For Harvard, junior ace Chelsea Thoke and sophomore hurler Suzanne Guy, who combined to start 30 of the Crimson's 38 games last season, will be heavily relied upon to quiet the bats of the opposition.

The tandem will be tested early, as Mercer features a proven slugger in the form of freshman third baseman Stacey Nagle, who leads the team in home runs (8) and RBIs (27).

Coastal Carolina (14-18), another Crimson opponent in this weekend's tournament, boasts four starters with averages above .300.

Tomorrow, the Crimson faces Coastal as well as Southwest Missouri State (10-11).

After the Buzz Classic, Harvard will travel up the Atlantic coast for its first-ever meetings with Virginia (10-22) and Radford (3-25).

Those contests will be followed by three days of games in the Hudson-Hokie Classic in Blacksburg, Va.

The Crimson's fiercest competition at that tourney will likely be Virginia Tech, who enter this weekend riding a 22-game winning streak at home.

The Hokies' pitching staff, which has held opposing line-ups to four runs or less in all but two of its games so far this season, will challenge the Crimson's ability to produce runs.