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Rita Willhite

SB: Huskies bound for Bayou to battle Colonels

HCU in three-way tie for third, with Nicholls just a half-game behind



HCU Huskies (20-24, 9-9 SLC) vs Nicholls Colonels (24-22, 10-11 SLC)
HCU heads to the Louisiana bayou to battle Nicholls this weekend in a three--game series between two teams looking to improve their place in the conference standings. 

Coming into the weekend set, the Huskies sit at 9-9 in Southland play. Nicholls has played one more series thus far and is 10-11, just 0.5 games behind the three-team logjam of HCU, Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland table. 

Both NSU and TAMUCC are on the road this weekend as well, with the Demons at Texas A&M-Commerce and the Islanders taking on league-leading McNeese in Lake Charles.

The Huskies dropped two of three in Beaumont last weekend, both losses coming in heartbreaking walk-off fashion to the Cardinals. Those two defeats sandwiched an extra-inning affair in Friday's doubleheader nightcap in which HCU scored four times in the ninth frame to capture victory.

Haylie Savage hit the 40-RBI plateau for the season with two more ribbies in the opener at Lamar on Friday afternoon. She is now batting .354 on the season with seven homers, and is just three short of entering the top 10 for a single-season.

Continuing to push her average north, Avery Drake is now batting .340 with 14 RBI and 15 stolen bases. She is fifth all-time in swipes with 37. 

Autumn Sydlik is second on the squad in homers with four, and has 18 RBI. Her longball and trot around the bases in the 1st game of the SLU series on April 14 pushed her into a tie for eighth all-time with 19 career dingers. Kaicey Hagler is batting .268 and has driven in 13 runs over her last 10 games, giving her 27 on the season, second on the team. 

The Huskies have three pitchers all with ERA's hovering right over 3.00 on the season. Katy Janes leads the hurlers with a 3.06 ERA while Ronni Grofman is 2-1 over her last three starts and has lowered her ERA to 3.16. 

Lyndie Swanson leads the staff with nine victories, her third straight season hitting that mark. She now has 30 career victories, and she has moved into the top 10 in all-time games pitched with 85. 

Nicholls is 24-22 after earning a 6-3 win over Southern University in a mid-week home game Wednesday night. The Colonels have lost five of their last six in SLC play, most recently two of three to Southeastern in Hammond. 

The offense is led by freshman second baseman Erin Krause, who bats a team-best .400 while driving in 30 runs and stealing 14-17 on the basepaths. The Colonels are 103-120 in the stolen base department, led by freshman centerfielder Claire Sisco, who is 24-28. 

Junior outfielder Alexa Poché bats .311 with four homers and 34 RBI, while senior first-sacker Melise Gossen leads the Colonels with eight homers and 36 RBI. 

In the circle, the Colonels lean heavily on two hurlers, Audrey McNeil and Molly Yoo, who have combined for 38 starts in Nicholls 46 outings.

McNeil, a junior right-hander, is 10-8 overall with a 2.61 ERA and 78 K's in 115.1 innings, while You, a rookie southpaw, is 11-10 with a 2.93 ERA, fanning 63 in 112.1 innings.

The two teams will play twice on Friday followed by the series finale on Saturday. This is the final road series of the regular season for HCU, while also closing the regular season slate for the Colonels, who will have 10 days off before the SLC Tournament begins on May 9.
 
Friday's doubleheader can be seen live on ESPN+, with all three games of the series available to folllow through LIVE STATS or inning-by-inning updates on @HCUSoftball twitter. 
 
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