Troy Softball Opens Season at Nationally Ranked Auburn

AUBURN, Alabama - The Troy softball team will open its first season under head coach Beth Mullins on Thursday night at 6 p.m. as it travels to face the No. 20/19 Auburn at Jane B. Moore Field.

The game will be shown on SEC Network Plus, which airs on ESPN3. Live stats can be found on the softball schedule page at TroyTrojans.com. To follow the game on Twitter, follow @TroyTrojansSB.

Mullins is just the second head coach in Troy's Division I history. Mullins was hired after being an assistant coach at Mississippi State for the last three seasons.

Troy is coming off a 22-30-2 finish and a 5-13 record in Sun Belt play last season. The Trojans lost in the first round of the Sun Belt tournament to ULM.

The Trojans have four starters returning, including the whole pitching staff, from last season. Troy's 2.96 ERA ranked third in the Sun Belt last year.

Senior Jaycee Affeldt returns as the leader of this year's pitching staff. Affeldt struck out 164 last season, which set her at sixth in the Sun Belt. Affeldt was also sixth in the conference in ERA with 2.77. Batters hit just .222 when facing her which was fifth lowest in the conference.

Auburn is one of six preseason nationally-ranked teams the Trojans will face in 2015. The Tigers take the No. 20 spot in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 and the No. 19 spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25.

The Tigers went 42-19-1 last season in Clint Myers first year as Auburn head coach. The Tigers finished second in the Minneapolis regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Auburn leads the series against Troy, 13-7-1. Troy and Auburn met twice last season, including in the season opener at the Troy Softball Complex which ended in a 5-5 tie. The last time the two teams played the Tigers took a 13-5 victory in Auburn.

Troy will return home to host the Troy Classic which will take place Friday through Sunday at the Troy Softball Complex. Games will start Friday at 9:30 a.m., with Troy's first game coming against Florida A&M beginning at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on Troy softball visit TroyTrojans.com or follow the Trojans on twitter at @TroyTrojansSB.

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Players Mentioned

Jaycee Affeldt