Softball Hosts Georgia Tech Wednesday
First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 2 p.m. Live stats will be available at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com.
Georgia Southern (28-22) has won eight of their past nine games. The six straight victories mark the first time since 2002, head coach Natalie Poole’s first season, that the team has two winning streaks of six or more in the same season. Earlier this season GSU won seven in a row, including five consecutive shutouts.
The recent series has been dominated by Georgia Tech (21-27) who has not lost to Georgia Southern since 2004.
“I definitely think we’re going to have to pitch well, of course,” said Poole. “We need to minimize walks, which has helped us in the last few games. Sometimes our walks have been followed up by errors and a few hits and we give up runs so if we can minimize those we’ll be fine.
“In terms of offense we need to get our quick kids on base, which we feel like we’re doing a good job of, so if we’re able to get them on we have a better chance of scoring. We need to keep making adjustments at the plate and stay aggressive.”
The Yellow Jackets come into the series with a losing record but have won four of five, garnering wins against No. 17 Georgia and Florida State.
“They’ve had a tougher time this year," said Poole. "They have not played as well, but recently they’ve done a good job. They swept Georgia and took two of three from Florida State in a conference series and FSU is doing pretty well.”
Since giving up a season-high 11 runs in a loss to Elon on April 5, Eagle pitchers have allowed more than two runs just once and has held the opposition to one or fewer on four occasions. Not coincidentally, the team has won all six of those games.
Tech ranks in the middle of the pack in the ACC in team average (.247) but is second in home runs (32), led by Brittany Barnes’ nine roundtrippers, second in the league.
“We have good pitching numbers so I feel like no matter who we face, if we pitch well then we’ll be fine,” said Poole. “Our staff has faced some really good teams outside of our conference. If we pitch as well as we are right now then we’ll be in the ball game.”
GSU senior Melissa Laliberte tops the SoCon pitching charts in wins (14) and ERA (1.57). She pitched a two-hit shutout Saturday at UNC Greensboro and has allowed four earned runs combined in her last five starts.
The staff also ranks at the top of the conference stats in ERA (1.96) which includes a league-best 12 shutouts.
- Category: Softball
- Published on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 00:23
