After a road sweep on NC State, the Hokies return home for a three midweek, non-conference games – a doubleheader on Tuesday at 4:00 against Binghamton and a single game versus Lipscomb on Wednesday at 6:00. Here’s a brief breakdown of these two opponents:

Binghamton Preview

The Binghamton Bearcats visit Blacksburg Tuesday for a doubleheader. So exactly how did the State University of New York at Binghamton end up on the Hokies schedule? Well, I would assume Blacksburg were convenient (how often do you hear that?). The Bearcats spent the weekend in Harrisonburg playing in the JMU Dukes Invitational and are heading to South Carolina for a total of 5 games with Furman and Winthrop, so Blacksburg was on the way.
The Bearcats started their season a little later than many teams and have yet to play any home games. The Bearcats are 6-7 after going 2-2 in Harrisonburg last weekend with wins over Rutgers and Morgan State and losses to St. Joseph’s and JMU (run-ruled 15-0). They have an RPI of 212. They have any overall team batting average of .257, with only 6 HRs on the year. At the plate, they are led by Sophomores Hannah Lyons (.324), and Lauren Matonrtinez (.306) and Freshman Marissa Braito (.293).

The Bearcats has team ERA of 4.36 with 62 strikeouts in 85 innings. Their primary pitcher is Junior Rayn Gibson, a 3-year starter who has a 3.46 ERA and has struck out 30 in 37 innings of work. Sophomore Chelsea Howard has appeared in 8 games and has pitched 21.2 innings with a 0.65 ERA.

Lipscomb Preview

The Lipscomb Bison visit Blacksburg Wednesday for a 6:00 game with the Hokies. This is another “on-the-way” game as the Bison open Atlantic Sun Conference play this weekend at Liberty. Lipscomb is a private, Christian Liberal Arts College located in Nashville with an enrollment of approximately 5,000. They were picked to finish fourth in the preseason ASun poll.
Lipscomb is 19-7-1 with an RPI of 52. They have a game scheduled against the Texas Longhorns on Monday, which is occurring after this posting. The Bison have not shied away from heavyweight competition as their losses include two run-rule losses to then #1 Florida State and a 5-0 loss to #14 Arkansas.

The Bison have a team batting average of .286 with 6 players hitting over .300, led by Senior Jordan Fortel (.412), who also leads the team in RBIs with 26. Fortel also pitches and last year no hit #14 Ole Miss. Interestingly, she has only pitched 4.1 innings this year. Freshman Katie Turner is another two-way player, hitting .323 and leading the team in ERA at 1.78 and an 8-1 record.

Junior Peyton Ward is hitting .326 and has stolen 52 bases in her career. As a team, the Bison like to run, having stolen 50 bases in 57 attempts this season. Rounding out the 300 club is Destinee Brewer (.313), Hannah Devault (.333), and Khayla Green (.317).
The Bison have solid pitching with a team ERA of 3.17 and 183 strikeouts in 181 innings and a fairly deep pitching staff. In addition to Turner (mentioned above), who has 7 starts, Mandy Jordan (7-4, 2.28 ERA) has 9 starts and Megan Gray (3-1, 3.85 ERA) has 7.

Here’s a quick Stats Comparison: