State Faces UAB In Midweek Contest
May 25, 2016 | Softball
Mississippi State leads the all-time series with UAB, 6-1. In Starkville, MSU leads 3-1, while in Birmingham, the Bulldogs hold a 3-0 advantage. The teams have never met on a neutral field. MSU has outscored the Blazers, 43-11. The teams last met in 2005. Mississippi State swept a home-and-home series, 8-3, while run-ruling the Blazers,11-1 in five innings in Starkville. MSU has won the last four meetings.
Chelsea Bramlett looks to keep her strong start to her collegiate career going. The freshman leads MSU in hitting with a .413 batting average. She also leads the team in runs (32) and hits (45), and is second in stolen bases with 26. Her 26 stolen bases currently put her third on MSU's all-time freshman list.
Kelli Miller leads the Bulldogs from the mound with a 7-5 record and a1.41 ERA. In 69.2 innings of work, the senior has struck out 36 batters.Sara Hickerson is 2-4 with 38 strikeouts in 49.1 innings of work. She also has a conference-high six saves.
UAB enters Tuesday's game with a 19-13 overall record, and 2-3 in Conference USA. The Blazers are coming off a weekend that saw them take two of three games from Marshall. In the first game, Blazer pitcher Jennifer Nelson tossed her fourth shutout of the season and held Marshall to four hits en route to a 1-0 victory in UAB's first Conference USA win of the season. The second game headed into extra innings tied at one. But a seven run eighth gave Marshall the victory. The Blazers are led by outfielder Lindsay Stanley. The senior leads UAB in average (.395), hits (45), runs (19) and stolen bases (20). Through32 games, Andrea Rogers has already tied the school record with nine home runs in the season. Junior Jennifer Nelson currently leads UAB from the circle. Nelson is 13-5 with a 1.45 ERA. She also has struck out 148 batters.
Following its midweek game, the Bulldogs will return to conference action when they host Auburn this weekend. MSU will face the Tigers in a doubleheader on Saturday, starting at 1:00 p.m. (CT). The squads close the series on Sunday with a single game at 1:00 p.m. (CT).
