This Weekend

Saturday	NSU at UMES	1 p.m.	Live Stats
	NSU at UMES	3 p.m.	Live Stats
Sunday	NSU at UMES	Noon	Live Stats

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State softball team hits the road for the first time in conference play this weekend when the Spartans take on UMES Saturday and Sunday at the Lady Hawks Field in Princess Anne, Md.

The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. and a single game at noon on Sunday. Live stats for all three games will be available at www.umeshawks.com.

NSU is aiming to keep its first place standing in the MEAC Northern Division, as the Spartans currently sit at 5-0 in conference play as well as 11-15 overall. UMES, meanwhile, owns a 3-2 conference record after sweeping Howard but falling twice to Coppin State on Tuesday. The Hawks carry a 6-28 overall record into the weekend.

NSU is coming off a pair of tough losses to George Mason on Wednesday at home, which snapped the Spartans' seven-game win streak. The Patriots rallied to win in nine innings in the first game, 7-5, before jumping out to an eight-run lead and holding off the Spartans in an 8-7 victory.

It will mark the first road games for the Spartans in nearly a month. NSU has played the last 11 and 18 of the previous 22 games at home.

MEAC Standings
The early results are shaping up like they were expected, with NSU battling Hampton and Delaware State for the top spot. Hampton owns a 4-2 record, with both losses coming against Delaware State. The Hornets own a 2-1 record after that series with the Pirates, with UMES (3-2) and Coppin State (2-3) right behind them.

Morgan State (0-3) and Howard (0-5) currently sit in sixth and seventh, respectively. North Carolina A&T and Bethune-Cookman started off the year 3-0 in the Southern Division. Only the top four teams in each division advance to the MEAC tournament in May.

Boyd Surpasses All-Time Mark
With four hits against George Mason, Morgan Boyd moved past Brianeisha Eure for the all-time hits record at NSU. Eure totaled 179 hits during her career from 2007-10, while the senior Boyd now has 181.

Whatever Boyd's record stands at by the end of the year may not stand the test of time, though, as junior Alina Moriarty (140) and sophomore Heather Dunning (97) are already on pace to potentially pass her program mark down the road.

With 514 at bats, Boyd is inching closer to Eure's record of 595. Boyd also ranks third all-time in stolen bases with 99.

Schulle Inching Closer
With 395 career strikeouts, Jamie Schulle is now 27 away from surpassing Angela Smith's career mark of 421.

Digging the Long Ball
With 27 home runs now this year, NSU has already gone past the previous Division I record of 25 set last year and in 2006. The program's fastpitch record is 35 set in 1997.

The Spartans hit five home runs in game 2 against Howard on March 31, setting the program's Division I record for most homers in a game.

NCAA Rankings
Although NSU did not play last week, several players moved up in the national rankings that came out on Monday. Heather Dunning stood 10th in the nation in batting at .471, and Morgan Boyd was 12th in stolen bases per game at 0.73 and 22nd in average at .451. Boyd is now up to .483, which would put her eighth right now.

The Spartans also stood 50th as a team in home runs per game (0.91) and 55th in doubles plays per game (0.36).

Catching Fire
Morgan Boyd is hitting 25-for-35 (.714) with 18 runs and 13 stolen bases in the last nine games. In just the last seven games, Kayla McNair is hitting 15-for-29 (.517) with 17 RBI. Whitney Williams, meanwhile, has gone 10-for-20 (.500) with six RBI in the last five games as well.

As a team, NSU is batting .417 in the last nine games, with double-digit hits in seven of those contests.

Series Info.
NSU has a big edge in the all-time series with UMES, 59-6. The Spartans had won 14 straight dating back to the 2009 season until the Hawks won the third game of the three-game series last year, 9-6.

About UMES
The Hawks fell to 6-28 overall after getting swept by Delaware on Wednesday. They took three straight from Howard to start the conference season and also own a pair of wins over Rider and a non-conference victory against UMBC.

Morgan King leads the UMES offense with a .354 batting average and 20 runs, five doubles, four home runs and 21 RBI. Chelsea Alston and Emily Diseroad are hitting .295 and .291, respectively, with Alston also swiping 13 bases and Diseroad driving in 13. Vanessa Gomez has scored 20 runs to go with a .287 average.

All three pitchers have appeared in at least 20 games, and they all have an ERA between 7.30 and 7.45. Abria Tinsley has started 18 games and has struck out 48 in 86.0 innings of work.

Up Next
NSU will play the third game of the series with Howard on April 11 at 6 p.m. at the NSU Softball Field. The Spartans also host Morgan State that weekend.