March 28, 2008

UAB-Southern Miss Game Notes | Gametracker: Game One | Game Two | Game Three

HATTIESBURG, Miss. --- The UAB softball team returns to Conference USA play this weekend against Southern Miss riding a three-game league winning streak after its sweep of Memphis in Birmingham last weekend.

UAB enters the series 17-19 overall and 4-5 in conference play. Southern Miss is 16-18 overall and 2-7 in the league.

The series begins with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday followed by a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday. Live stats will be available thru www.uabsports.com.

Last weekend's sweep pulled the Blazers back into the middle of the league standings and put them in prime position to move up even further this weekend against Southern Miss.

Holly Krzan and Andrea Rogers continue to produce at the plate, both hitting well above .300 for the season. Krzan has or shares the lead in nearly every major offensive category for UAB while Rogers is having a solid year at the plate with seven extra base hits.

Laura Callaway has also stepped her game, hitting her first career home run Tuesday against Alabama. In her last six games, Callaway is hitting .421 with four runs and three RBI.

Pitching has also been key for the Blazers' resurrange. With Jennifer Nelson anchoring the staff the Blazers have lowered their ERA by nearly four-tenths of a point in just three weeks.

The staff has been particularly strong in their last two conference series (UCF and Memphis) recording a collective ERA of 1.40 in 40.0 innings pitched and allowing 2.1 runs per game. In those contests Nelson recorded a 3-1 record and 1.25 ERA while striking out 30. Kayla Harris has a 1.75 ERA in her last two conference starts.

Southern Miss come into the series with the Blazers having just snapped out of a losing period where they lost six of seven with a doubleheader sweep over Northwestern State Wednesday in Hattiesburg.

The Golden Eagles last two conference series have been sweeps on the road against No. 11 Houston and East Carolina, two of the top teams in the conference. Southern Miss broke the streak outscoring Northwestern State 13-0 in two games.

Megan Hill, a preseason all-conference selection, headlines the Golden Eagles' offensive attack. She is hitting .320 on the season to go along with team leading four homers and 23 RBI have been the driving force all season long for Southern Miss. 18 runs, .530 slugging percentage and .433 on-base percentage all lead the club. Hill had five RBI in the two victories on Wednesday. Southern Miss hits .245 as a team and averages 4.0 runs a game.

Samantha Davis anchors the pitching staff, having thrown 93.0 innings while posting a 7-7 record on the year. Four other pitchers make up the remainder of the staff.

This will be the ninth three-game series that the two Conference USA charter schools will play. The teams have met three times in postseason play, with UAB leading that series 2-1.

UAB won the series with two victories last year in Birmingham 2-1, while Southern Miss took the series in 2006 by winning the last two games of the series in Hattiesburg.

The Blazers trail 8-19 in the all-time series lead.