Bean Town Times

In a matchup of defending conference regular season champions, the Patriot League's Boston University softball team will host the Big East's UConn on Wednesday with first pitch slated for 3 p.m.

TERRIER TIDBITS

• BU won 29 straight games against New England schools until dropping a 2-1 decision in the second game of a home doubleheader to Yale last week. The Terriers are currently on a two-game win streak following a DH sweep at Merrimack (9-0, 2-1).
• On Tuesday, junior Kayla Roncin earned her second and BU's fourth overall PL Player of the Week award this season after batting .571 with eight RBIs. She currently ranks 12th nationally with 45 hits and 18th at .459 while leading the team at four homers, 25 RBIs and 26 runs.
• Also PL weekly award winners, junior Lauren Keleher is batting .375 with senior Caitlin Coker third on the team at .312. Coker has scored 25 runs and is a perfect 11-of-11 on stolen base attempts.
• Both sophomore Tyesha Williams (.303) and graduate student Emily Gant (.301) are hitting over .300 with freshman Brooke Deppiesse the next closest at .278. Deppiesse is tied with Coker for second at 20 RBIs.
• In the circle, senior Allison Boaz (10-4, 2.28 ERA) has tallied 78 strikeouts in 83.0 innings, while freshman Kasey Ricard (8-2, 2.89 ERA) owns 79 strikeouts in 62.1 innings. They've combined with senior Lizzy Avery (4-1, 2.05 ERA) for 13 shutouts.
• Overall, BU is batting .311 while holding opponents to .209 with a 35-14 advantage in doubles.

SCOUTING UCONN

• UConn most recently went 2-1 at home against Georgetown in a Big East weekend series.
• The Huskies own five top-101 RPI victories against Indiana (5-0), Georgia Tech (6-5), Boston College (9-7) and UNC Greensboro (2-0, 3-1).
• Makenzie Mason is batting a team-high .422, while Aziah James is batting .398 with 19 stolen bases. Grace Jenkins (.346) and Jana Sanden (.321) have combined for eight homers and 39 RBIs.
• UConn's staff has only pitched four complete games with all four pitchers combining for five saves. Payton Kinney (5-5, 2.27 ERA) has 56 strikeouts in 52.1 innings, while Hope Jenkins (7-1, 3.30 ERA) has 50 strikeouts in 70.0 innings.
• UConn is batting .299 while holding opponents to .215 with a 72-26 advantage in stolen bases.

SERIES HISTORY

• BU leads the all-time series, 12-8, in a rivalry that dates back to 1996 and is riding a five-game win streak.
• Coincidentally, both the first-ever meeting that took place in the 1996 NCAA tournament and last year's road matchup saw BU prevail by an identical score of 5-2.
• Last season, BU scored all five runs in the fourth inning with the help of a three-run homer by graduate student Emily Gant.

UP NEXT

• BU will open Patriot League play at Holy Cross with Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's rubber game set to begin at 12 p.m.
• The Terriers lead the all-time series, 46-8, and have won the last 19 meetings, including the last four by a combined score of 23-0.

Original source can be found here.