The Bobcats (13-4) are looking to go a perfect 6-0 in this weekend’s ASU/GCU tournament as they travel to Phoenix to prepare to face off with the Grand Canyon Antelopes (11-3), who are currently 3-1 in this weekend’s tournament. This is the weekend’s finale before the Bobcats turn their focus to the Texas Longhorns, who come to San Marcos this Wednesday. The Bobcats are currently riding a six-game win streak, while the Antelopes have a three-game win streak going for them, so someone’s streak will come to an end today. The Antelopes opened up the tournament by splitting their first two games on Friday as they lost to New Mexico State (1-4) and defeated Idaho State (4-0). Just as the Bobcats did, they swept their Saturday schedule after picking up wins against Seton Hall (3-0) and Ohio State (2-1, in 8 innings).

The Bobcats and Antelopes have only faced off twice in the past with the Antelopes winning both games. The first time they faced off was in 2015 in San Marcos where the Antelopes escaped with a 4-3 win after the Bobcats failed to score while having runners on second and third base. The next time the two teams met was in 2016 and the game was not close at all as the Antelopes won 10-0 via run rule in five innings. That game saw the Antelopes score 10 runs in the first two innings as the Bobcats had the same amount of errors as they did hits, three.

The Bobcats will have to keep up their momentum as they are scoring 1.4 runs (27.7% of their total) per game in the first inning compared to the overall team average of 4.9 runs. When the Bobcats score in the first inning, they are undefeated this season with a record of 9-0 in those instances. In their losses, the Bobcats are averaging 1.25 runs per game scoring only 1 run three times in three of their losses and 2 runs in their only other loss. To stress that run production early in their games is important for them to come away with a win is an understatement. In their current six-game winning streak they have scored at least one run in five of those six contests and in the other game, they were able to score in the second inning. The Bobcats are giving up an average of 2.3 runs per game and ironically the first inning is where they have given up the most runs in their games, giving up 25.6% of their total runs in this frame.

The Antelopes are led on offense by Kristin Fifield, who is batting .372 with 16 hits, 16 RBI’s, and 2 home runs, Ashley Trierweiler, who is batting .357 with 15 hits, and 2 RBI’s, Katelyn Dunckel, who is batting .286 with 10 hits, 12 RBI’s, and 2 home runs. Offensively the Antelopes are averaging 5 runs per game while giving up 2.1 runs per game this season. The Antelopes bullpen is led by Ariel Thompson who is 4-0 this season with an ERA of 0.53 in 26.1 innings pitched and 16 strikeouts. Two other pitchers to look out for are Meghan Golden, who is 2-0 this season with an ERA of 1.26 in 16.2 innings pitched and 15 strikeouts, and Hailey Hudson, who is 2-3 this season and has an ERA of 2.01 in 31.1 innings pitched and 33 strikeouts.

Things To Keep An Eye On

As mentioned earlier the Bobcats scoring earlier in their games bolds well for them so getting off to a fast start will play a key role in they want to finish out this weekend’s tournament undefeated and push their win streak to seven. The Antelopes are averaging 2 runs per game in their three losses this season so this should be the magic number for the Bobcats to hold them to. The Bobcats have a nice 1-2 punch in pitchers Jessica Mullins (6-1 this season) and Maddy Azua (3-2 this season) as they have combined for 76 strikeouts and only 12 earned runs in 73.1 innings pitched. Both Mullins and Azua have proved that they can come in late in the game and pick up a save so using both in this game either together or combined with any of their other talented pitchers could be a possibility if needed. Hannah Earls, Ciara Trahan, and Piper Randolph each have had at least one hit per game in this weekend’s tournament and Earls and Trahan are currently on a 9-game hit streak while Randolph is on a 6-game hit streak.

This game is scheduled to get underway at 12:30pm (central time) on Sunday, February 25th, and can be seen live on ESPN+ (Subscription required).