Bulldogs Travel For First Leg Of Home-and-Home Series With UAB
May 25, 2016 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Having put the finishing touches on a grueling 30-game SEC schedule with a series victory over No. 17 Florida on Saturday, the Mississippi State Softball team will step out of conference on Tuesday evening when the Bulldogs travel to Birmingham, Ala., for the first part of a home-and-home series with UAB.
Mississippi State (33-22) and UAB (16-32) will meet each other for the fourth time in series history when the two squads battle at Birmingham's George Ward Park at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams will complete their season series on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Mississippi State Softball Field.
Live in-game statistics will only be available for Wednesday's contest in Starkville via a link at the official Internet home for Mississippi State Athletics, www.MStateAthletics.com. Admission to all 2004 MSU Softball home games is free of charge.
Riding a recent surge that has seen the Bulldogs prove victorious in 11 of their last 13 outings, State is fresh off its fourth consecutive SEC series victory after a pair of wins against the nationally-ranked Gators on Saturday and a three-game sweep of visiting Mississippi on Tuesday and Wednesday. UAB will ride a 14-game losing skein into the midweek series, most recently extended by a 4-0 home loss to Samford on Thursday.
UAB possesses a .217 team batting clip, led by the exploits of senior second baseman Beth Mullins who currently maintains a .296 (42-for-142) batting clip with three home runs and 23 RBI. Junior Sara Christophel, one-half of a set of twins on the Blazer squad, follows closely behind with a .291 (46-for-158) batting clip that includes team-leading numbers in both home runs (4) and runs scored (21).
The Bulldogs are likely to see senior righthander Tara Higashino (8-18, 3.60 ERA) in at least one of the contests as the veteran has worked a bulk of the innings for the Green and Gold this season. Erica Mascarenas (6-9, 2.46) looks to be UAB's No. 2 hurler behind Higashino with the junior transfer striking out 69 batters in 99 and two-thirds innings of work. UAB's three-armed staff, which also includes rookie Brittany Hodge (2-5, 3.84) has a collective 3.23 team ERA on the season and has allowed its opponents to hit a healthy .271.
Mississippi State has captured two of its three series meetings with the Blazers, but split a home-and-home series with the Blazers last season. The Maroon and White defeated UAB 2-0 in early February of last season behind a five-hit shutout from staff ace and current junior Melissa Massey, but dropped the Starkville meeting by a 3-0 count.
