SIUE COUGARS (13-19, 0-7 Ohio Valley)
VS. TENNESSEE STATE TIGERS (14-18-1, 5-6 OVC)

Friday, April 7, 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 8, 1 p.m. DH
Edwardsville, Ill./ Cougar Field

Follow the Game
Video: ESPN+
Audio: SIUECougarNetwork.com
Live Stats: SIUEStats.com

BACK TO THE OVC: SIUE has been idle in the Ohio Valley Conference since March 26th. The Cougars have remaining OVC three-game series with Tennessee State, Southern Indiana, Tennessee Tech, Morehead State and Lindenwood.
MIDWEEK VICTORY: SIUE extended its winning streak to three games Tuesday with a 6-4, eight-inning victory at Western Illinois. Kelsey Ray went the distance in the circle and collected her fourth win of the season.
BACK-TO-BACK: SIUE softball had a pair of shutouts March 30th, besting Kansas City 3-0 and 2-0 in a doubleheader sweep. Kelsey Ray and Sydney Baalman provided back-to-back shutouts.
FILL IN THE BLANKS: SIUE now leads the Ohio Valley Conference in shutouts this season with six. Ray and Baalman each had two solo shutouts and one shared shutout. Lexi King also threw a shutout this season.
.400 LEADER: Lexi King leads the Cougars with a .402 batting average and a team-leading 41 hits. King is second in the OVC in hits and ranked 84th nationally. Her batting average is ranked 7th nationally.
PINCH HIT POWER: Hayley Palm hit a three-run, pinch-hit home run last Tuesday at Illinois. It was her first home run in a Cougar uniform. The homer also was the second pinch-hit home run of the season for the Cougars. Grace Lueke had one against Southeast Missouri.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: King and Paige Rocha lead the Cougars in doubles with 10 each. The duo had back-to-back doubles in SIUE's four-run eighth inning Tuesday at Western Illinois
SERIES VS. TENNESSEE STATE: SIUE is 20-5 all-time against Tennessee State and has won the last four meetings against the Tigers. SIUE's pitching staff yielded just one run against Tennessee State in last year's three-game regular season series.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Tennessee State has been a team of streaks in the OVC after winning the first four conference games and dropping the last five. Freshman catcher Onnika Spencer leads the Tigers in home runs (7), RBIs (23), and slugging percentage (.626).
IN THE CIRCLE: Ray is tied for the OVC lead in saves with three. She is ranked 18th nationally in that statistical category. She also leads the Cougars in earned run average at 2.78.
START OF AN ERA: After spending nearly the last decade as an assistant coach in the Big Ten Conference, Ben Sorden was tapped as the new leader of the SIUE softball program. Sorden comes to SIUE after holding positions at Michigan State and Indiana, helping the pitching staffs to national honors and top-notch results. The Lone Tree, Iowa, native most recently spent five seasons at Michigan State, where the Spartans sported a 2.38 earned run average and a 1.11 WHIP over 350 innings of play.