With the Presbyterian College softball team’s five-game excursion in the Sunshine State firmly in the rearview mirror, the Blue Hose (after an increasingly busy week that resulted in a 5-2 trek) head back to Clinton for another lengthy nonconference sequence set to begin on Friday. Another first-time encounter awaits PC tomorrow against Buffalo in doubleheader form, before closing the weekend with a Sunday one-off versus Queens on the field where head coach David Williams’ squad has assumed a 10-0 mark this year.
Averaging only one run allowed per seven innings across the team’s perfect resume when competing at the PC Softball Complex, Presbyterian puts their unsullied home record to the test tomorrow against a Buffalo visitor that has played entirely away from New York this semester, segueing to Queens 48 hours later – another foe that has featured predominantly away from home in 2023.
One of just four teams at the NCAA D-I level to boast an undefeated record at the time of their first loss to Stetson on Saturday in an extra-inning slugfest, the Blue Hose and their 1.26 ERA (the sixth-lowest figure in the country) look to start the month of March on a high note, battling the Bulls on ESPN+.
GAME INFORMATION – Friday, March 3
PC vs. Buffalo (Game 1) – 1:00 p.m.
Live Stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=441135
PC vs. Buffalo (Game 2) – 3:00 p.m.
Live Stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=441148
GAME INFORMATION – Sunday, March 5
PC vs. Queens – 12:00 p.m.
Live Stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=441136
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
- Taking on the gauntlet of their non-league schedule without a single home game mixed in until Mid-American Conference play begins later this month, Buffalo will make their first appearance at Presbyterian in the midst of a 27-game road stretch that has brought them a 3-10 record. Many of the Bulls’ outings have taken on different twists and turns in ’23, although the Big Apple guests were victorious in their last appearance on Sunday with an 8-6 W over Saint Peter’s at a neutral tournament in Virginia.
- The Royals, meanwhile, will become very acquainted with the Blue Hose over the next week and some change, competing with PC four times over an eight-day period that starts on Sunday afternoon. Rolling into the weekend at 6-6 before a DH with Buffalo scheduled for the previous day, Queens will face off against coach Williams’ club for the first time since joining the D-I ranks in the fall, totaling five road wins thus far in their debut campaign affiliated with the Atlantic Sun.
LAST TIME OUT
- Presbyterian’s elite defensive tendencies remained a constant force during the team’s three-day stay in DeLand over the weekend, although some mistimed afflictions proved costly in consecutive late-game setbacks to the hosting Hatters. Nonetheless, the Blue Hose were still able to produce a sweep over Cornell and an 8th-inning W versus North Florida to maintain a win-percentage of .867, a number that places inside the country’s top 20.
- Coach Williams and co. have nailed an emphasis on protecting home turf over the first three weeks of the season, outscoring the other side by a combined margin of 45-13 in their 10 Clinton contests, winning by an average margin of four runs per game in those appearances thanks to consistently-strong pitching for a bullpen that has synced up for six shutouts already.
- In addition to PC’s staunch ERA, the Blue Hose arms have accounted for an opposing batting average of .194 on the year beside 122 K’s. Even when factoring in the team’s hectic nonconference slate, Presbyterian’s starting pitcher (whether it’s Jenna Greene, Morgan Hess, or Peyton Duncan) has been able to go the full distance 12 times in 2023.
- Assuming the best start to a season through 15 games that the program has ever published (13-2), PC sits just two wins away from matching the 2007 team’s record for longest home winning streak, currently at 11 dating back to the Clinton finale one year ago.
