Gators Hit the Road to Face Mississippi State
Thursday, March 26, 2015 | Softball
Florida vs. Mississippi State Series Notes
Gainesville, Fla. – The third-ranked Gator Softball team (30-3) will play a road series for the second straight weekend when Florida will travel to Starkville, Miss., to face Mississippi State. Game times (all times Eastern) are 6:30 p.m. (Friday), 2 p.m. (Saturday) and noon (Sunday). The three-game set at the MSU Softball Field will mark the teams' first meetings since the 2013 season.
Florida navigated a challenging stretch of its schedule that spanned from the last two weeks of nonconference action through the first two weekends of league play.
· From Feb. 25-March 23, the Gators earned eight wins over ranked teams (UCF, Oregon - twice, Michigan, Arizona, LSU, Alabama - twice) in 17 games, compiling a 14-3 record overall during that stretch.
GATOR BITES: Quick Hits About the Gators
· The Gators began the season with 28 consecutive wins, setting a school record for the longest winning streak to begin a season.
· Florida took two of three games at Alabama last weekend, marking UF's first series victory in Tuscaloosa since 2011.
· Kelsey Stewart leads Florida with four triples on the year, which matches the number the Gator pitching staff has allowed.
· Stewart (13) and Kirsti Merritt (10) both have as many or more stolen bases than the Gators have allowed as a team (10).
· Lauren Haeger and Taylore Fuller both have nine home runs, matching the number that the UF pitching staff has allowed.
· UF hitters have struck out 143 times on the year, exactly half the 268 K's that Florida hurlers have racked up.
· Stewart holds the highest batting average in UF history (min. 200 AB) and has set the Gator records for career triples and stolen bases.
· Haeger has established a new UF mark for RBI.
· The Arizona native is closing in on the school record for career home runs.
· Merritt has set the UF marks for hit-by-pitches in a season and a career.
SETTING THE STAGE: Mississippi State
· Florida leads the all-time series, 28-18; this includes a 12-7 advantage in Starkville.
· The Gators have won four of five games against the Bulldogs since 2012, when this year's seniors were freshmen.
· Jessica Damico and Fuller each have a home run against MSU in their careers.
· The senior leads all current Gators with five lifetime RBI against the Bulldogs, while the junior has four.
· Both Damico and Fuller hit grand slams during the MSU series in 2013 in Gainesville.
· Haeger is the only Florida pitcher who has faced Mississippi State, compiling a 2.33 ERA in 9.0 innings over three appearances.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Subscribers can view all three games of the Florida-Mississippi State series on SEC Network+ via WatchESPN.
All 2015 Florida Softball games can be heard on Florida Sports Talk (1230-AM in Gainesville, 900-AM in Ocala). Corey Brooks (play-by-play) and former Gator All-American Megan Bush (analysis) will form the broadcast team for the UF-MSU series.
LIVE STATS
Live stats links for this weekend's games can be found on the Gators' schedule page.
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