ARCATA – For the second week in a row, Humboldt State will head out on the road to face No. 10-ranked Cal State Monterey Bay in a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association serie. Both doubleheaders between the Jacks and Otters will start at 12 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Humboldt State enters the series 8-13 overall, 2-10 in the CCAA, while No. 10-ranked CSUMB stands at 18-4 overall, 10-2 in conference to put itself in second in the conference standings.

Head-to-Head

In the Jacks' second game of the year, they faced the Otters and came away with the 6-5 victory at the Best of the West Invitational hosted by Cal State Stanislaus. HSU holds the overall series upper hand with a 17-10 record against CSUMB.

LiveStats

Fans can follow all four games online via Live Stats on the Otters' website at http://scores.csumb.edu/softball/.

Lumberjack Notes

Against No. 3-ranked Chico State, Humboldt State posted 51 hits, including 14 home runs, but couldn't carry that momentum down to Sonoma State. The Seawolves held the Jacks to just 16 hits over the four-game series, with a majority of the hits not coming until the last game. 

"Sonoma State had the best pitcher we've faced this year," said head coach Frank Cheek. "She held us down for two games."

Chrissy Stalf leads the team in batting with a .470 average (fourth in the CCAA) off 31 hits, including seven doubles, a triple and two homers. Felicia Viveiros' .397 average at the plate puts her behind Stalf. Dani Randall ranks second in the conference with 30 RBIs on the season and bats at .362 with 25 hits, five of which were knocked over the fence. Alicia Reid leads the team in homers, already powering six out of the park to put her batting average at .361, just slightly behind Randall. Kirsten Nouzovsky rounds out the top five batters for the Jacks with a .308 average off 20 hits, including a home run against the Seawolves.

The Jacks held Sonoma State the first day to just two runs, but gave up a few costly defensive mistakes on the weekend. Cheek knows his team is capable of making beautiful plays defensively, but also realizes a low fielding percentage and high earned runs against average is not going to help his team win ball games.

"It's unusual for Humboldt State to be down," said Cheek. "You make your own breaks and we seem to be having a hard time with that."

Otter Notes

Cal State Monterey Bay was just one win shy of a four-game sweep over Cal State East Bay. The Otters beat the Pioneers 6-2, 7-1 and 3-2 before falling 5-6 in the last game. ... Five hitters are currently batting over .350, led by Cori Reinhardt with a .500 average, eight doubles, four triples and a home run, and ranks No. 2 in the CCAA's players with top batting averages. Two players share the lead in home runs with six each: Nina Villanueva (.450) and Jackie Serna (.385). Jackie Moon averages .424 at the plate with 10 doubles and a triple. Serna, Reindhart and Villanueva each place in the top four in the conference's top slugging percentages with .846, .817 and .800 averages, respectively. ... Not only can Reinhardt get hits at the plate, she can prevent them from the circle. The freshman pitcher averages 1.64 ERA, has struck out 34 batters and has only lost one game with nine wins. Kylie Linnae provides another weapon from the circle with a 1.34 ERA, 29 strikeouts and a 7-1 record.

Injury Report
Jessica George sustained an arm injury down at Sonoma State and is likely to be out of the lineup for a while.

Cheek's Chitchat

"This weekend is not going to be an easy weekend. Cal State Monterey Bay is hot and they're at home. We're young, but we've beaten CSUMB already this year. ... I think our pitchers are pitching up to their ability. ... We shouldn't have too many errors since we know the bounce of the ball on astroturf. It won't be a disadvantage like some schools have. Field shouldn't be a factor, nor the weather. ... I think we can hit with them, but our pitchers will have to rise to the occasion once again."