HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson softball team makes a short trip to Rider on Wednesday for an afternoon doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m.
 
Live stats will be available for both games Wednesday on gobroncs.com. The team also has postponed its scheduled Northeast Conference games this weekend against Saint Francis U and Robert Morris due to expected rain heading into the area over the weekend. A make-up date for both doubleheaders is still to be determined.
 
ENTERING THE GAMES
The Knights (11-30, 3-7 NEC) closed out this past weekend with a 10-2 victory in six innings over Central Connecticut State on Sunday. The Knights scored as many runs as they had hits in the game, with senior Holly Mercier and freshman Amarys Miller-Godsey tallying three hits apiece. Miller-Godsey drove in a season-high five RBI and hit a three-run home run, the first of her collegiate career, and Mercier scored three runs while driving in two as well. Senior Baylee Ports allowed only four hits and two unearned runs while striking out four in earning the complete game victory, her 15th win of her career.
 
HIT AFTER HIT
Senior Serena Meehan went 2-for-3 in both games against CCSU, scoring two runs and driving in two more runs in the 10-2 victory. In the process, the senior extended her current hitting streak to seven straight games. Meehan leads the team this season with 13 runs scored and five stolen bases, and she is hitting .310 in 10 Northeast Conference games this season.
 
SEASON LEADERS
Senior Reanna Cervantes leads the Knights with a .290 batting average, 31 hits, six doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI this season. Sophomore Rylie Schmeh leads the NEC with four triples this season, also scoring 12 runs and driving in 10 to go with four doubles. In the circle, Ports leads the Knights with a 3.19 ERA, eight complete games, five wins and 68 strikeouts in 94.1 innings pitched over 19 games. Sophomore Abby England (3.38) and junior Erica Johnson (3.83) also sport ERAs under 4.00 while combining for 138.1 innings and 100 strikeouts. As a team, the Knights rank second in the NEC with a .965 fielding percentage, with 15 of 18 players having committed three or fewer errors this season.
 
MOVING UP THE RANKS
Senior Baylee Ports continued her steady climb up the FDU all-time pitching records this past weekend. She became the eighth Knight pitcher to have logged over 300 innings pitched by going six innings at CCSU on Sunday, also making her 88th career appearance (third all-time) and 45th career start (tied for 10th with teammate Erica Johnson). She also earned her 18th complete game to tie for 11th all-time and tied for sixth in FDU history with her 15th win of her career. Ports needs 13 strikeouts to become the fifth Knight to record 200 career punchouts, and her career ERA of 4.54 is one-tenth of a point shy of making the top 10 in program history.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Knights enter Wednesday's games with a 3-9 record when facing Rider, having dropped each of the last seven games to the Broncs. FDU last faced Rider in the 2017 season, falling 4-2 and 5-0 in a road doubleheader. The Knights last defeated Rider in a 3-2 extra inning win back in 2010.
 
SCOUTING RIDER
The Broncs (6-32) enter the games having lost five of their last six contests, including three straight. The Broncs dropped three of four MAAC games this past weekend, splitting with Saint Peter's before falling in both games at Manhattan on Sunday. Three of the wins for Rider this season came against conference opponents – Niagara, Monmouth and Saint Peter's – with their other three wins coming against UC Davis, Penn and Princeton. Kelsey Marigliano is hitting .300 and has scored 16 runs to lead the Broncs, and Rachael Zeides has two home runs and 11 RBI. Brooklyn Trujillo is Rider's leading pitcher with three wins and six complete games in 72.2 innings while sporting a 6.56 ERA. Debra Jones has compiled 52 strikeouts in 71.2 innings and also has three wins as well. Rider was picked to finish 10th in the MAAC Preseason Poll after going 17-33 last season.
 
AROUND THE NEC
The Knights are currently in seventh place in the NEC standings, trailing fourth-place Saint Francis U (7-5) by three games (four in the wins column, two in the loss column). The Knights have splits this season with second-place LIU Brooklyn (5-1) and third-place Sacred Heart (6-4), and still have to play SFU and fifth-place Robert Morris (4-4) later this season. Bryant (7-1) currently occupies the top spot in the standings with three weekends remaining until the start of the NEC Tournament.