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ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop softball team will square off against Coastal Carolina on ESPN3 on Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m. at Terry Field.

The game marks the opener of a three-game set between Winthrop and Coastal Carolina and the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday. Matt Hogue (play-by-play) and Nate Ross (analyst) will call the action from.

This will be the Eagles sixth game played on an ESPN network and all-time they are 0-5. Winthrop fell 3-1 at home to Charleston Southern last season on ESPNU.

Winthrop enters the game at 20-19 overall and 8-5 in the Big South while Coastal Carolina is 23-17 overall and has a 10-4 mark in the league. Winthrop leads the all-time series 50-45, but has dropped the last five meetings to the Chanticleers.

The weekend series with the Chanticleers is the beginning of a big week for the Eagles concerning their place in the league standings. Winthrop is currently fourth at 8-5, but has the three games with Coastal Carolina (second), a doubleheader on Tuesday against league-leading Campbell and then a three-game series against Liberty next weekend. The nice thing about all eight games is they will all be played at home on Terry Field.

The Eagles have won three straight in the league after sweeping Gardner-Webb on the road last weekend. Winthrop enters the series with 77 runs in 13 league games while Coastal Carolina has put up the same number in 14 conference games. The biggest statistical defense comes on the defensive side where Coastal Carolina ranks first in pitching (2.10 ERA) and fielding (.963) in league games only. In all games, the Chanticleers rank first in team ERA and third in fielding percentage. Winthrop has a team ERA of 4.28 and its fielding percentage is .941 in league games.

Winthrop has averaged 5.9 runs per game in the league, but Coastal Carolina has not given up more than five runs in 14 league games and only did so twice in a doubleheader sweep of Longwood.

The Eagles feature a couple of the league's best hitters in senior Chelsey Schoenfeldt and junior McKenzi Corn. Schoenfeldt has been inking her name into the Winthrop record books this season and she's not done yet. Schoenfeldt is batting .358 with 28 runs, 13 home runs, 49 RBI and has walked 26 times. Her six home runs are tied for first in league games only. Corn leads the team and is sixth in the Big South with a .410 batting average. She's also scored a team-high 36 runs and has 12 doubles, three homers and 18 RBI. Both have reached base in 16 consecutive games. In the last five games, they are both batting .500 as Schoenfeldt has three homers and nine RBI while Corn has scored eight runs in that span. Over the last two years, Schoenfeldt is 12-for-20 against Coastal Carolina.

Behind Corn and Schoenfeldt, senior Kathryn Eberlin and junior Alex White are having career years offensively. Eberlin is batting .274 with 13 runs, five doubles, seven home runs and 27 RBI. She's also batting .500 in the last five games with two home runs and seven RBI. White is batting .326 with 14 runs, seven home runs and 19 RBI.

Schoenfeldt, Corn, Eberlin, White, along with sophomore Kristy Noble have been a big part of the Eagles power this season. The team has 48 home runs on the year and is approaching the school record of 52 set by the 2004 squad. That year the team had 52 home runs in 67 games.

Sophomore Sutton Watson, who missed Tuesday's action at Appalachian State, has been the mainstay in the pitching circle for the Eagles this season. She's 12-9 on the year with a 3.30 ERA with 12 complete games and 106 strikeouts to 40 walks in 127.1 innings.  

Coastal Carolina, coming off two losses at South Carolina on Wednesday, is looking to bounce back as it dropped its first conference series of the season last weekend to Radford at home. The Chanticleers are 7-1 on the road in league games this season.

Redshirt senior Cacia Pierre leads the Chanticleers with a .367 average to go along with four doubles, five home runs and 24 RBI. Sophomore Kory Hayden is the top run producer as she's driven in a team-best 31 runs to go along with a .297 average and 12 home runs on the year. Freshman Morgan Noad is batting just .173 on the year, but has been excellent at driving in runs when given the chance as she's third on the team with 23 RBI and has eight home runs. Last season Hayden was 5-for-9 against the Eagles.

Sophomore Kiana Quolas is one of the top pitchers in the Big South as she's 12-8 on the year with a 1.99 ERA with 102 strikeouts to 24 walks in 137.1 innings. She's tossed 16 complete games and has six shutouts (two in league games). In three appearances and two starts against Winthrop in 2012, Quolas was 2-0 with a 0.78 ERA with 21 strikeouts to three walks.