This Weekend

Friday	NSU at Delaware State	1 p.m.	Live Stats
	NSU at Delaware State	3 p.m.	Live Stats
Saturday	NSU at Delaware State	1 p.m.	Live Stats

NORFOLK, Va. – The battle for first place in the MEAC Northern Division heats up this week when the Norfolk State softball team heads to Delaware State for a three-game series Friday and Saturday.

The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m. followed by a single game at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats will be available for all three games here.

It will be strength-on-strength as the winner of the series will have the inside track to finish first in the Northern Division this season. NSU, the league's top hitting team, currently owns an 11-1 record in conference play. DSU, the MEAC's top pitching team, stands 7-1 as the Hornets are a makeup game and a conference weekend behind the Spartans in this year's schedule.

The Spartans are also 17-16 overall, the first time this year they have been above .500, after winning their last six games. DSU owns a 22-12 overall record this season.

MEAC Standings
Following NSU and DSU, Hampton currently sits in third place in the North at 6-3, having dropped two of three to the Hornets earlier this year. UMES (4-4) and Coppin State (5-6) are in a race to finish in the fourth spot as well. Only the top four teams in each division advance to the MEAC tournament.

In the South, Bethune-Cookman has the early lead at 5-1, with North Carolina A&T (6-3) and Savannah State (5-4) in second and third. Florida A&M (3-3) is currently holding down fourth place.

Almost There
Senior Jamie Schulle needs just seven more strikeouts to pass Angela Smith for the program's all-time strikeout  record of 420.

Home Run Derby
With 34 home runs on the season, the Spartans need two more to surpass the program's fast-pitch record set in 1997. NSU hit 62 homers in 1984, but that came during the program's first few years of existence when the Spartans played by slow-pitch rules.

National Rankings
NSU now sits 15th in the nation in double plays per game (0.48) and 18th in batting average (.323). The Spartans also rank 31st in home runs per game (1.03), 35th in slugging (.480), 50th in scoring (5.55) and 55th in on-base percentage (.383).

Morgan Boyd ranks 10th in stolen bases per game (0.76), 12th in hitting (.459) and 37th in runs per game (1.00). Other players in the top 75 include Heather Dunning (41st in toughest-to-strikeout, 43rd in hitting), Kayla McNair (49th in slugging, 50th in on-base percentage, 69th in hitting), Kathy Cortez (51st in toughest-to-strikeout) and Whitney Williams (52nd in toughest-to-strikeout).

Boyd also sits third in career stolen base percentage (.944) and ninth in stolen bases (103).

MEAC Rankings
At .324, NSU is hitting 34 points better than the next best team in the league, and the team's 3.09 ERA is the second-best. The top three hitters in the MEAC and four of the top seven are NSU players, led by Morgan Boyd (.459). Heather Dunning (.425) and Kayla McNair (.410) round out the top three, with Alina Moriarty seventh at .363.

Boyd leads the league in hitting, runs (33), hits (51) and stolen bases (27). McNair ranks second in slugging (.731) and on-base percentage (.515) as well as in the top 5 in batting, RBI (4th, 27), home runs (4th, 7) and total bases (5th, 57).

On the pitching side, Jamie Schulle sits in a tie for first in wins (12), second in ERA (2.38) and third in innings pitched (129.2).

Series Info.
NSU has the edge over Delaware State in the all-time series, 21-17. The Spartans swept the three-game series last year and also defeated the Hornets in the MEAC tournament. NSU has won six of the seven meetings with DSU since moving to the Northern Division in 2012.

About Delaware State
Prior to a Wednesday game at Maryland, the Hornets owned a 2.32 team ERA, led by Tara Tursellino's 1.98 ERA in 84.2 innings. She stands 9-4, while Vanessa Ciocatto carries an 8-5 record with a 2.36 ERA. Ciocatto and Rachel Meagley (5-3, 2.97 ERA) have started all but two games this season.

Nicole Gazzola owns the top average on the team at .389 with 25 runs, while Jessica Madrid and Sandy Hawthorne are both hitting .364. Jordan Stamps has compiled five home runs and 23 RBI, both tops on the team.

Up Next
NSU will play a non-conference doubleheader at Longwood next Tuesday at 5 p.m. before returning home to host North Carolina Central for a twinbill on April 26 at 1 p.m.