BOSTON – Currently riding a season-high 13-game win streak, the Boston University softball team will visit Bucknell for a critical three-game Patriot League series starting Saturday at 12 p.m.
The defending regular-season and tournament champion Terriers (33-17) currently sit at 14-1 in conference play with the Bison one game behind at 13-2. Whoever wins two of the three games will clinch hosting rights for next week's conference tournament on May 9-11.
TERRIER TIDBITS
- BU coincidentally entered the Bucknell series last season on a 13-game win streak and went on to win the first two games for the longest streak since 2001 (18 games) before dropping the third contest in eight innings.
- The Terriers are 6-8 in true road games compared to the 15-0 home record with six losses by a combined nine runs ... BU most recently claimed a 6-0 win at Brown after claiming a sweep at Lafayette by a combined score of 25-1.
- Last weekend, BU pulled out a pair of 2-1 home victories against Army, the only PL team to defeat Bucknell (2x) this season, and then completed the sweep with an 11-6 come-from-behind victory.
- Overall, BU is batting .268 while holding opponents to .218 ... In league play, the Terriers are hitting an even better .306 in conference play and limiting PL teams to just .156 with the Black Knights the only team so far to avoid being shut out by BU.
- Senior Emily Morrow leads the Terriers at .322 while adding 24 RBIs and 22 runs scored ... Reigning PL Player of the Year and senior Alex Heinen (.316) is the other Terrier above .300 with eight homers and 34 RBIs.
- Heinen has increased that average to .386 in conference play ... Sophomore Jen Horita (.280) is hitting a team-high .458, and freshman Nicole Amodio (.252) leads the Terriers with 13 RBIs in PL-only games.
- Freshman Aliyah Huerta-Leipner (.288) has blasted PL teams with four of her seven homers and three doubles, while senior Madi Killebrew (.255) has tallied five of her eight doubles.
- In the circle, sophomore Ali DuBois (21-8, 1.44 ERA) and freshman Emily Gant (11-7, 1.45 ERA) have combined for 319 strikeouts in 305.2 innings of work while adding 14 shutouts ... In conference play, they have allowed just 10 earned runs in 102.0 innings for a 0.69 ERA that will be tested by a hot-hitting Bucknell squad.
SCOUTING BUCKNELL
- The Bison are 8-1 at home this season with three-game sweeps against Colgate (6-1, 10-8, 9-1) and Lafayette (8-0, 9-1, 2-0) ... They recorded a split against Mount St. Mary's (2-0, 4-5) and pulled out an 8-7 win against Binghamton.
- In conference play, Bucknell is 13-2 with three-game sweeps against Lehigh (2-0, 14-3, 8-3) and Holy Cross (5-0, 1-0, 5-3) ... The Bison most recently went 1-2 at Army back on April 20-21 with a 6-1 win in-between 4-1 and 4-2 losses.
- Bucknell is batting .286 on the season and an even more impressive .332 in conference play while holding opponents to .254 and PL teams to .189.
- The rookie Allyse Volpe has been tearing it up with a .423 average, tallying 16 stolen bases with two-plus homers, doubles and triples.
- Lauren Hadley (.340), Anna Gimmestad (.338) and Taylor Wolfgang (.297) all have seven homers apiece and have combined for 99 RBIs.
- In the circle, Raeanne Geffert (14-12, 2.16 ERA) owns 159 strikeouts in 175.0 innings, while Lauren Lichtenwalner (11-6, 2.80 ERA) has 42 strikeouts in 112.1 innings ... The duo has posted a 1.66 ERA in conference play with five shutouts.
SERIES HISTORY
- The Terriers are 11-6 all-time against Bucknell after most recently winning the 2018 PL semifinal match, 6-4, en route to the NCAAs ... The Tournament MVP Killebrew tallied five RBIs with the help of a three-run homer, and Morrow turned a double play to seal the victory in the bottom of the seventh.
- BU won the 2014 PL title against the Bison at Lehigh but was later prevented from defending the title by suffering a three-game sweep at Bucknell on the final week of the 2015 regular season.
- The Terriers are 2-3 all-time in Lewisburg, rebounding from the sweep in 2015 with a doubleheader sweep of their own in 2017 (4-2, 4-3).
- Last season at home, BU won two of three in the weekend series to clinch its first conference regular season title since 2012 ... The Terriers first earned an 8-4 win and then used Morrow's walk-off homer to edge the Bison, 1-0, in game two ... Bucknell avoided the sweep with a 2-1 eight-inning win.
