? Game notes (.pdf)
SAN ANTONIO ? UTSA and Sam Houston State meet in a battle for second place in the Southland Conference standings this weekend at Roadrunner Field. The Roadrunners are 24-25 overall and 16-8 in the league, while the Bearkats are 30-20 and 17-7. Game one of a Saturday doubleheader is set for 1 p.m., followed by a single game at noon Sunday.
UTSA Roadrunners (24-25, 16-8 SLC) vs. Sam Houston State (30-20, 17-7 SLC)
Saturday, April 28 ? 1 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, April 29 ? Noon
Roadrunner Field (300) ? San Antonio, Texas
Live Audio: goUTSA.com
Live Stats: goUTSA.com
Series Record: UTSA leads, 29-21
Last Meeting: UTSA 2, Sam Houston State 1 (April 9, 2006)
Tuning In: Live stats for all three games will be available at goUTSA.com. Rowdy Zone subscribers can hear live audio for the entire series at goUTSA.com. Ed Suarez has the call.
Senior Salute: UTSA will honor its four seniors ? Catherine Garza, Aimee Murray, Jessica Rogers and Stevi Simpson ? prior to Sunday’s home finale.
Base Hits
? UTSA has won five of its past seven games and six of its last seven home contests
? UTSA leads the all-time series with Sam Houston State, 29-21, and has won three straight and seven of the last eight meetings
? The Roadrunners are 12-6 at home, including a 9-3 mark in SLC play
? UTSA, which has led the NCAA in home runs each of the last four seasons, has slugged 57 round-trippers in 49 games this season (1.16 per game)
? Jessica Rogers leads the SLC in batting (.467), slugging (.933), runs (22), hits (35), home runs (10) and total bases (70) in league play
By The Numbers
48 ? Career home runs for Aimee Murray, third all-time at UTSA
66 ? Career home runs for Jessica Rogers, an SLC record
637 ? Combined games played by the four seniors
UTSA/Sam Houston State Series History: UTSA and Sam Houston State have met 50 times with the Roadrunners owning a 29-21 advantage in the series. The Roadrunners have won three straight and seven of the last eight meetings. The last time the two teams met in San Antonio, UTSA swept Sam Houston State in a three-game series that determined the 2005 regular season champion. The Bearkats last won a series, 2-1, in 2004 in Huntsville.
Scouting The Bearkats: Sam Houston State moved into sole possession of second place in the league standings after sweeping SFA on Wednesday-Thursday in Huntsville. The Bearkats have won nine of their last 10 games and are 30-20 overall and 17-7 in the SLC. Mandy Collier leads the offense with a .348 batting average, 10 doubles and 29 RBIs, while Casie Everitt is hitting .346 with 10 two-baggers, six home runs and 27 RBIs. Brandi Crnkovic and Morgan Mikulin form a solid one-two pitching punch. Crnkovic has a 14-9 record, 1.93 ERA and 152 strikeouts, while Mikulin boasts a 15-10 mark, 2.23 ERA and 105 punchouts. Head coach Bob Brock is 844-447-1 in his 22nd season as a head coach.
Week In Review: UTSA took two of three games on the road at Stephen F. Austin last weekend in Nacogdoches. The Roadrunners fought back from a tough, 6-5 loss in the opener with an 11-2 run ruling in game two and a 5-2 decision in the finale. Sophomore Leanne Risberg led the offense by batting .500 (6-for-12) with three home runs, five RBIs and five runs scored and was named Aeropostale/SLC Hitter of the Week on Monday. Freshman Rudi Cantu also hit .500 for the weekend, while junior Kourtney Jones and sophomore Rachel Rackley both went 4-for-9 from the plate. Junior righty Janeille Nickels picked up a pair of wins in the circle, posting a 2.33 earned run average and six strikeouts in 12 innings of work.
