By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech softball team comes home with a winning streak in tow as the Golden Eagles entertain Rhode Island for a twinbill, starting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Rams, out of the Atlantic 10 Conference, come into Cookeville with a 1-11 record, following a trip to Murray, Ky., for the Racer Classic. URI has lost its last 10 games, its lone victory coming on Feb. 17 against Mount St. Mary's at Elon, N.C.
Rhode Island went 0-4 at the Racer Classic, losing 8-0 in five innings to Illinois-Chicago, 2-0 to the host Racers, 10-2 to Oakland in six innings and another 5-0 defeat to UIC. The trip kicks off a Tennessee road trip with two games against the Golden Eagles, a jaunt over to Murfreesboro to take on Middle Tennessee, then competing in the Belmont/Tennessee State Invitational this weekend in Nashville, taking on TSU twice, Ball State and Samford in neutral site action, and a game against Belmont.
Erica Robles leads the Rams with a .333 average, while Erika Yeager and Kylie Shivery each lead URI with five RBI. Yeager and Shivery have nearly identical batting averages, .276 for the former, .270 for the latter.
In the circle, Riley Kernan has the lone win for the Rams, posting a 1-3 record with a 5.40 earned run average. Becca Rogers (0-4, 4.24) has the team lead in strikeouts with 22, while Sarah Gunderson (0-4, 8.53) has pitched the most innings, working 25 1/3 frames.
Tech (6-14) picked up a pair of wins Saturday at Presbyterian College, starting a three-game win streak and have won four of its last seven.
Raegan Sparks leads Tech at the plate, posting a .415 batting average and 19 RBI – two shy of the Rams' season total of 21. Sparks hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season on Saturday. Bayli Cruse (.323) has 18 RBI, while Callen Griffin rounds out the double-digit run producers with 10 RBI.
In the circle, Kayla Hughes picked up her second win in as many appearances on Saturday, coming on in relief to pitch Tech to a 5-4 win over the Blue Hose. On the season, she has a 2-2 record with a 9.73 ERA. Taylor Waldrop continues to lead the Tech pitchers with a 3-6 record and a 5.81 ERA.
Photo by Jim Dillon
