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Opponent: #19/20 James Madison (40-6)
Time: Wednesday, April 29; 5 PM (DH)
Location: Veterans Memorial Park; Harrisonburg, Va.
Broadcast: MadiZONE HD SportsNet (internet, free)
Announcers: Curt Dudley & Brandy Sowers
Live Stats: Available on hokiesports.com/softball/live
In-Game Updates: @VT_Softball on Twitter

The Headlines
• Virginia Tech enters the doubleheader at James Madison at 33-16 overall, after getting swept at home this past weekend by NC State. The Hokies have lost four of their past five games.

• Kelsey Mericka has 15 home runs on the season after hitting three on April 18 at Pitt and is chasing the school record of 16 set by Megan Evans in 2005.

• Senior Lauren Gaskill, who already holds the school record for career runs scored with 176, has started all 230 games Tech has played in her four-year career.

• Virginia Tech is ranked 37th in the fourth NCAA RPI with four top-50 wins (James Madison; Louisville [3]). JMU is 13th in the RPI.

Going, Going, Gone
• Virginia Tech is among the conference leaders in home runs with 55, sitting third in the ACC behind UNC and NC State. The Hokies hit 59 home runs last year to set a new school record and are on pace to break that record this year.

• Tech features a lineup where 11 players have at least one home run on the season. Eight players have four home runs or more, three of whom have seven or more. Kelsey Mericka leads the way with 15, which is third in the ACC.

About James Madison
• JMU (40-6) is ranked 19th/20th (13th RPI) and riding a nation-leading 31-game winning streak into Wednesday’s I-81 Commonwealth Battle. The last time the Dukes lost was on March 8 to Stony Brook. In that stretch, they have swept Virginia and North Carolina from the ACC.

• The Dukes hit a staggering .351 as a team while their opponents are hitting just .172. Erica Field, sister of former Tech catcher Alicia Field, leads the way with a .437 average and 21 doubles. Seven other regulars hit over .300, including Megan Good (.392, 8 HRs), Taylor Newton (.391, 12 SBs, 7 HRs) and Jailyn Ford (.382, 10 HRs).

• In the circle, JMU features a dynamic rotation that has a staff ERA of 1.55 with 334 strikeouts against just 58 walks. Good leads the way with a perfect 24-0 record. She has 161 strikeouts in 151.0 innings and is one of 26 semifinalists for the national player of the year. Ford, who was a semifinalist, for the same award a year ago, is 14-4 with a 2.21 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 110.2 innings.

• Tech leads the series 10-4 after the Hokies beat JMU 3-2 in eight innings earlier this season in Jacksonville, Florida. Kelsey Mericka hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning and Maggie Tyler had a career-high 17 strikeouts in the game.

For updates on Virginia Tech softball, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_Softball