Tough Slate: UTSA has played a tough schedule in 2007, with seven games against teams ranked in this week’s ESPN.com/USA Softball and USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Polls. The Roadrunners faced No. 2/2 Alabama in the CenturyTel Classic, No. 6/5 Texas A&M at the Aggie Classic, No. 23/18 Texas on March 8 and 22, No. 5/6 LSU on March 13 and No. 8/10 Baylor in a March 28 doubleheader.
No Place Like Home: UTSA has turned Roadrunner Field into a true home-field advantage over the past three-plus seasons. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 58-12 (.829) at home, including a 12-6 mark this season. UTSA has won 20 of its past 26 home games. The Roadrunners are 14-9 against Sam Houston State in San Antonio.
Rogers Rewriting Record Books: 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 15 this season and 66 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 501 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 182. In addition to those three career records, the South Grand Prairie High product has set school standards for hits (266) and extra-base hits (100) and ranks second with 151 runs and 699 at-bats. Her .381 career batting average is second all-time behind Amanda Michalsky’s .394. Rogers also broke the UTSA single-game record with 13 total bases and tied a single-game record with three home runs against Nicholls on March 24.
Making History: 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. Nikolenko flirted with her second career no-no in the 15-0 victory against Prairie View A&M on April 6, allowing just one infield single in a five-inning affair.
Cantu Can Hit: Rudi Cantu, a true freshman from Alvin, has firmly entrenched herself in the UTSA batting order. The former prep all-stater is batting .346 with 46 hits (third on the team) and a team-best seven stolen bases. Battling through a minor injury in March, Cantu has heated up, batting a team-best .448 (26-for-58) with four doubles and four stolen bases since March 10.
Murray Moving Up: Senior Aimee Murray is moving up the UTSA career charts in several categories. The Cy-Fair High product has 13 home runs this season, giving her 48 for third place on the career list. The three-time all-conference shortstop has 152 career RBIs, which is second all-time behind Rogers. Murray also ranks second with 141 runs, third with 85 extra-base hits, fourth with 214 hits, fourth with 297 assists and seventh with 35 doubles.
Nikolenko Making Noise: Amanda Nikolenko is steadily working her way to the top of several of UTSA’s career pitching record lists. The 2006 SLC First-Team selection ranks second with 52 wins, third with 420 strikeouts, fourth with 78 starts, fifth with 52 complete games, fifth with 517.2 innings pitched and sixth with 10 shutouts.
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 446 home runs in 269 games, an average of 1.66 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 57 long balls in 49 games (1.16), which leads the league and ranks 17th in the country.
UTSA In The NCAA Statistical Rankings: UTSA traditionally has been ranked nationally in several statistical categories and 2007 is no different. As of April 22, the Roadrunners are 17th in home runs per game (1.16) and 53rd in slugging percentage (.451). Individually, Jessica Rogers is seventh in toughest to strike out (5 in 150 at-bats), 22nd in home runs per game (0.31), 36th in slugging percentage (.753), 67th in RBIs per game (0.90) and 72nd in batting average (.400). Leanne Risberg is 12th in hit by pitch per game (0.29), while Risberg and Aimee Murray are tied for 55th in home runs per game (0.27).
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conference history, owning a 248-153 (.618) all-time record in conference games. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 79-24 (.767) in league play, including a 16-8 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 62-39 (.614).
Another Honor For Rogers: Jessica Rogers added another award to her resum? last week as she was named one of 20 national candidates for the 2007 Lowe’s Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) Award. Candidates were selected based on personal qualities that define a complete student-athlete. While on-the-field performance during their collegiate softball careers is a factor in determining candidates and the eventual winner, their personal character and off-the-field achievements in the classroom and community are major areas of focus. The award was conceived by famed sportscaster Dick Enberg, who continues to serve as Honorary Chairman.
Up Next: UTSA concludes the regular season with a three-game series at McNeese State on May 5-6 in Lake Charles, La. The SLC Tournament is set for May 10-12 in Huntsville.
