ETSU will take on Kennesaw State and Tennessee Tech twice each

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (March 11, 2016) – The ETSU softball team (7-5) will head to Cookeville, Tenn. this weekend for two games against Kennesaw State and two more contests versus Tennessee Tech. Start times for the games against KSU are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday, while both games against TTU are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Bullets on the Bucs

• Junior pitcher Lindsey Fadnek (Coalfield, Tenn.) was named the SoCon Pitcher of the Week on Wednesday. Fadnek is the first Buccaneer pitcher to be named a conference’s pitcher of the week since Marissa Hardy won the same honor in the Atlantic Sun during the 2009 season.
• Outfielder Madison Boyd (Chattanooga, Tenn.) paced the Bucs’ offense at last weekend’s Buccaneer Classic hitting .667 in 15 at bats with one home run and eight RBI. Boyd currently leads ETSU in batting average (.483), on-base percentage (.545), runs (6), hits (14) and RBI (9).
• ETSU sits on top of the SoCon’s team batting average and team ERA charts so far this season. The Bucs boast a team batting average of .306 and hold a team ERA of 2.39. On a national scale those two marks rank 73^rd and 39^th, respectively.

Bucs by the numbers

16 – Taylor Carter (Brazil, Ind.) launched her 16^th career home run in Saturday’s win over Siena. Carter’s 16 home runs rank fifth all-time in program history. Carter needs two more long balls to pull into a tie for fourth place with former Buc Danielle Spetar.

3.06 – ETSU’ pitching staff has lowered its ERA by over three runs per game (3.06) from last season. Last season’s team ERA was 5.45 and this season it is 2.39.

15-1 – The Bucs are outscoring their opponents 15-1 in the fourth inning this season. The 15 runs plated by ETSU in the fourth inning is almost 32 percent of the team’s run production on the season (47 runs scored).

Scouting the Opponents

Kennesaw State: The Owls, who are 12-6 so far this season, are led offensively by the duo of Missy Perkowski and Courtney Sutter. Perkowski is hitting .385, while Sutter is hitting .315 and is the team’s top home run threat with five. In the circle, Logan Viers and Morgan Sikes have won five games each and have ERAs lower than 1.70.

Tennessee Tech: TTU comes into the weekend with a 5-13 overall record. The Golden Eagles, who have not played a home game yet this season, have a team batting average of .227 and a team ERA of 7.07. Tennessee Tech’s top player through the early going has been Danielle Liberatore who has struck out 59 batters in 39 innings.

Series Histories vs. Opponents

The Bucs and Owls met earlier this season in Kennesaw, Ga. and KSU came out victorious, 4-2. With the win, Kennesaw State holds an all-time record of 16-4 against the Bucs.

Despite trailing in the all-time series against Tennessee Tech, 6-15, the Bucs have won three of the last four in the series. In Cookeville, however, the Golden Eagles have won seven of the eight meetings.

Following options for the weekend

Fans will be able to follow the action in Cookeville on multiple platforms this weekend. All four games will have live stats available and they can be found on the Bucs’ schedule page. Additionally, all games will be streamed on the OVC Digital Network and as always follow @ETSUSoftball on Twitter for in-game updates.

FOLLOW THE BUCS

• Receive live game updates and behind-the-scenes access of ETSU Softball by following @ETSUSoftball on Twitter or ETSU Softball on Facebook
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