· Game notes (.pdf)
SAN ANTONIO — Winners of eight of the last 11 games, UTSA (13-14) returns home for five games in three days at Roadrunner Field. The Roadrunners host Texas Tech (14-12) in a doubleheader at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 16, before opening a three-game Southland Conference series against league newcomer Central Arkansas (8-16, 0-6) with a twinbill at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Game three is at noon Sunday.
UTSA Roadrunners (13-14) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (14-12)
Friday, March 16 • 3 p.m. (DH)
Roadrunner Field (300) • San Antonio, Texas
Live Stats: goUTSA.com
Live Audio: goUTSA.com (Rowdy Zone subscription)
Series Record: UTSA leads, 9-6
Last Meeting: Texas Tech 4, UTSA 1 (April 26, 2006)
UTSA Roadrunners (13-14, 7-2 SLC) vs. Central Arkansas Sugar Bears (8-16, 0-6 SLC)
Saturday, March 17 • 1 p.m. (DH) • Sunday, March 18 • noon
Roadrunner Field (300) • San Antonio, Texas
Live Stats: goUTSA.com
Live Audio: goUTSA.com (Rowdy Zone subscription)
Series Record: First meeting
Tuning In: Live stats for all five games will be provided online at goUTSA.com. Live audio for all five games will be available through a Rowdy Zone subscription at goUTSA.com. Ed Suarez will call the action.
Base Hits
• UTSA has won eight of its last 11 games, including four straight in league play
• The Roadrunners have won 11 of their past 13 home games and are 49-8 (.860) at home since 2004
• Freshman Rudi Cantu is batting .538 (14-for-26) over the last seven contests
UTSA/Texas Tech Series History: UTSA leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 9-6, and has won four of the last five meetings. The teams split a doubleheader in Lubbock on April 26, 2006, with Jessica Els providing a three-run homer in the top of the seventh in a 4-3 victory in game one. The Red Raiders took the nightcap, 4-1. The Roadrunners are 5-4 against Texas Tech in San Antonio.
Scouting The Red Raiders: Texas Tech enters a Thursday doubleheader at Texas State with a 14-12 record. Senior Ashley Parker leads the offense with a .386 average and 11 stolen bases, while junior Jennifer Corkin is batting .365 with five doubles, four home runs and 20 runs batted in. Freshman Ashley Jacobs leads the pitching staff with an 11-6 record, 1.92 earned run average, 97 strikeouts and a .231 opposing batting average. Head coach Teresa Wilson is 56-72 in her third season at Texas Tech.
UTSA/Central Arkansas Series History: UTSA and Central Arkansas, a first-year member of the Southland Conference, have never met on the softball field.
Scouting The Sugar Bears: Central Arkansas, located in Conway, Ark., enters the weekend series at 8-16 overall and 0-6 in SLC play. Amy Sperle leads the offense with a .304 batting average, 4 doubles and 10 RBIs, while Sarah Garcia is hitting .274 with four home runs and 13 RBIs. Lyndsey Harris heads up the pitching stafff with a 3-6 record, 4.14 ERA and 39 strikeouts. Head coach Steve Kissel is 20-50 in his second season at the helm.
Last Outing: Freshman Rudi Cantu went 3-for-4, but Tiffany Garcia scattered seven hits in a complete-game shutout to lead No. 10 LSU past UTSA, 3-0, on Tuesday evening in Baton Rouge, La. Cantu had three of seven hits for the Roadrunners, who dropped their first road game in six tries. Freshman Cassie Miller went 2-for-3, while senior Aimee Murray and freshman Krista Sitka had a hit apiece. Garcia struck out three and walked one while Dee Dee Henderson led the LSU offense with three hits, three runs scored and four stolen bases.
Tough Slate: UTSA has played a tough schedule in 2007, with three games against teams ranked in the top 10 of this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Polls. The Roadrunners faced No. 2/4 Alabama in the CenturyTel Classic, No. 3 Texas A&M at the Aggie Classic, No. 8 Texas on March 8 and No. 12/10 LSU on March 13. UTSA also plays No. 10/14 Baylor on March 28.
