Fort Hays State has a great opportunity to secure a berth in in the MIAA Tournament on Saturday (Apr. 23) when they face Nebraska-Kearney in Kearney. It marks the final MIAA doubleheader of the season. FHSU is currently seventh trying to stay among the top eight. On Sunday (Apr. 24), the Lopers make the trip down to Hays for a non-conference doubleheader to close out the regular season, which also serves as Senior Day for the Tigers.
 
Fort Hays State enters the weekend in seventh place in the MIAA, and look to secure a spot in the MIAA Tournament, which will be held in Oklahoma City next week. The Lopers, on the other hand, are on the outside looking in from 10th place and need to sweep Saturday's games to likely have any chance to reach the tournament. The Tigers must avoid a Loper sweep to keep UNK from holding a head-to-head tiebreaker. The Tigers are 11-13 in the MIAA, while the Lopers are 9-15. Live stats and video will be available for the conference doubleheader in Kearney. See the links above.
 
The teams will have a better picture of what they'll need to do Saturday after other conference games take place on Friday. Several MIAA teams play two conference doubleheaders this weekend, while FHSU and UNK just have the one remaining.
 
The Sunday doubleheader against Nebraska-Kearney in Hays is a non-conference doubleheader. It will be Senior Day at Tiger Stadium. Five seniors will be honored, which includes Paxton Duran, Tori Beltz, Courtney Dobson, Rilee Krier, and Erin Elmore. Both doubleheaders this weekend start at 2 pm.
 
Duran has been the backbone for the Tigers all season long as one of the top pitchers in the MIAA. In the conference, Duran currently sits eighth in ERA (2.75), second in strikeouts (186), and first in both strikeouts looking (65), and innings pitched (196.1). Duran entered the week ranked 18^th nationally in strikeouts.
 
Offensively the Tigers are led by Krier. She leads the Tigers in batting average (.359), hits (51), runs (28), and stolen bases (19), all of which are career highs for the senior. She is also carrying an eight-game hit streak into the weekend, the longest by any Tiger this season.
 
Kate Ruwe is the clear offensive leader for the Lopers. In the MIAA, she ranks fourth in hits (60), third in batting average (.472), and leads the conference in slugging percentage (.945), on-base percentage (.553) and home runs (17).
 
The first pitch for game one on both Saturday and Sunday will be at 2 pm.