· Game notes (.pdf)
SAN ANTONIO — UTSA faces a tough road this week with a non-conference doubleheader at No. 12 Baylor on Wednesday, March 28, in Waco and a three-game Southland Conference series at rival Texas State on Friday-Saturday, March 30-31, in San Marcos.
UTSA Roadrunners (18-18, 12-3 SLC) at Texas State Bobcats (15-17, 5-7 SLC)
Friday, March 30 • 5 p.m. (DH) | Saturday, March 31 • 1 p.m.
Bobcat Field (1,000) • San Marcos, Texas
GameTracker: txstatebobcats.com
Live Audio: goUTSA.com (Friday only)
Series Record: UTSA leads, 28-26
Last Meeting: Texas State 3, UTSA 0 (Feb. 11, 2007)
Tuning In: Baylor will provide free live audio and GameTracker on Wednesday through its official athletics web site at baylorbears.com. Texas State will offer GameTracker for the three-game series at txstatebobcats.com. UTSA will provide live audio for the Friday doubleheader at Texas State through a Rowdy Zone subscription at goUTSA.com.
Base Hits
• UTSA has won nine of its past 10 conference games
• The Roadrunners are playing their sixth and seventh games against ranked opponents with the Baylor doubleheader on Wednesday
• UTSA, which has led the NCAA in home runs each of the last four seasons, has slugged 35 over the last 19 games (1.84 per game)
• Baylor’s Getterman Stadium is the site of UTSA’s first-ever NCAA appearance (2004)
UTSA/Baylor Series History: Baylor leads the all-time series with UTSA, 13-11. The two teams have not met since a 4-0 Baylor win in the UTA Classic on Feb. 9, 2002. During the 2001 season, the Roadrunners split doubleheaders with nationally-ranked Baylor on March 6 in San Antonio and on March 21 in Waco. UTSA won the first three meetings between the two schools during the 1996 campaign.
Scouting The Bears: Baylor is 30-9 and ranked No. 12 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25. Senior Ashley Monceaux leads a potent offense with a .426 batting average, nine doubles, 10 home runs and 40 runs batted in. Freshman Tiffany Wesley leads four players with more than 10 stolen bases with 24. Senior right-hander Lisa Ferguson (14-4, 1.61 earned run average) and freshman righty Kirsten Shortridge (9-3, 1.99 ERA) form a solid one-two punch in the circle. Head coach Glenn Moore is 282-131 in his seventh season at the helm. UTSA head coach Lori Cook was an assistant coach at Baylor in 1999-2000.
UTSA/Texas State Series History: UTSA leads the all-time series with Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas State), 28-26, but the Bobcats have won four of the last five meetings. The two teams split non-conference games in the CenturyTel Classic earlier this season in San Marcos, with UTSA pulling out a 3-2 win on Feb. 9 and the Bobcats winning 3-0 on Feb. 11. The two teams split a doubleheader on March 25, 2005, in the last conference series played in San Marcos. The third game was rained out.
Scouting The Bobcats: Texas State is 15-17 overall and 5-7 in the SLC, with its last game a 5-0 loss to Texas A&M on Wednesday, March 21. Senior Amy Krueger leads the offense with a .325 batting average, seven doubles and 11 RBIs, while Jill Kloesel is hitting .304. Juniors Ragan Blake (11-8, 2.08 ERA) and Sarah Lancour (4-8, 2.52 ERA) lead a solid pitching staff. Head coach Ricci Woodard is 249-138-1 in her seventh season. UTSA assistant coach Stephanie Hughes was a standout player for Woodard at Texas State from 1998-2001.
Last Outing: Freshman Mercedes Hessel made her first career home run a big one, hitting a three-run blast to give UTSA a 4-1 lead that would hold in a 7-3 win over Nicholls State on Sunday. Hessel’s round-tripper capped a four-run first inning for the Roadrunners, who took over first place in the Southland Conference standings with the series win over the Colonels. Hessel finished 2-for-4, while senior Aimee Murray also had two hits, including her eight home run of the year, and two runs batted in.
Tough Slate: UTSA has played a tough schedule in 2007, with five 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. 4/2 Alabama in the CenturyTel Classic, No. 2/3 Texas A&M at the Aggie Classic, No. 10/10 Texas on March 8 and 22, and No. 6/8 LSU on March 13. UTSA plays No. 12/17 Baylor on Wednesday.
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 54-11 (.831) at home, including a 16-1 mark in 2005. UTSA has won 16 of its past 21 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 12 this season and 63 career homers, which ranks ninth on the NCAA’s all-time list. 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 474 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 175.
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 .340 with 34 hits (third on the team) and a team-best five stolen bases. Although battling a minor injury, Cantu has heated up over the last 13 games, batting .560 with two doubles and two stolen bases since March 10.
Murray Moving Up: Senior Aimee Murray is moving up the UTSA career charts in several categories. The Cypress native has eight home runs this season, giving her 43 for third place on the career list. The three-time all-conference shortstop also has 139 career RBIs, which is second all-time behind Rogers (175). Murray also ranks fourth with 80 extra-base hits, fourth with 130 runs, fourth with 279 assists, seventh with 35 doubles and eighth with 201 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 428 home runs in 256 games, an average of 1.67 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 39 long balls in 36 games (1.08).
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conference history, owning a 244-148 (.622) all-time record in conference games. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 75-19 (.798) in league play, including a 12-3 mark this 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 55-32 (.632).
Up Next: UTSA returns home to host Prairie View A&M in a three-game series next Friday-Saturday, April 6-7, at Roadrunner Field.