No Place Like Home: UTSA has turned Roadrunner Field into a true home-field advantage over the past three seasons. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 49-8 (.860) at home, including a 16-1 mark in 2005. UTSA has won 11 of its past 13 home games.
Rogers Rewriting SLC Record Book: Senior Jessica Rogers broke the SLC career home runs record with her 56th in the 4-1 loss to No. 8 Texas on March 8, moving out of a tie atop the league list with former Roadrunner Christy Brownlee. She now has six this season and 57 career homers. The 2005 SLC Player of the Year also eclipsed the SLC career total bases mark of 428 set by Lori Tande (Louisiana-Monroe) from 1999-2002 with four in the Texas game and now has 437 for her career. Rogers, who set the conference single-season home run and RBI records with 23 and 64 in 2005, took down the league’s career RBI record of 147 with five in the Rutgers win on Feb. 16 and now has 164. Additionally, Rogers currently ranks 18th on the NCAA’s all-time home runs list and needs just five more to reach the top 10.
Making History: Junior right-hander Amanda Nikolenko tossed the eighth no-hitter in school history in a 10-0 victory over Rutgers on Feb. 16 at the Aggie Classic. The Ashland, Mo., native struck out five and allowed just two walks and a hit batter in becoming the fifth different Roadrunner to hold a team hitless in 16 seasons of softball.
Cantu Can Hit: Rudi Cantu, a true freshman from Alvin, has firmly entrenched herself in the leadoff spot of the UTSA batting order. The former prep all-stater is batting .330 with 30 hits (one shy of the team lead) and a team-best five stolen bases. She has heated up over the last week as she is 14-for-26 (.538) with four stolen bases in the last seven games. Cantu was 3-for-4 in the loss to LSU on Tuesday and is hitting .625 (10-for-10) since March 10.
Murray Moving Up: Senior Aimee Murray is moving up the UTSA career charts in several categories. The Cypress native has five home runs this season, giving her 40 for fourth place on the career list. She needs two long balls to catch former all-conference standout Krystal Gibson for third place (42). The three-time all-conference shortstop also has 131 career RBIs, which ranks third all-time and just five behind Brownlee (136). Murray also ranks fourth with 77 extra-base hits, fifth with 125 runs, sixth with 255 assists, seventh with 35 doubles and ninth with 191 hits.
Going, Going, Gone: UTSA has made a name nationally with the success it has enjoyed hitting the long ball. Dating back to 2003, the Roadrunners have slugged 407 home runs in 247 games, an average of 1.65 per game. Last season, UTSA shattered its own NCAA record, hitting 105 round-trippers in 51 contests for a 2.06 average, eclipsing the 1.87 mark set in 2004 (101/54). The Roadrunners own three of the top six home run seasons in NCAA history — 105 (2006), 103 (2005), 101 (2004) — and set a conference record with 14 home runs in four games at the 2006 SLC Tournament. This season, UTSA has just 18 long balls in the first 27 games (0.67), but has heated up with 14 homers in the past 11 games.
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conference history, owning a 239-147 (.619) all-time record in conference games. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 70-18 (.795) in league play, including a 22-5 mark last season. UTSA has won three consecutive SLC regular season crowns and is 10-2 in SLC Tournament games over the last three years, winning two-of-three titles (2004, 2006).
A New Era: Lori Cook is in her second year as head coach after guiding the Roadrunners to one of the most successful seasons in school history in 2006. UTSA was 37-14 overall, won its third consecutive SLC regular season title with a 22-5 mark, won the SLC Tournament for the second time in three years and made its second NCAA Tournament appearance. Cook’s career record is 50-28 (.641).
Up Next: UTSA travels to Austin to face nationally-ranked Texas next Thursday, March 22. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at McCombs Field.
