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FIRST PITCH
     Portland State wraps up its 2018 home schedule this week with a big three-game Big Sky Conference series against conference-leading Weber State. The series opens with a doubleheader on Friday, April 27 at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex in Hillsboro, Ore. Saturday's series finale will be Senior Day for the Vikings.   
     The Vikings are coming off their third series win of the year, second straight, after taking 2-of-3 at Montana last weekend. The Vikings plated four runs in the top of the third inning to take the first game 6-3. The Grizzlies needed a walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to even the series with a 3-2 win in game two. 
     Portland State held on to take the series with a 3-2 win in game three behind another complete game performance by JR RHP Alyssa Burk. It was her 14th complete game of the year, eighth in league play. Burk picked up both wins on the weekend, giving her 10 on the year. She is the first Viking pitcher to record double-digit wins in a season since Anna Bertrand in 2013. 

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ONLINE: Live stats will be available for all three games against Weber State. Links are available on the Softball schedule page at GoViks.com.

LIVE VIDEO: A live video stream will be available for all home games played on Field 4 (dirt) at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex this season. If, due to inclement weather, the games are moved to the turf field, there will be no live stream. Links are available on the Softball schedule page at GoViks.com.

CONFERENCE ACE: JR RHP Alyssa Burk has established herself as the Vikings' pitching ace throughout the Big Sky season. During league play, Burk is tied for the league-lead with seven wins. She leads the league in both opponent batting average (.188) and innings pitched (74.0). She is third with a 1.99 ERA and second with 62 strikeouts. 

MAKING HER MARK: JR RHP Alyssa Burk picked up her 10th win of the season with a complete game win against Montana on April 22. She became the first Viking since Anna Bertrand in 2013 to reach the double-digit win mark. 

ANOTHER SERIES WIN: Portland State picked up its third Big Sky series win of the season taking 2-of-3 at Montana. It is the first time since 2015 that the Vikings have tallied three series wins. PSU won five series in 2013, the first year of Big Sky softball. 

SERIES SWEEP: Portland State earned its first series sweep of the season, albeit a weather-shorted two-game series, with a pair of wins at Northern Colorado (4/14). The Vikings took the first game 12-4 in five innings before plating two runs in the top of the seventh to take game two, 3-2. 

GOING STREAKING: JR OF Tayler Gunesch's career-high 19-game hitting streak came to an end in the first game of a three-game series at Sacramento State on April 5. Over the course of the 19 games, she hit .400 with 26 hits, 16 runs scored, 12 runs batted in, nine walks, and six stolen bases. After going 0-for-3 against the Hornets in game one, she reached safely over the next two games, going 3-for-7 at the plate with a pair of runs scored.

SERIES WIN: Portland State picked up its first conference series win of the year after defeating Idaho State, 2-1, at home last weekend. The Vikings took the first game 2-1 in 10 innings behind a tremendous pitching performance by JR RHP Alyssa Burk. After dropping game two 5-4, Burk threw her first complete-game shutout in game three as the Vikings took the series with a 5-0 win in the rubber-match. 

POTW: JR RHP Alyssa Burk earned her second career Big Sky Conference Pitcher of the Week honor after going 2-0 with an 0.88 ERA at the Seattle University Invitational (March 16-18). Burk opened the week with a career-high 14 strikeouts against Bryant (3/16). She added six strikeouts in a win over Seattle (3/17). She allowed two earned on six hits over 16 innings. Opponents hit just .118 against her over the two starts. 

RACKING UP THE K'S: JR RHP Alyssa Burk struck out a career-high 14 batters in the Vikings' win over Bryan (3/16). The 14 strikeouts are tied the for the most by any Big Sky pitcher this season and the most since Anna Bertrand struck out 16 in 2011. 

DOUBLE-DIGIT K'S: Over the last 10 seasons, there have been 24 games where a pitcher has recorded double-digit strikeouts. Anna Bertrand leads the list with 12 double-digit strikeout games. JR RHP Alyssa Burk is second on the list with five after tallying three this season. 

GOING DEEP: After having the worst home run per game average in the nation a year ago, there has been an infusion of power this season. The Vikings have blasted 23 long balls. Twelve of the 23 have been hit by first-year players. FR C/DP Rachel Menlove has hit five home runs, SO IF Darian Lindsey has hit four, and SO IF Ashley Doyle has three home runs. Kaela Morrow leads the team with seven home runs.  

LEAD-OFF HITTER: SO OF Tayler Gunesch has led off all but two games this season. She is hitting .294 on the year with 26 runs scored. She has driven in 15 and hit her first career home run to lead off the second game of a doubleheader against Toledo (3/7).

WALK-OFF: JR C/DP Kaela Morrow hit a game-winning three-run home run in the bottom of the eight to give the Vikings an 11-8 extra-inning win over Toledo (3/7). It was the Vikings' first walk-off home run since 2016 and their first in extra-innings since Brittany Hendrickson in 2015. 

CAREER YEAR: Kaela Morrow is having a career-year as a junior. She leads the team with .340 batting average. She also leads the team seven home runs, 29 runs batted in, and a .574 slugging percentage. She leads the team with 16 multi-hit games and is third with six multi-RBI games. 

GRAND SALAMI TIME: JR C Kaela Morrow became the first Viking since Brittany Hendrickson in 2014 to hit a grand slam. Morrow came up with the bases loaded in her first at bat of the season and hit her first home run in the top of the first against Sam Houston State. She went 2-for-4 with a run scored, her first career home run, which just happened to be a grand slam, and a career-high 5 RBIs. She became the first Viking since Alex Flores in 2016 to record five RBIs in a game. SO IF Ashley Doyle racked up the Vikings' second grand slam of the season in a 6-1 win over Bryant on March 16. 

CROOKED NUMBERS: The Vikings plated 13 runs in the bottom of the third inning in a 14-4 win over Bryant University (3/17). Their previous season high was seven runs in the bottom of the eighth against Toledo (3/7). It was Portland State's third game with double-digit runs this season and the most since scoring 15 runs twice in 2015.

FOUR DINGERS: Portland State hit four home runs, all solo and all by different hitters, in their 6-5 win over New Mexico State (2/24). It was the most home runs in a single game since the Vikings hit five against Hawaii in 2014. Portland State has hit multiple home runs in three games this season. 

OPENING DAY WIN: Portland State picked up an 8-2 win over Sam Houston State to open the season. It was the first win to open the season for the Vikings since they opened the season with a 9-7 win over Nevada in 2015. Portland State is 4-6 in its last 10 games to start the season. 

BIG SKY TOURNAMENT
The Big Sky Championship will be held  May 10-12 in Ogden, Utah. It will be hosted by Weber State due to the Wildcat's regular season championship in 2017. Six teams will qualify for the double-elimination tournament with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

COMPLETE GAMES: JR RHP Alyssa Burk started the 2018 season right where she ended in 2017. She opened the year with a complete-game win over Sam Houston State. She allowed just two earned runs on two hits, she walked four and struck out five. It was her ninth-consecutive complete game, dating back to last season. She closed out the 2017 season with eight-straight compete games in Big Sky Conference play, going 3-5 in the process. Burk has a team-high 11 complete games in 2018. 

THE ROSTER
Portland State has a very young roster again in 2018 with 18 underclassmen (7 freshmen and 11 sophomores).The Vikings return 12 letterwinners from a year ago, including a pair of pitchers. They add 10 newcomers, including a trio of sophomore transfers.