BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University softball will look to make some noise in the Sun Belt Conference this weekend when it travels to Georgia Southern for a three-game weekend set. Saturday's doubleheader is set to begin at 1 p.m. with Sunday's first pitch scheduled to come in at 1 p.m.

Most recently, the Mountaineers (9-30, 2-10 Sun Belt) split a non-conference twinbill with Radford inside Sywassink/Lloyd Family Stadium on Wednesday. For the Eagles (20-17, 6-3 Sun Belt), they took two of three from UL Monroe last weekend in Louisiana. Georgia Southern won all three games of the series against the Black and Gold last season with scores of 6-5, 17-3 and 11-6.

Individually, Natalie Orcutt has moved up to eighth in the conference in batting average at .383, two spots above Cara Parker at .372. Parker is also third in RBI with 38 and tied for fourth in total bases with 78. Orcutt's fellow freshman, Jenny Dodd, comes in at fifth in the league for RBI with 36.

The Eagles are a middle-of-the-road team when looking at the league's statistical rankings. They are sixth in batting average (.286) and sixth in ERA (4.14), but last in fielding percentage (.944). Georgia Southern has committed the most errors in the SBC with 59 and App State comes in at second in that category with 51.

Offensively, the Eagles are led by a trio of hitters hitting above .300 including Lydia Witkowski (.359), India Davis (.329) and Morgan Robinson (.304). The redshirt-freshman Witkowski is tied for third in the conference in triples (4), fifth in hits (46) and 15th in batting average. In her own right, the junior Robinson is fourth in RBI (37).

The ace for Georgia Southern has been freshman hurler, Dixie Raley, who is 14-8 in 121.2 innings, 27 appearances, 20 starts, with a 3.57 ERA, 14 complete games, two shutouts, two saves, 121 strikeouts, and 93 walks. Hitters are managing just a .237 average against Milledgeville, Ga.