| April 16, 2005
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907 UTSA remains in first with doubleheader sweep at Louisiana-Monroe Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
MONROE, La. – Sophomore Ursula Mares hurled a three-hit shutout and the UTSA offense scored 15 runs on 26 hits as the Roadrunners swept a doubleheader at Louisiana-Monroe Saturday afternoon at Lady Indian Field.
With the two victories, UTSA improves to 34-15 overall and remains in a first-place tie with Sam Houston State in the Southland Conference at 15-4. The Lady Indians fall to 14-39 and 4-19. The Roadrunners now have won eight straight and 12 of their last 13 contests overall and nine consecutive league games.
Mares struck out eight of the first 11 batters she faced in game one en route to hurling her fifth shutout of the season. She finished with 11 strikeouts and did not walk a batter in improving to 16-6 on the season and 8-1 in the league.
The junior trio of Stacey Gillespie, Jessica Els and Jessica Rogers led a 15-hit outburst in the opener as Els was 4-for-4, Gillespie 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and Rogers 2-for-4 with two RBI. Senior Krystal Gibson also collected two hits on the afternoon.
UTSA struck first for a run in the top of the third as Gillespie singled to left and scored on a two-out single to left by Rogers.
The Roadrunners tacked on two runs in the fourth. Senior Jennifer Davis and Els reached on back-to-back singles and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by senior Jessica Ellison. Gillespie then lined a triple to the wall in right center to put UTSA up, 3-0.
UTSA added insurance runs in the sixth on an RBI-single by Rogers and in the seventh on a pinch-hit solo home run to left by junior Amanda Horton.
Rogers led four Roadrunners with two hits in the second game, going 2-for-3 with her second triple and NCAA-leading 20th home run while driving in three runs. Junior Mel Torres was 2-for-3 with one RBI, while Davis and Gillespie added 2-for-2 performances. Gillespie has nine hits in her last 11 at-bats and is one of four Roadrunners batting above .400 in conference play with a .469 mark along with sophomore Aimee Murray (.474), Rogers (.455) and Els (.421).
The Roadrunners took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second in game two. Davis and Els singled to start the inning and Horton reached on a fielding error on the infield to load the bases. Gillespie then pushed a single to right field to score Davis.
ULM answered with a run in the bottom of the frame as Lindsay Schafer doubled and scored on a double to center by Lindsay Taylor.
UTSA broke the game open with a nine-run third. Torres got things started with a single and scored on Rogers’ 20th home run. A walk, hit-by-pitch and a fielder’s choice put runners at first and third with one out. Horton then lined her second home run of the day to left field to put UTSA up, 6-1. The Roadrunners were not done as Gillespie singled, Gibson walked and Torres singled to score Gillespie. Rogers then lined a two-run triple past a diving right fielder to push the lead to 9-1. Sophomore Aimee Murray plated Rogers with another single, UTSA’s eighth hit of the frame, to make it 10-1.
The Lady Indians cut into the lead with a run on an RBI-groundout by Courtney Tuggle, but freshman Amanda Nikolenko retired the final five batters of the game in order in running her record to 13-8. Lindsay Rittenhouse allowed six runs on six hits in falling to 3-12.
UTSA tacked on three more home runs to increase its national-leading total to 87. Rogers moves to within two long balls of the UTSA record of 22 set by Christy Brownlee last season, while her five RBI on the day puts her five behind Brownlee for the career record.
Game three in the series is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
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