April 25, 2014
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BOSTON - Coming off a 2-1 victory against Ivy League leader Harvard, the Boston University softball team will resume the Patriot League schedule and six-game homestand with Lafayette for a three-game weekend series.
Rain is expected to be a factor this weekend, and the schedule has been changed as a result. The first match-up is now set for 3 p.m. on Saturday (April 26), and the first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Sunday (April 27). Updates to the schedule will be provided through GoTerriers.com and the Twitter account @BUAthletics.
After snapping Harvard's 18-game win streak on Thursday, the Terriers improved to 26-18 and extended their own streak to seven games. Four the recent wins have come against Patriot League competition, including one against Holy Cross and three at Colgate. BU is second in the conference standings at 8-4 with Lehigh leading the way at 12-3.
BU possesses one of the top offenses in the PL, ranking first in batting average (.313), on-base-percentage (.374), hits (381), runs (233) and doubles (74). The Terriers boast six players batting over .300 led by Jayme Mask's .401 average. Besides scoring a team-high 37 runs, she has collected 59 hits and needs four more to surpass Jamie Haas' ('05) career mark of 250 hits to claim the No. 2 spot in the BU record book behind April Setterlund's ('11) 264.
Freshman Brittany Younan delivered the key two-RBI single in the fifth to lift the Terriers past Harvard and is currently averaging .391 with a team-high .543 slugging percentage. Younan, Mask and freshman Moriah Connolly (.328 avg.) have hurt opponents with a combined 60 stolen bases.
Averaging .289, senior Brittany Clendenny has driven in 40 runs on the season to power the Boston offense and has one more career RBI than classmate Amy Ekart (.264 avg), 104-103. Last week, junior Emily Felbaum (.263 avg) batted .364 (5-for-14) and collected six RBIs with four runs scored to help BU post a 4-0 record.
In the circle, sophomore Lauren Hynes (14-13) has appeared in 34 games, making 25 starts. She's posted a 3.59 ERA in 150.1 innings of work, highlighted by Thursday's performance in which she limited Harvard to just one hit through six innings. Sophomore Melanie Russell (6-3, .244 ERA) pitched the seventh to earn her second save of the year and is currently holding teams to a .233 batting average. Freshman Makinna Akers has started 11 games for BU, going 6-2 with a 2.34 ERA in 77.2 innings pitched.
Lafayette enters the first-ever meeting between the two programs at 10-29 and 4-11 in conference play. Despite the losing record, the Leopards have plenty of confidence having won their last four straight games and five of the last six. They pulled out a victory at Army and then posted doubleheader sweeps against Rider and Villanova.
Kristen Berger leads Lafayette in hitting at .269 with 10 doubles and 16 RBIs. Melissa Robinson (4-14, 4.75 ERA) has made 19 starts and owns 30 strikeouts in 109 innings. Bryn Gornick (3-1, 3.33 ERA) and Lindsey Cherry (3-9, 4.97) have made at least 15 appearances this season alongside Gornick.
Following the series, the Terriers will remain at home and host UMass Lowell on Monday (April 28) at 4 p.m.
