss at Ohio and then falling in all three games at UAB to open 2022 Conference USA play.

The Herd is batting .333 as a team, good for 14th in the NCAA, with fifth-year senior Aly Harrell leading the way with a .500 average and 36 hits. Marshall is 12th in the country with a .427 on base percentage and 16th in slugging percentage at .547. Senior Mya Stevenson jumped up the NCAA rankings with a slugging performance at UAB. Stevenson is 19th in slugging percentage (.889), 25th in home runs (nine), 29th in home runs per game (0.36) and 32nd in total bases (64).

Redshirt junior Sydney Nester is still second in the nation with seven shutouts and third in strikeouts with 154. Nester needs just two more strikeouts to reach 500 in her career.

Following Marshall's series against Middle Tennessee, the Herd has a road doubleheader with the Akron Zips on Tuesday, March 29. Marshall will then return to Dot Hicks Field for a three-game series against the Charlotte 49ers, April 1-3.

Batting .500
Almost midway through the season, fifth-year senior Aly Harrell has upped her batting average to .500. Through 25 games, and with 28 remaining, Harrell is 36-of-72 at the plate as well as adding 16 walks and seven hit-by-pitches for an on base percentage of .621. Leading into the Middle Tennessee series, Harrell is sixth in the nation (tops in C-USA) in batting average and ranks second in the NCAA (again tops in C-USA) trailing only Jocelyn Alo of Oklahoma in on base percentage. Over the last 10 games, Harrell is batting .563 (18-of-32) with an on base percentage of .641. She is also on a 9-game hitting streak with multi-hit games in six of the nine contests. Only one player in MUSB History has ended a season with a batting average of .500 or better. Morgan Zerkle hit .506 in 2015 and finished second in the country behind Torrian Wright of Savannah State who hit .566.

Look Up And Say Goodbye - Mya Stevenson on a Tear
Senior Mya Stevenson has been sending pitches out of the park at an incredible rate with six bombs over the last eight games. The slugger has reached base safely in all 12 games in March so far, but over the last eight, Stevenson is batting .500 and slugging 1.269 with eight extra base hits out of 13 total. She has driven in 16 runs with highs of four against Maryland Eastern Shore on March 5 - the beginning of the span - and five RBI in the series finale at UAB. In game three at UAB, Stevenson's first homer of the game was a 2-run shot in the fifth that tied the game at 2-2. She belted another one way out to left in the seventh for a 3-run home run that gave the Herd the lead, 6-5. Unfortunately, Marshall could not hang on and lost 8-7 in the bottom of the seventh.

Stevenson's home run barrage began with a 2-run shot in the third inning against Maryland Eastern Shore, and she now leads the team with nine homers this season and is just nine bombs away from tying Rachel Folden atop the all-time career charts at Marshall.

Stevenson's Home Runs Since the Start of March
March 5 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore - 2-run HR 3rd inning
March 11 vs. Fairfield - 2-run HR 5th inning
March 16 at Ohio - Solo HR 1st inning
March 19 at UAB (game 2) - Solo HR 2nd inning
March 20 at UAB - 2-run HR 5th inning
March 20 at UAB - 3-run HR 7th inning

The Opponent
The Blue Raiders come to town after a 6-2 win at home over Tennessee State on Wednesday. Kelci Hill had two hits and three RBI, while Laura Mealer hit her team-leading fourth home run of the season. Corrina Dodd earned the win, her sixth of the year.

Middle Tennessee began C-USA play taking 2-of-3 from Southern Miss, March 18-20. Middle won game one 4-0 and then fell 6-2 in the second game. The Blue Raiders bounced back for a 6-5, walkoff win on Sunday. Clare Czajkowski scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the ninth for the winner. Middle Tennessee was trailing 5-1 before scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.

As an offensive unit, the Blue Raiders are batting .255 but have hit 34 doubles. Anyce Harvey leads the team and the conference with 10 doubles. She adds one triple and one home run among her 23 hits. Mealer not only leads MTSU in home runs but is also tops in batting average (.359), runs scored (22), walks (nine), stolen bases (eight), triples (two) and tied in hits with 33. Amaya Harris also has 33 hits and seven stolen bases. The Blue Raiders have hit seven home runs.

In the circle, seven different pitchers have had at least one outing with four tossing 39 innings or more. Dodd leads the way with 61 innings, a 6-3 record, 38 strikeouts, the most starts with 10 and is second with a 2.52 ERA. She has gone the distance five times. Gretchen Mead has the best ERA at 2.15 with 35 strikeouts in 45.2 innings. Keri Munn is second in innings pitched with 49.1 and has a 3.12 ERA with a 3-5 record. Claire Woods has thrown 39.1 innings, has a 1-4 record, a 3.03 ERA and 25 strikeouts. The Blue Raiders have allowed 24 home runs this season, but nine came in the opening five games in a tournament out at San Diego State.

Middle Tennessee has a team fielding percentage of .962 and has turned eight double plays while only hitting into four.

Head coach Jeff Breeden is in his 10th season leading the Blue Raiders and won his 205th game on Wednesday. He took Middle Tennessee to a C-USA Tournament Championship in 2018 as the sixth-seeded Blue Raiders upset No. 1 Florida Atlantic 7-6 to take the title and earn the program's second NCAA Regional appearance.

Following the series against Marshall, Middle Tennessee plays a home midweek contest against Mississippi State on March 30. The Blue Raiders get back into C-USA play at home versus Florida Atlantic, April 1-3.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall Softball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdSB, Facebook at Marshall University Softball and on www.herdzone.com.

---HerdZone.com---

Softball Welcomes Blue Raiders to Dot Hicks Field

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Players Mentioned

Aly Harrell

Sydney Nester

Mya Stevenson

Marshall University Athletics