Bulldogs Travel To Fayetteville To Face SEC West Rival Arkansas
May 25, 2016 | Softball
Live Game Stats
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Coming off arguably its biggest series victory in school history, the Mississippi State Softball team will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend on the final road trip of its 2004 Southeastern Conference slate to face SEC Western Division rival Arkansas in a three-game series at Lady 'Back Yard.
The two squads will renew their 28-game-old series with a noon Saturday doubleheader and close out their set on Sunday with a single game that has also been slated for a noon first pitch. All three games of the series can be followed via a live statistics link at the official Internet home for Mississippi State Athletics, www.MStateAthletics.com.
The Bulldogs, who are less than a week removed from a series win over visiting and then-No. 10 Alabama at the Mississippi State Softball Field last weekend. Arkansas, who has dropped every one of its conference series this season, will head back home after salvaging its series with homestanding Mississippi on a 1-0 victory in extra innings in the series finale Wednesday evening in Oxford.
"(Last weekend) was really big for us," said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. "Winning a series from Alabama is a big stride for our program and hopefully it will give us a little boost to get us over the hump and help us play a little bit more consistently. It gives us an opportunity to get back in the race, both for the SEC and for an NCAA Regional bid. Two wins over a top 10 team will go a long way in helping our RPI ranking.
"What it does is gives us an opportunity. Now we have to go take advantage of that opportunity at Arkansas and then next weekend at home."
Hitting a collective .198 on the season, Arkansas is paced, offensively, by the exploits of Rachel LeMaster who, despite being just a rookie, has managed a team-leading .319 (38-for-119) batting clip in 42 starts this season. Below her, the Lady 'Backs have just five more hitters hitting at or above the .200 plateau, including team home run leader and fellow freshman Kallie Foglesong who has tallied nine extra-base hits (3 HR) in 2004 with a team-best 12 RBI.
From the circle, Arkansas is led by senior Heather Schlichtman who is 5-3 all-time against the Bulldogs, with two of her losses coming as a freshman in 2001. Schlichtman has appeared in 36 of UA's 46 games this season and carries a 12-20 record with a respectable 1.73 earned run average and has allowed opponents to hit just a paltry .199 against her this season. Either freshman Sarah Topham (2-10, 3.43) or junior Blaire Perry (1-0, 2.10) is likely to get the start in game two against the Maroon and White, with Arkansas likely going back to Schlichtman for the series finale.
Although Mississippi State leads a tightly-contested series by a 16-12 count, Arkansas has captured six of the last eight meetings in the series, including a three-game series sweep in Fayetteville two years ago.
"In the SEC, you can't take anyone for granted because everybody is going to come to play," Miller said. "You have got to come with your 'A' game every time. That's the challenge for us now is to go out and play the way we can and play good ball."
Mississippi State continues to be led offensively by senior all-American Iyhia McMichael who is hitting a team-best .467 (63-for-135) with eight home runs and 32 RBI. Behind her, the Bulldogs can fall on any of four hitters currently maintaining batting averages at or above .302, including reigning SEC Player of the Week Kate Jaspers who is hitting a career-best .384 (53-for-138) with nine extra-base hits and 30 RBI.
State is ranked nationally in both batting average (.301, 17th) and scoring average (5.26, 19th), with McMichael ranked in an array of offensive categories including runs per game (1.23, 2nd), triples per game (0.17, 3rd), batting average (6th) and slugging percentage (.874, 9th).
