Softball | 4/22/2016 10:47:00 AM

GAME NOTES
 
ROAD WARRIORS
Georgia Southern is in the midst of a six-game road swing that will take the Eagles through South Carolina, into Alabama and back into Georgia. The Eagles, who are 6-9 in true road games this season, started the trek by knocking off Southeastern Conference opponent South Carolina 6-4 on Tuesday, April 19 in a game that was televised on the SEC Network+. The win over the Gamecocks came in the Eagles' fifth game against an SEC opponent this season. It was the fourth time in program history that a GS team has defeated an SEC team but was the first time Georgia Southern had won a game against the SEC on the road.
 
Georgia Southern now travels to Troy, Ala. this coming weekend for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at Troy University. The series against the Trojans will get started on Saturday, April 23 with a 2 p.m. ET doubleheader before concluding with a single game at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. The Eagles will then close out the six games on the road with a mid-week doubleheader at Savannah State on Wednesday, April 27. The twinbill in Savannah is slated to start at 5 p.m.
 
FACILITY INFO
This weekend's series at Troy will take place at the Troy Softball Complex. The address is 701 Enzor Rd., Troy, AL, 36079.
 
Live stats (Game 1, Game 2, Game 3) will be available through Troy and live video of the game will also be available via Trojans All-Access.
 
SCOUTING TROY
The Trojans of Troy (26-18) enter the three-game, weekend series against GS having lost four of their last five games and seven of their last 10. That stretch includes taking two-of-three games from UL Monroe on the road and taking one-of-three from Texas State at home. The Trojans are 17-11 at home so far this season and are 7-8 in Sun Belt Conference action to sit tied for fourth in the league standings with Georgia State behind nationally-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette, South Alabama and Georgia Southern. Troy's head coach, Beth Mullins, was an assistant coach at Georgia Southern for two years (2006-2007).
 
At the plate, the Trojans are currently batting .282 as a team led by three players with above .300 batting averages and a fourth just below. Kate Benton is fifth in the league but leads the team with a .415 batting average. She has started all 44 games for the Trojans. She also leads the team with 43 runs scored, 59 hits and 33 stolen bases on 36 attempts. Both her 43 runs scored as well as her 33 stolen bases have her second in the league. Behind Benton, Hannah Day is batting .340 on the season and leads the team with a .730 slugging percentage. In 141 official at-bats, she has scored 36 runs, recorded 48 hits and leads the team with 24 extra base knocks, including a team-best 15 home runs. She also leads the team with 56 runs batted in and 103 total bases. Day, Benton and Becca Hartley are the only three players to have started and played all 44 games for the Trojans. Erica Davis is the final Trojan batting over .300 on the season with a .305 batting average in 43 games played.
 
In the circle, the Trojans have utilized five different pitchers this season, but only three have made more than 10 appearances and pitched more than 50 innings. As a unit, TU holds a 4.30 earned run average led by Claire Graves' 3.77 ERA. Graves holds a 5-4 record in 25 appearances, including 16 starts, and has pitched four complete games. She has pitched 87.1 innings and struck out 45 batters. Ashley Rainey holds a 3.96 ERA through 27 appearances, including 20 starts. Rainey's record for the season is 14-12 and she has pitched 115 innings while striking out 47 batters. Peyton Glove is the final Trojan to pitch make more than 10 appearances as she has appeared in 22 games, making seven starts, and has pitched 63.1 innings. Glover is 6-2 on the year with a 4.53 ERA and has struck out 24 batters.
 
TROY ROSTER
TROY SCHEDULE
TROY STATISTICS
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles will close out the current stretch of six games on the road with a mid-week doubleheader at Savannah State on Wednesday, April 27. The twinbill in Savannah is slated to start at 5 p.m.
 
WEEKLY AWARD FOR RALEY (4/12/16)
Georgia Southern softball player Dixie Raley was named the Madness Sun Belt Softball Player of the Week by College Sports Madness on Tuesday, April 12.
 
Raley, a freshman from Milledgeville, Ga., had a stellar weekend on the mound for Georgia Southern, securing two of the Eagles' three wins over longtime rival Appalachian State – including a shutout in game-3 – while setting a new career-high for strikeouts. She was so effective on the mound, that her opponents hit just .146 against her over the 14 innings she pitched and she finished the weekend with a 1.00 earned run average and 18 strikeouts, six looking. Raley is now tied for second in the conference with 16 wins and she is third in strikeouts (139) as well as strikeouts looking (48), fourth in innings pitched (135.2) and fifth in opposing batting average (.228).
 
