After five consecutive games at home, Georgia Southern's softball team is on the road for a three-game series at Appalachian State this weekend.
    GSU, which is 29-15 overall and in first place in the Southern Conference with a 14-1 record, and Appalachian State (17-19, 7-9) will play a doubleheader at 11 a.m. today. Sunday's series finale is at 1 p.m.
    GSU won the regular-season series against Appalachian State last season at Eagle Field, but the Mountaineers ended the Eagles’ season with a 4-2 victory in nine innings.
    Against Charleston last weekend, GSU pitcher Sarah Purvis won the first and last games of the series. In the opener, she went 10 innings with 16 strikeouts. She pitched in relief Sunday to pick up the victory, which improved her to 15-8.
    Purvis has 179 strikeouts and hasn’t allowed more than three hits in her last six appearances, four of which were complete games.
    Marie Fogle is the top batter for the Eagles with a .416 batting average and a .672 slugging percentage. She hit her sixth home run of the season Wednesday against North Florida. Fogle has been moving up the career charts at GSU and ranks third in career batting average (.345) and first in career slugging percentage (.550).
    GSU's Mackenzie Williams leads the Eagles with seven home runs and 30 RBIs to go with a .285 average and a team-high 31 walks.
    The Eagles' pitching staff owns a 1.81 team earned-run average with Brooke Red posting a 1.57 ERA to go with a 10-0 record in her freshman season. Allie Miles, the SoCon Preseason Pitcher of the Year, has come on strong of late, earning complete-game victories in her last two league outings.
    The Mountaineers' pitching staff is led by Caroline Wainwright (8-7). She has a 3.32 ERA in 25 appearances while holding opponents to a .268 batting average. Six Mountaineers are hitting over .300, with Allie Cashion posting a .400 mark. She also has 12 home runs for a .810 slugging percentage.