STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern softball squad makes a quick Spring Break jaunt down to Orlando on Wednesday, to take on UT San Antonio and UCF in a pair of non-conference games.
The Eagles (15-7) are coming off of a Sun Belt Conference-opening series win at Troy, and will host its first league series of the 2018 season this weekend against South Alabama. In between, however, Georgia Southern will take on the Roadrunners (12-10) and the Golden Knights (17-9) at the UCF Softball Complex on Wednesday. The Eagles will face UT San Antonio at 1 p.m., then play against UCF at 3:30 p.m. UTSA and UCF will begin Wednesday's action with an 11 a.m. tilt.
Georgia Southern defeated Troy two out of three times over the weekend, thanks to timely hitting from
Shelby Wilson and strong pitching performances from both
Rylee Waldrep and
Kaylee Ramos. Wilson delivered go-ahead runs twice in the 6-5 nine-inning win at Troy on Friday, with her ninth-inning two-run double the difference in the victory. Waldrep hurled 8 1/3 innings and Ramos entered the game in the ninth with the tying runs in scoring position with one out and escaped the jam for the save. In Saturday's 3-2 win, Wilson had a two-run double in the sixth for the go-ahead run, while Waldrep hurled five strong innings for the win and Ramos pitched two shutout innings for the save.
The meeting against UT San Antonio is the first between the two teams in school history. The Roadrunners are coming off of a Conference USA series win at FIU over the weekend, taking the first two games of the series, 3-2 and 2-0, but falling in the final game, 8-5. Bailee Baldwin leads the UTSA offense, hitting .354 with 10 home runs and 22 RBI - her 10 home runs rank fourth in NCAA Division I. Pitching-wise, Lizzy Fox (7-4, 2.25 ERA) paces the Roadrunner staff.
The Eagles will take on UCF for just the second time in school history - the two teams met back on March 7, 2010, with the Knights winning 4-3 in eight innings. UCF went 4-1 this past weekend at the USF Under Armor Invitational in Clearwater, Fla., picking up wins over Chattanooga (3-1), St. Joseph's (9-1 - 5 inn.), Southern Illinois (8-3) and Quinnipiac (7-1) while falling to Western Michigan (6-3). Kaitlyn Jensen (.323, 6 HR, 16 RBI) leads the Knights offensively, while Alea White (12-6, 1.99 ERA) has started 16 and appeared in 21 of UCF's 26 games so far this season.
Both games will have
live stats via UCF, and the Golden Knights will have a
premium webcast for their game against the Eagles.
