WILMINGTON, North Carolina – The UNCW softball team opens its Colonial Athletic Association schedule this weekend as it welcomes defending league champion Hofstra to Boseman Field for a three-game series.

The two teams will open the series Saturday with a Noon doubleheader before wrapping up the set Sunday with a single game slated for 11 a.m.

Staying Connected

Live stats will be available for all three games of the series can be accessed by clicking here ... The Seahawks Sports Network will also provide a free audio stream of the games, which can be accessed by clicking here … Fans can also keep up with the UNCW softball program by checking out the program's Facebook (UNCW Softball) and Twitter (@UNCWsoftball) accounts or the department's Facebook (UNCWsports) and Twitter (@UNCWAthletics) pages.

Seahawk Storylines

• UNCW (10-14) opens league play eyeing a return to the win column after dropping a weekend doubleheader to visiting USC Upstate last Saturday at Boseman Field.
• The Seahawks fell by a 6-0 margin to the Spartans in the opener before being edged, 4-3, in the nightcap.
• Senior Lauryn Buckworth continues to pace the UNCW lineup as she leads the team with a .359 batting average and 14 RBI. Buckworth has reached base safely in all but two of the team's 24 contests this season.
• Buckworth is one of three players hitting above .300 for the season as junior transfers KC Shue and Morgan McCann are hitting .311 and .305, respectively.
• Sophomore Casey Rowland anchors a balanced rotation that has seen all four pitchers spend 10 or more innings in the circle this season. Rowland has made a team-high 15 appearances and 11 starts. She has fashioned a 6-6 record and has recorded a team-high 66 strikeouts in 72.2 innings pitched.  
• UNCW has fared well in one-run contests this season as they are 3-3 in games decided by a single run. The Seahawks have dropped each of their last three one-run affairs, including a one-run decision to USC Upstate last weekend at Boseman Field.
• The Seahawks have done a majority of their damage at the plate in the fifth inning as UNCW has 33 of its 105 runs scored this season in that frame and holds a 33-10 advantage in runs plated in that inning. 
• UNCW is 10-2 this season when it records as many or more hits and its opponent. Both of the Seahawks losses under such circumstances have come when the team has matched its opponent in the hit department.
• Junior Camry Wagner and freshman Erin Brown are the only two players that have started all 24 games this season for the Seahawks. Wagner has seen time at both shortstop and the designated player positions while Brown has split time between five positions (C, 2B, 3B, LF & CF).

Scouting Hofstra

• Riding an eight-game winning streak, Hofstra (11-8) looks to repeat as league champions after running the table in 2012 with a perfect 19-0 mark, marking the first time since the 1997 season that the Pride had posted an unblemished record against conference competition.
• Senior Tessa Ziemba paces a potent Hofstra lineup as she leads the Pride in batting (.364), RBIs (22), runs scored (20), hits (24) and slugging percentage (.833). Ziemba currently paces the circuit with nine home runs and 55 total bases.
• Senior first-team All-America selection Olivia Galati has served as the workhorse of the Pride rotation, pitching 88 percent of the team's innings this season. Galati brings an 11-7 record and a 2.35 ERA into league play as she has posted four shutouts and struck out 113 and walked only 16 in 107 1/3 innings this season.
• Bill Edwards is in his 24th season as head coach of the Pride. A member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Fame, Edwards has guided Hofstra to 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program’s first Super Regional appearance in 2012.

Series Notes Versus Hofstra

• UNCW trails in the all-time series with Hofstra by a 3-27 margin.
• The Pride have won nine straight in the series, including a three-game sweep of the Seahawks last May in Hempstead.
• UNCW’s last victory in the series came in a 2-1 triumph on April 10, 2009 at Boseman Field.
• The Seahawks hold a 3-9 record against the Pride at Boseman Field. Hofstra took all three games of their last series in the Port City during the 2011 season.

Rowland Named CAA Pitcher-of-the-Week

UNCW sophomore hurler Casey Rowland was named CAA Pitcher-of-the-Week on Feb. 11.

• A native of Albany, N.Y., Rowland went 2-0 in three appearances in the season-opening UNCW Beach Blast Feb. 8-10. She struck out 12 in 13.1 innings while limiting opponents to a .114 batting average as she helped the Seahawks post a 3-2 record in the event.
• Rowland opened the tournament with a one-hit shutout of Detroit and followed that performance with a complete-game effort against Iona that saw her scatter three hits and two walks in a 2-1 victory.
• She closed the weekend with a relief appearance against Detroit that saw her strike out three in 1.1 innings of work.

Matkins Nabs CAA Rookie Honor

• Freshman outfielder Taylor Matkins was named CAA Co-Rookie-of-the-Week, league officials announced on Tuesday.
• Matkins fashioned a .500 (6-of-12) batting average with four RBI and four runs scored in helping UNCW to a 4-1 record during the week of March 4-10.
• The Greenville, N.C., product opened the week with a 3-for-6 effort that included three RBI and three runs scored in a doubleheader sweep of North Carolina A&T. Matkins followed that performance with three hits in three trips to the plate in the Seahawks' 7-3 victory over Presbyterian in the opening game of the NCCU Eagle Challenge on March 9.

Rowland Enters Career Strikeout Chart

Sophomore hurler Casey Rowland recently moved into the program's top 10 list for strikeouts in a career.

• With her 12 strikeouts during the Seahawk Clash in late February, Rowland moved into 10th place on the program's career strikeouts chart as she surpassed Heather Petroff (162).
• Rowland begins the weekend with 205 career strikeouts and is just 10 K's away from matching Amanda Wilson (2002-05) for ninth place on the all-time list (215).

The Norton Era Begins With A Win

The Seahawks gave first-year head coach Kristy Norton a victory in her UNCW debut, an 8-0 triumph over Detroit on Feb. 8 in the Seahawk Clash.

• Norton became the first UNCW head coach to win her inaugural game since Melissa Jarrell posted a 6-5 victory over Drexel to begin the 2002 season.

The Run Game

• The Seahawks are 59-16-1 since the start of the 2008 season when they score five or more runs in a game.
• UNCW is 6-1 this season when plating five or more runs in a game. The only loss under such circumstances came in a 13-10 setback to Savannah State during the Florida Lipton Invitational on Feb. 16.
• The Seahawks are 11-154 since the start of the 2008 season when they are held to two or fewer runs in a game.
• UNCW is 1-9 in 2013 when plating two runs or less in a game. The Seahawks lone win when scoring two run or less came in a 2-1 victory over Iona in the UNCW Beach Blast on Feb. 8.

Up Next

UNCW continues conference play with a three-game series at George Mason March 30-31.