The Chase Begins

This week Big East Baseball and Softball crank up conference play  and everyone is heading for four straight weeks of conference play until the Easter Break after April 15th.  Then there is one week back to play the last week of the regular season.  This week however has a jumbled schedule as some teams play back to back conference games Tuesday and Wednesday.

Softball:  Who in their right mind would think Rocky Mount has the best overall record at 4-2 and they host Nash Central 3-4 Tuesday night. Rocky Mount has given up 38 runs in their two losses while scoring 70 and giving up 70 overall.  Nash Central has scored 58 while yielding 74.

Fike 4-3 @ Southern Nash 4-3:  Here is what I will look for in this game.  To date Fike has scored 84 runs while only allowing 25.  They have  pitching that is allowing only 2.43 earn runs per game.  Southern's batting average is only 125.  Looks like this will be a hard game for the Lady Birds to score.

Hunt 2-3 @ Northern Nash 3-4:  Neither team to date look imposing.  Hunt has scored but 28 runs while giving up 42.  Northern pitching ERA is 4.34.  So far they have played 7 games giving up 55 runs.  Almost half the runs that score on Northern are unearned.

Baseball:  Nash Central 5-3 @ Rocky Mount 4-2:  Nash Central's team batting average is 300 and pitching ERA is 4.42.  Everyone in North Carolina knows they will face David Harrison who is his four appearances has given up one earned run.  Neither team will have time to recover as both are back on the diamond Wednesday.  Nash Central is at Fike while Rocky Mount host Hunt.  Important  games for Rocky Mount as both games at home while Nash Central is on the road both times.

Fike 4-3 @ Southern Nash 7-2:  Fike has relied on two main pitchers to carry the load so far Dwight Daniels and Jaelynn Melton.  Fike's offense is scoring 6.5 runs while 5.5 giving up.  Southern Nash team batting average is 313 and team ERA 1.35.  Pitching could carry the Firebirds a long ways this year.  Thursday Southern host Northern Nash while Fike host Nash Central Wednesday.  The Firebirds get two home games so like Rocky Mount must protect the home turf.

Hunt 3-4 @ Northern Nash 3-4:   To date Hunt has scored 21 runs and the reason why only hitting 215 as a team. Their pitching has team ERA of 2.83 and the defense giving up 35 runs.  Northern after losing their first four have won three in a row.  They have scored 42 times or 6 per game.  36 runs have scored against them just a tad over 5.1 runs.  Hunt  heads to Rocky Mount Wednesday and Northern  to Southern Nash Thursday.

Both Northern Nash and Nash Central have two games on the road this week so if either or both come away with two wins they will be riding high with five home games in the last eight.