MOREHEAD, Ky. — The Morehead State softball team returns to the diamond this weekend for four games in the Red and Black Classic in Boiling Springs, N.C.

On Saturday, the Eagles will face East Tennessee State (1-4) and host Gardner-Webb (2-3) at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively, and then return on Sunday to face the same two foes at 10 a.m. and noon, respectively.

Morehead State (0-5) is coming off a tough road trip to Monroe, La., at the Best on the Bayou Classic, where it dropped games to Louisiana Tech, Evansville, Syracuse, host Louisiana-Monroe and Jacksonville State.

The team came away from the tournament a little banged up, but coach Samantha Jones said most everyone is expected to be healthy and ready to play.

"The girls are excited to go to Gardner-Webb this weekend. It's nice to have a little bit of a shorter trip on the bus, but still stopping halfway to get their bodies moving. But hopefully, after a couple of off days this week, they're recovered and are ready to go," she said. "We are also thankful to have a couple players back in our lineup that have recovered from injuries. We expect to see some great pitching and a lot of power hitters, and defenses that do a great job of doing the little things right. So, just like last weekend, this level of competition will prepare us for conference (games) in a few weeks."

This past weekend, the Eagles had solid pitching but struggled to get their bats going.

"This week in practice we worked a lot on timing when it comes to hitting, seeing different pitches, as well as over-communication on our defense and being more intentional with our communication," Jones said. "On an offensive standpoint, (we were) working on getting our bunts down off a pitching machine and live pitching."

One bright spot has been the play of senior catcher Peyton Slater, who leads the team with a .357 batting average and boasts a four-game hitting streak. The Eagles continue to take advantage of their speed and a number of players who are base-stealing threats swiped a few in Louisiana. Four different team members have stolen a base this season and the squad has been successful on 5-of-7 attempts.

Four pitchers saw action in the circle last weekend. Freshman Madi Ogden (0-3) and sophomore Lennon Spicer (0-2) had some strong outings at the Best on the Bayou Classic. Ogden had six strikeouts in 16 innings, while Spicer tallied 11 in 11 frames.

Gardner-Webb is hosting its second straight tournament. This past weekend, the Bulldogs (2-3) opened the season with a pair of eight-inning victories, topping Youngstown State (3-2) and Rhode Island (6-5). The squad then dropped its final three contests to Colgate (2-0), Rhode Island (2-1) and Youngstown State (8-1). Senior outfielder Abbey Goodrum and senior pitcher Reah Barger are each hitting .333. Junior pitcher Andrea Lyon got the bulk of the work at the Bulldogs' first tournament and enters the Red and Black Classic with a 1-2 mark, a 2.37 ERA and 20 strikeouts to six walks in 20.2 innings.

ETSU dropped its first three games of the season (Radford 9-5 and 9-3, and Binghamton 9-1 in five innings) at the Bash in the Boro in Statesboro, Ga. The Bucs bounced back with an 8-3 win over Binghamton, before falling to host Georgia Southern (4-0) in the finale. East Tennessee State is batting .264 as a team, with four Bucs hitting over .400. Junior middle infielder Alana Collins is leading the way at .545, with senior right fielder Kelly Warren next at .438. Six pitchers have seen time in the circle with no player pitching more than eight frames. Junior Allison Farr (1-1) has the most innings and owns a 5.48 ERA with eight strikeouts to three walks.

The Eagles have only met Gardner-Webb once, falling to the Bulldogs 9-5 at the Seahawk Classic in UNC Wilmington in 2013. MSU and ETSU have played 17 times since 2001 with the Bucs leading the series 11-6. The two teams last faced in 2018, when East Tennessee State won 4-2 in eight innings in March of 2018. The Eagles won twice in 2017, 1-0 in the first game of an Apr. 26 doubleheader and 7-6 in eight innings on Mar. 4 in Johnson City, Tenn.

Morehead State was scheduled to host Shawnee State in a doubleheader for its home opener on Tuesday the 22nd, but the games have been canceled due to the conditions at University Field. The Eagles will be back in action at the Evansville Tournament on Mar. 5-6.