Georgia Southern Back at Home Against Elon
4/27/2012 4:43:00 PM | Softball
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern Softball returns home for the 2012 regular season home finale series this weekend against Elon. Prior to Saturday's doubleheader, the Eagles will honor is class of 2012 seniors with a pregame ceremony. The game is slated for a 1 p.m. start and fans are encouraged to arrive early for Senior Day. The series concludes on Sunday with a 1 p.m. home finale.
Georgia Southern leads the Southern Conference with a 16-2 league mark and a 32-17 overall record. The Eagles are ahead of second place Chattanooga (14-2 SoCon) on winning percentage due to the fact that the Mocs have played two fewer games. GSU has a magic number of six entering the final two weeks of the season, needing to win all of the final six games or a combination of victories and Chattanooga losses equaling or exceeding six.
Sarah Purvis (Warner Robins, Ga.) enters the weekend with 185 total strikeouts which ranks her second at Georgia Southern in a single-season. She needs 21 more strikeouts to tie the school record, set by Cary Moone in 2004. Overall, she has a 16-9 record with 14 complete games on the campaign. Allie Miles (Dacula, Ga.) picked up her fifth victory of the season in game two against Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon. The SoCon Preseason Pitcher of the Year has returned to her 2010 form with one run or less in each of her last five outings, including a shutout against the Dolphins.
Marie Fogle (Rincon, Ga.) hit two home runs last week including one in the Appalachian State series. She leads the Georgia Southern offense with a .411 batting average. Her home runs raised her season total to seven this year, tying her with Mackenzie Williams (Baxley, Ga.) for the team lead. Fogle is fourth all-time in career home runs with 25, while Williams has 20 career home runs to rank in a tie for fifth.
Elon has lost five-straight games after taking an upset win over NC State on April 19th. Western Carolina swept the Phoenix last weekend in Cullowhee. In the midweek, Longwood took two games from Elon. Erin O'Shea has started 25 games for Elon in the circle with a 13-10 record with a 3.21 ERA. Tomeka Watson has a .383 batting average with four home runs to lead the team, while Carleigh Nester is hitting .362 on the year.
Following this weekend's three-game set, Georgia Southern closes the regular season with three games at Furman. The 2012 Southern Conference Championship Tournament is hosted by Appalachian State with games beginning on Wednesday, May 9th.
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