April 22, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss softball steps out of conference play, traveling to in-state rival No. 23 Mississippi State for a mid-week single game at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday at the MSU Softball Field.

Southern Miss (23-24, 7-11 C-USA) is coming off a 5-2 loss to conference foe Marshall. The Lady Eagles collected only five hits, but left 12 runners stranded against the Thundering Herd.

Megan Hill leads the team with a .313 batting average, four home runs and a team-best 26 RBIs with Kristin Pilgrim is next at .307 average and a team-leading nine doubles. Jennifer Fox is also batting over .300 (.303 average) with 40 hits and 19 RBIs.

Five Lady Eagles have posted a 3.35 team earned run average with junior Samantha Davis (13-8) leading the way with a 2.46 ERA over 142.0 innings pitched. Freshman Lana Vaughn (4-5) is sporting an ERA of 2.89, as she has worked 46.0 innings, while fellow freshman Hannah Griffin has a 3-2 record and a 3.35 ERA.

Mississippi State (37-16, 11-11 SEC) is coming off a claiming the series against then No. 21 Georgia over the weekend. Chelsea Bramlett leads the Bulldogs with a .451 batting average, while Courtney Bures is hitting .395, second on the team. She leads the team in doubles (12) and RBI (37), while Bramlett paces the squad in runs (43) and stolen bases (41). Misty Flesher paces the Bulldog pitching staff with a team-low ERA of 1.92 while boasting a 17-7 record, including six shutouts. She has worked 138.2 innings with 102 strikeouts.

This game marks the 38th meeting between the two teams in a series dating back to the 1983 season. State holds a 27-10 lead in the series, including a win earlier this season.

Following the State game, the Lady Eagles hits road for their final road C-USA at UTEP, April 26-27.