· Game notes (.pdf)
SAN ANTONIO — History will be made Thursday night as UTSA hosts No. 8 Texas in the first-ever night game at Roadrunner Field. First pitch between the Roadrunners (10-12) and the Longhorns (19-3) is set for 6 p.m.
UTSA Roadrunners (10-12) vs. No. 8 Texas Longhorns (19-3)
Thursday, March 8 • 6 p.m.
Roadrunner Field (300) • San Antonio, Texas
Audio: goUTSA.com (Rowdy Zone subscription required)
Live Stats: goUTSA.com
Series Record: Texas leads 23-3-1
Last Meeting: Texas 4, UTSA 0 (May 19, 2006)
Tuning In: Live stats will be available at goUTSA.com. Rowdy Zone subscribers ($5.95/month) will have access to live audio online at goUTSA.com. Ed Suarez has the call.
Series History: Texas leads the all-time series, 23-3-1, and has won 12 straight meetings. The last UTSA victory was a 3-1 decision in Austin on Feb. 21, 2001. UTSA and Texas battled to a 1-1 tie on Feb. 22, 2000. The Longhorns last visited San Antonio to play the Roadrunners at the 2003 Fastpitch Express Classic held at the S.A.I.S.D. Spring Sports Complex, with Texas winning 5-0. Texas last played at Roadrunner Field on Feb. 6, 2000, splitting a doubleheader.
Base Hits
• UTSA has won six of its last eight games
• Thursday’s game will be the first under the new lights at Roadrunner Field
• UTSA has won 11 of its past 12 home contests and is 49-7 (.875) at home since 2004
• The Roadrunner Field attendance record is 1,157 set on Feb. 3, 2002, in a doubleheader against Texas A&M
• Former UTSA head coach Corrie Hill (1999-2005) is now an assistant coach for Texas
• The Roadrunners have led the NCAA in home runs per game in each of the past four seasons, but only have 14 in 22 games (0.64 per game) this season
• Senior Jessica Rogers needs one home run to break the Southland Conference career home runs record of 55 she currently shares with former Roadrunner Christy Brownlee
• With three total bases, Rogers can eclipse the SLC career record of 428
• Senior Aimee Murray can move into a fourth-place tie on UTSA’s career home runs chart with her next long ball as she currently has 39
Scouting The Longhorns: Texas is off to a 19-3 start in the post-Cat Osterman era. The Longhorns swept a twinbill from Oklahoma Christian on Wednesday night in Austin and have won 10 consecutive games. Freshman Loryn Johnson leads the team in hitting with a .394 average, seven doubles, a triple, four home runs and 17 runs batted in. Sophomore Shannon Thomas has a .360 average and a team-high 15 stolen bases. Despite the loss of Osterman, Texas still boasts a strong pitching staff that has a combined team earned run average of 1.42 and 159 strikeouts. Junior right-hander Megan Denny has an 11-2 record, 0.80 ERA and 134 punchouts, while freshman Erin Tresselt is 6-1 with a 0.67 ERA.
Last Outing: Senior Aimee Murray had a pair of home runs and five runs batted in and junior Janeille Nickels tossed a three-hitter as UTSA pounded St. John’s, 9-1, on Tuesday afternoon at Roadrunner Field. Murray hit a three-run homer in the first and added a two-run blast in the third, her fourth of the season, joining freshman Rudi Cantu and senior Jessica Rogers with two hits apiece. Nickels carried a one-hitter into the top of the fifth and allowed just one run and two walks in running her record to 4-4 on the season. The win was the seventh straight non-conference home victory for UTSA.
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 49-7 (.875) at home, including a 16-1 mark in 2005. UTSA has won 11 of its past 12 home games, the only loss a 1-0 setback to UTA last Saturday.
Tough Slate: UTSA has played a tough schedule in 2007, with two games against teams ranked in the top five of this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Polls. The Roadrunners faced No. 3/4 Alabama in the CenturyTel Classic and No. 4 Texas A&M at the Aggie Classic. UTSA will face three more ranked teams (No. 9/10 LSU, No. 8 Texas and No. 14/16 Baylor) that made the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
Rogers Rewriting SLC Record Book: Senior Jessica Rogers hit her fourth home run of the season in the UTA win on Sunday, giving her 55 career round-trippers. That ties her with former Roadrunner Christy Brownlee for the SLC career home run record. 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 158. The 2005 SLC Player of the Year needs just three total bases to break the SLC mark of 428 set by Lori Tande (Louisiana-Monroe) from 1999-2002.
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.
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 403 home runs in 242 games, an average of 1.66 per game. UTSA shattered its own NCAA record, hitting 105 round-trippers in 51 contests for a 2.06 average, eclipsing the old 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 is off to a sub-par start with just 14 long balls in the first 22 games, but has heated up over the past week with 10 homers in seven games.
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conference history, owning a 236-147 (.616) all-time record in conference games. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 67-18 (.788) 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 47-26 (.644).
Up Next: UTSA returns to league play with a three-game series at Southeastern Louisiana this Saturday-Sunday, March 10-11, in Hammond, La.
