LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis softball team (23-6, 8-0 NEC) hosts Fairleigh Dickinson (0-10, 0-8 NEC) for a four-game mid-week series. The teams will play doubleheaders on Wednesday and Thursday, beginning at noon.
 

The Matchup: Saint Francis (23-6, 8-0 NEC) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (0-10, 0-8 NEC)
Location: Red Flash Softball Field (Loretto, Pa.)
Date and Time: Wednesday and Thursday at noon (both doubleheaders)
Live Stats: sfuathletics.com
NEC Front Row: Wednesday | Thursday
 
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
Fairleigh Dickinson enters the series with a 0-10 record and is 0-8 in conference play. The Knights opened the season with a doubleheader loss at Stony Brook before beginning NEC games. FDU was swept in series at LIU and at home against Central Connecticut. Most recently against the Blue Devils, the Knights lost by one run in three of the four games with the outlier being a 13-3 loss in six innings to wrap up the first day of the series. Fairleigh Dickinson was picked to finish seventh in the league, according to the preseason coaches' poll.

This season, graduate student infielder/outfielder Summer Mendoza leads the FDU offense in batting average (.333), hits (9), doubles (2), triples (1) and on-base percentage (.400). Junior pitcher/infielder Alayna Savaglio leads the pitching staff in ERA (4.10), appearances (5), starts (4), complete games (1), innings pitched (27.1), strikeouts (36) and opponents' batting average (.217).

SERIES WITH THE KNIGHTS
Saint Francis is 23-15 in the all-time series with Fairleigh Dickinson. The Red Flash has won the past eight meetings with the Knights. In 2019, the two teams played a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season with SFU winning 11-0 in five innings in the first game and 6-2 in the second game.

In the 11-0 win, Mekenzie Saban went 3-of-4 with three runs, a double and an RBI while Jordan Frank hit a home run and Allyn Bezjak drove in two runs. Christina Clark pitched the complete game shutout, giving up four hits through five innings while totaling two strikeouts. In the 6-2 win, Saban and Frank each had a hit and scored a run.

LAST TIME OUT
The Red Flash earned a series sweep of Merrimack on the road to improve to 8-0 in Northeast Conference play. Saint Francis earned 5-2 and 6-1 wins on Friday as Rachel Marsden pitched her first collegiate no-hitter in the 6-1 win. The Red Flash won by a 21-3 margin in five innings in the first game on Saturday before closing out the series with a 4-1 win. In the 21-3 win, Tayven Rousseau hit a grand slam on her way to a season-high six RBI. Lauren Aubry hit two home runs in the 4-1 win, her first of the season to tie the game and her second in the top of the seventh inning as insurance.

The SFU pitching staff ranks fifth in the country in ERA (1.33), tied for 15^th in shutouts (9) and 34^th in strikeout/walk ratio (3.33), while the Red Flash offense ranks 24^th in scoring (6.41), 30^th in on-base percentage (.404), 41^st in the nation in batting average (.304) and the team is tied for 31^st in win-loss percentage (.793) and is 48^th in fielding percentage (.970).

Individually, Vesco is tied for third in shutouts (7), ranks 10^th in hits allowed per seven innings (3.15), tied for 10^th in wins (12), 19^th in ERA (0.97) and is tied for 33^rd in strikeouts (104). Saban is tied for fourth in doubles (12), tied for 14^th in runs per game (1.21), tied for 24^th in hits (41),
 
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To learn more about Saint Francis University, visit francis.edu.