GAMEDAY: Softball Hosts In-state Foe UNCW Tuesday

Game 26: UNCW
Schedule	March 13 \\\ 4:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch (Free)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (ECU Softball Stadium)
Tickets	ECU Online Ticket Center
Social Media	@ECUSoftball (Twitter) \\\ Instagram \\\ Facebook \\\ @ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) \\\ #ECUndaunted

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The ECU softball team returns home Tuesday evening, playing host to in-state opponent UNCW at 4 p.m. The Pirates and Seahawks will meet for the 100th time since 1985.

The Purple and Gold most recently spent 10 days in Hawai'i and played in a pair of non-conference tournaments. ECU has won three of its last five games, including a 4-1 victory over then No. 23 James Madison Thursday.

Sophomore Kendra Ziemba has excelled at the plate as of late and currently leads the Pirates with a .320 batting average. Redshirt sophomore Tate McClellan paces the team and is second in the American Athletic Conference with seven doubles and has three home runs to her credit while senior Meredith Burroughs leads the league with six home runs. As a team, ECU is hitting .224 with 23 doubles and 13 home runs as well as 19 stolen bases. Thus far, the Pirates have swiped as many bags as they had all of last season.

In the circle, ECU owns a 3.21 team earned run average with 102 strikeouts against 72 walks. Freshman RHP Erin Poepping has thrown a squad-high 73.2 innings and is 5-6 with a 3.14 ERA and 47 strikeouts. Fellow rookie Whitney Sanford owns a 3.69 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 55 innings of work.

About UNCW
Overall Record: 7-13
Last Game: Youngstown State 4, UNCW 1 (March 11 @ Wilmington, N.C.)
Team Batting Average/ERA: .226/3.29
Best Batting Average: Kelsey Bryan (.317)
Top ERA: Laurel Koontz (0.81 in 17.1 IP)

The Series: UNCW swept a doubleheader in Wilmington last season, but ECU still holds a commanding 79-20 lead in the series, including a 35-8 record in games played in Greenville.

Up Next: The Pirates will play their final non-conference tournament this weekend when they travel to Harrisonburg, Va., for the JMU Invitational.

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Players Mentioned

Meredith Burroughs

Tate McClellan

Erin Poepping

Whitney Sanford

Kendra Ziemba

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