Softball Hits The Road for Tuesday Tussle with UAB
February 23, 2015 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – With its first 14 games of 2015 having been played at home, Mississippi State softball (13-1) will start a six-game road trip with a mid-week game at UAB (9-5) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT at UAB Softball Field.
"We passed a test this weekend and are looking forward to the next challenge with six road games and two games against top-25 teams in No. 15 Minnesota and No. 24 Notre Dame," head coach Vann Stuedeman said. "It all starts with UAB tomorrow. UAB is a well-coached club and it will be a dog fight. This our first road game. We need a rowdy Birmingham Bulldog crowd to come out and support us."
FOLLOW LIVE
Tuesday's game can be followed with a live video stream and a live statistic feed. The stats page is free for use by the general public, but access to the video stream requires a paid subscription to CBS Sports All Access.
Live Video Stream | Live Stats
TICKET INFORMATION
Adult - $5.00
Youth (ages 6-17) - $3.00
Youth (ages 5 and under) – FREE
LAST TIME OUT
Over the course of a three-game weekend set with Penn State (6-7), the Bulldogs caged the Nittany Lions, outscoring them 29-10 in a sweep. The MSU offense was on full display as three home runs and eight doubles gave Bulldog pitching plenty of insurance to work with. In the Sunday finale, sophomore pitcher Mackenzie Toler struck out a career-high six batters in a 10-2 run-rule victory in five innings.
TEAM & PLAYER NOTES
- MSU is batting at a clip of .372, which ranks third in the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs lead the conference in steal attempts (51) and stolen bases (46), while ranking second in the SEC in doubles (31) and batters hit by pitch (19).
- State is 10-0 this season when scoring six or more runs and 8-0 when a Bulldog hits a home run. MSU also has six come-from-behind wins in 2015.
- Sophomore pitcher Alexis Silkwood (9-0, 2.10 ERA) has recorded 80 strikeouts in her last 54 innings of work dating back to the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Silkwood stands second in the SEC in strikeouts with 66, while her nine wins lead the league.
- Along with leading MSU in batting average (.535) and hits (23), sophomore catcher Katie Anne Bailey is fifth in the SEC in batting average, tied for sixth in hits and tied for first in fielding percentage (1.000).
- Sophomore Caroline Seitz leads MSU in RBI with 19, while her six home runs are tied for the most in the SEC. Seitz has recorded four three-RBI games this season as well.
- While junior outfielder Loryn Nichols' 14 stolen bases have her standing second in the league, junior shortstop Kayla Winkfield has reached base safely in 13 of the Maroon & White's 14 games this season.
SERIES HISTORY
Having met for the first time in 2000 and every season since 2007, State leads the all-time series 14-4. UAB won the most recent meeting in 2014, 5-3, in Starkville and MSU is 5-1 vs. the Blazers in Birmingham. The Bulldogs last beat UAB during the 2013 season, 3-2, but haven't won in Birmingham since 2009.
SCOUTING THE BLAZERS
Picked to finish first in Conference USA in 2015, junior infielder Caitlin Attfield was selected to the 2015 C-USA Preseason team. UAB is 9-5 and has won three straight, coming off of a 4-1 performance at the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational last weekend.
ON DECK FOR THE BULLDOGS
The final five games of the six-game road swing will be played in the Citrus Classic on the ESPN Wide World of Sports Campus in Kissimmee, Fla. The span of five games in three days will start Friday against No. 15 Minnesota at 12:15 p.m. CT with the contest to air live on ESPN3.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on the MSU softball program, follow "HailStateSB" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can also find all-access coverage of the Bulldogs on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."
