Tops Set to Open Spring Break Trip with Series at Southern Miss

WKU Game Notes

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Already a month into the season, WKU Softball is headed for Hattiesburg, Miss., to open Conference USA action at Southern Miss with a three-game weekend series. The Hilltoppers and Golden Eagles are slated to play a doubleheader on Saturday before wrapping up play with a single tilt on Sunday. The Red and White enter the weekend winners of their last two contests and own a 15-6 overall record while Southern Miss has dropped its last two decisions and sits at 9-12 overall.

WEEKEND INFORMATION
Saturday, March 10 – 11 a.m. CT at Southern Miss | Stats | Watch
Saturday, March 10 – 1 p.m. CT at Southern Miss | Stats | Watch
Sunday, March 11 – Noon CT at Southern Miss | Stats | Watch

Both the Hilltoppers and Golden Eagles rank in the league's top five in team batting averages as WKU owns the second-best rate at .314 while Southern Miss sits in fifth with a .274 mark. In the ERA standings, WKU has registered a 3.24 reading for the sixth-best mark while USM's 3.66 ERA sits in eighth. The largest contrast between the weekend foes comes in the fielding realm where WKU owns a .971 fielding percentage for a top-three reading while Southern Miss ranks 13^th with a .953 mark. Additionally, behind the plate, the Hilltoppers have thrown out 7-of-14 baserunners attempting to steal against the Golden Eagles' 3-of-21 caught-stealing rate.

Last season, WKU and Southern Miss met on The Hill for a weather-shortened two-game series. The Red and White claimed both decisions, 11-6 and 4-1, to improve WKU's all-time record to 6-2 over USM. Playing in Hattiesburg for just one prior series, the Golden Eagles own a 2-1 advantage when playing at the USM Softball Complex. Both Hilltopper losses were extra-inning decisions in Hattiesburg.

The 2018 campaign marks the third-straight season the Red and White have traveled to Hattiesburg after spending nearly a week in town for the 2017 Conference USA Tournament. Exceeding preseason expectations, WKU grabbed the eighth and final seed into the tournament field last season. Embracing the role of the underdog, the Hilltoppers proceeded to upset fifth-seeded UAB, 12-7 in 12 innings of play. Still in single elimination, WKU played again later that night and took down No. 4 seed Florida Atlantic in a nine-inning 6-5 decision. The Hilltoppers ultimately played 38 innings across four games in Hattiesburg, becoming the first eight seed to advance to the tournament's semifinals.

WKU has claimed its conference-opening series each of the last six seasons after sweeping Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro, Tenn., last year. Playing a league slate every year but the program's inaugural season, the Hilltoppers have won 10-of-17 conference-opening series.

Following weekend play from Hattiesburg, the Hilltoppers will continue their spring break trek south as the squad will head to Baton Rouge, La., and Mobile, Ala., for a pair of midweek non-conference tilts at LSU and South Alabama.

How to Follow the Hilltoppers: For complete information on WKU Softball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUSoftball, Instagram @WKU_Softball and Facebook /WKUSoftball.

Tops Set to Open Spring Break Trip with Series at Southern Miss

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