BOSTON – After playing 25 games outside New England to start the season, the defending Patriot League champion Boston University softball team is home to host defending Atlantic 10 regular season champion UMass on Wednesday with first pitch slated for 4 p.m.
The Terriers (11-14) will step foot on the BU Softball Field for the first time in an official game since clinching the automatic NCAA berth against Lehigh back on May 12, 2018.
TERRIER TIDBITS
- BU went 13-3 at home last season with seven shutouts, including a pair of 8-0(5) victories in the Patriot League tournament.
- The Terries are scheduled to host 16 games with nine against PL opponents.
- While on the road this year, BU earned notable victories against defending West Coast Conference champion BYU (7-6), UConn (9-3, 7-3) and San Diego State (6-0).
- The Terriers are batting .241 while holding opponents to .265 ... Opponents own a 29-15 advantage in doubles and 17-8 lead in stolen bases.
- Senior Emily Morrow is the lone Terrier above .300 at .342 with 11 RBIs and 11 runs scored ... Reigning PL Player of the Year Alex Heinen (.260) leads the offense with six homers and 19 RBIs, while freshman Aliyah Huerta-Leipner (.267) owns a team-high 15 runs scored and 11 walks with two homers and 12 RBIs.
- Heinen owns 136 career RBIs, four shy of the school record held by former All-American April Setterlund ('11).
- Sophomore Ali DuBois (8-6, 1.88 ERA) owns 82 strikeouts in 78.0 innings with four shutouts with freshman Emily Gant (2-6, 2.73 ERA) tallying 58 strikeouts in 59.0 innings.
- The Terriers are on a nine-game losing streak but six of the losses are by a combined eight runs, including one-run losses to Iowa State, College of Charleston and Loyola Marymount (2x) ... The other three losses came against 2018 NCAA participants UCLA, Liberty and Cal State Fullerton.
SCOUTING UMASS
- The Minutewomen posted a perfect 21-0 record last year in the A-10 but lost twice to Fordham in the conference tournament to finish at 35-14.
- UMass is coming off a doubleheader split at Stetson in which it dropped a 2-1 (9) decision and then claimed a 15-2 (6) victory.
- UMass has notable wins against East Carolina (5-0), Columbia (10-2 & 5-0), Providence (3-1) and Seton Hall (8-5) with losses to Villanova (4-1), then-No. 20 Wisconsin (8-0), Iowa (5-3) and Kansas (4-2).
- The Minutewomen are batting .258 with 21 doubles, six homes and five triples while holding opponents to .272, 25 doubles, 12 homers and eight triples.
- Kaitlyn Stavinoha leads the offense at .377 with seven doubles, three triples, two homers and 15 RBIs ... Both Erin Stacevicz (.312) and Kaycee Carbone (.304) have combined for 15 RBIs with Carbone tallying a team-high four homers.
- Kiara Oliver (3-9, 2.81 ERA) owns 60 strikeouts in 74.2 innings while holding opponents to a .255 batting average ... Quinn Breidebach (4-2, 3.53 ERA) and Kenadee Rausch (3-1, 3.72 ERA) have combined for the other 10 starts.
SERIES HISTORY
- BU won last year's matchup, 7-4, at Hofstra to improve to 5-15 all-time against UMass.
- Morrow and Heinen combined for five of the Terriers' 12 hits in the victory.
- The Terriers last hosted and defeated UMass, 10-6, back on April 22, 2015.