In Raley's first appearance of the weekend, a 6-2 win in game-1 on Saturday, Raley pitched the complete game and surrendered just four hits and a pair of runs while striking out four batters. In that game, she did not surrender a hit through the first two innings and gave up just two hits over the final four frames.
 
The next day, Raley was outstanding in the circle as she guided the Eagles to a 3-0 victory to secure the weekend sweep over the Mountaineers. Raley pitched the complete game in her third shutout of the season and allowed just three hits and three walks while striking out a career-high 14 batters, four looking. She led off the game by securing the Eagles' first 6 outs via strikeout and then proceeded to strike out two batters in each of the next three innings. Over the final four innings of the game, Raley gave up just one hit and did not walk a single batter.
 
WEEKLY AWARD FOR WITKOWSKI (3/15/16)
Georgia Southern softball player Lydia Witkowski was named the Sun Belt Conference Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week as released by the conference office on Tuesday, Mar. 15.
 
A redshirt freshman from Alpharetta, Ga., Witkowski led Georgia Southern on offense in the Eagles' Sun Belt Conference opening series at Texas State as the Eagles went 2-1 in San Marcos. The Eagles' starting left fielder went 6-for-11 (.545) at the plate with a triple and an RBI and scored a pair of runs herself. She slugged .727 with eight total bases and finished the three games with a .545 on-base percentage.
 
In the field, she recorded four putouts and had an assist in the first game when she gunned down a runner tagging up at third, trying to make it home. The throw out at home from left field completed one of the Eagles' two double plays on the weekend.
 
In the first game of the series, Witkowksi went 4-for-4 at the plate with three singles and a triple for a 1.500 slugging percentage. She also batted in a runner and scored a pair of runs herself as the Eagles defeated Texas State 6-1. Witkowksi followed that up by going 2-for-4 at the plate in the Eagles' 5-4 win over the Bobcats in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader, sealing the series victory for the Eagles. The win also pushed the Eagles' longest winning streak of the season to eight games.
 
YEAR NO. 5
Georgia Southern head coach Annie Smith is in her fifth season at the helm of the Eagles. Her tenure in Statesboro has taken the Eagles to new heights with two SoCon Regular Season Championships and two SoCon Tournament Championships as well as overseeing the transition to the Sun Belt Conference in Smith's four previous seasons. During her tenure, Smith has advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice (2012 and 2013) as the Eagles have quickly made a name for themselves within the regional and national landscape.
 
Smith has an overall career record of 148-129. In 2014, she became the fastest coach in Georgia Southern history to reach 100 career wins when her team posted a 4-0 victory over Appalachian State on April 5.
 
Smith joined Georgia Southern with 16 years of experience as a collegiate assistant coach, serving at Missouri for six seasons before heading to Mississippi State for nine years, handling all aspects of the program. In 2006, Smith was promoted to associate head coach of the Bulldogs.
 
RANDOM STATS AND NOTES
Career Games Started - by position (active)
A.J. Hamilton: 215 total - 215 C
Emily Snider: 152 total - 152 OF
Morgan Robinson: 149 total - 149 1B
Taylor Rogers: 117 total - 82 OF; 35 DP
Alesha Mann: 96 total - 58 SS; 31 2B; 7 DP
Michelle Mazur: 52 total - 42 3B; 5 OF; 3 DP; 2 2B
Kierra Camp: 39 total - 39 P
Rowan McGuire: 32 total - 31 DP; 1 OF
Heather Felt: 15 total - 15 P
Hannah Farrell: 45 total - 45 3B
Lydia Witkowski: 45 total - 42 OF; 3 INF
India Davis: 40 total - 39 2B; 1 SS
Dixie Raley: 26 total - 26 P
Macy Weeks: 21 total - 13 DP; 8 OF
Haley Carter: 5 total - 5 DP
 
EAGLES BY STATE (18)
Georgia: 13
Florida: 2
Illinois: 2
Tennessee: 1
 
EAGLES BY CLASS (18)
Seniors: 1
Juniors: 6
Sophomores: 6
Freshmen: 5 freshmen (3 redshirt)
 

 
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