Gameday: ECU Travels To Tampa For AAC Series Against USF

Games 37-39: at USF
Schedule	April 5: at USF \\\ 6:30 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch April 6: at USF \\\ 5:30 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch April 7: at USF \\\ 1:00 p.m. \\\ Live Stats \\\ Watch
Venue	USF Softball Stadium (1,500)
Social Media	@ECUSoftball (Twitter) \\\ Instagram \\\ Facebook

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The ECU softball team will attempt to get back into the win column this weekend when it heads south to USF for a three-game American Athletic Conference series against the Bulls. The teams will match up Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Pirates look for their first victory since a 5-4 eight-inning triumph at Memphis March 22 in their league opener. Last week, ECU fell to a pair of top-40 RPI clubs in North Carolina and conference opponent UCF. The Pirates are 19-17 overall and 1-5 in AAC play entering this weekend's set.

As a team, ECU is batting .284 with 40 doubles, four triples and 20 home runs as well as a .404 slugging percentage and .371 on base mark. Rachel McCollum paces the unit with a .371 batting average as well as eight doubles, six home runs and 37 RBI. She leads the AAC in RBI while ranking third in home runs and fifth in batting average and hits. In the circle, Erin Poepping is 12-11 with a 2.99 earned run average, 119 strikeouts and 42 walks in 143 innings pitched. Opposing teams are hitting .278 against the Pirate pitchers.

Scouting USF
The Bulls are currently 26-14 overall and 4-2 in league play, sitting third in the conference standings after sweeping Houston on the road last weekend. The USF pitching staff was stout in the series, allowing just two runs on 10 hits. The Bulls are batting .254 collectively led by AnaMarie Bruni's .373 average. She also leads the squad in hits (47), runs scored (27) and stolen bases (22). Georgina Corrick and Nicole Doyle have teamed up to throw most of the innings for USF, sporting respective 1.12 and 2.73 ERAs. The duo has struck out 208 batters while walking just 67. Opposing teams are hitting just .203 against the Bulls.

The USF Series
USF leads the series with ECU 21-11, including a 10-5 mark in Tampa. The Pirates took two of three from the Bulls last season in Greenville – the only series loss in league play for the eventual regular season champions and NCAA regional club.

Up Next
ECU makes the short trip to Raleigh Wednesday (April 10) for a non-conference contest versus NC State.

Gameday: ECU Travels To Tampa For AAC Series Against USF

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Players Mentioned

Rachel McCollum

Erin Poepping

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