UTSA Roadrunners (4-6, 0-0) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (5-7, 0-0)
Tuesday, Feb. 26 ? 5 p.m. (DH) | Wednesday, Feb. 27 ? 1 p.m.
Roadrunner Field (300) ? San Antonio, Texas
Series Record: UTSA leads, 17-8
Last Meeting: UTSA, 3-1 (Feb. 28, 2007)
SAN ANTONIO ? UTSA (4-6) opens Southland Conference play at homeagainst Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-7) this Tuesday-Wednesday, Feb.26-27. First pitch in a Tuesday doubleheader is scheduled for 5 p.m.,followed by a single game at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
Tuning In: Live stats will be provided at goUTSA.com. Live audio will be available for free as a season preview for Rowdy Zone access at goUTSA.com.
Base Hits
? UTSA leads the all-time series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 17-8, and has won seven of the past eight meetings
? The Roadrunners are 9-1 all-time against the Islanders at home
? UTSA is 1-1 in conference openers under Lori Cook and 7-8 all-time
? The Roadrunners are 12-3 in home league openers
? With 479 career strikeouts, senior right-hander Amanda Nikolenko has moved past Paige Whitley for second place on UTSA’s all-time list ... she needs 41 Ks to break Ursula Mares’ school record of 519
? Nikolenko also has pitched 593 innings during her career and is on pace to move past career leader Jennifer Drake (601) this week
? Sophomore Rudi Cantu batted .636 with a double and three runs in the UTEP series
Scouting The Islanders: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fell to 5-7 on the season with a pair of losses to Samford (6-7) and New Mexico State (0-9) on Sunday at the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, N.M. Lauren Sanders leads the offense with a .433 batting average, two triples, seven RBIs and three stolen bases, while Stephanie Estrada is hitting .324 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. Nicole Russell is the top pitcher with a 3-3 record, 4.03 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 40.0 innings of work. Head coach Jake Schumann is in his first season.
UTEP Series Recap: Senior Amanda Nikolenko struck out nine and allowed just four hits in a complete-game shutout of UTEP (5-0) on Sunday to salvage game three of the series against the Miners. Sophomore Rudi Cantu went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while freshman Whitney Balch had two hits, including her third home run of the year. UTEP won a Saturday doubleheader, 6-0 and 8-4.
Preseason Prognostications: UTSA has been picked to finish fourth by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors in the 2008 Southland Conference Preseason Polls. Junior Leanne Risberg and sophomore Rudi Cantu have been selected to the SLC Preseason First and Second Team, respectively, in the outfield.
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conference history, owning a 250-157 (.614) all-time record in conference games. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 81-28 (.743) in league play. UTSA won three consecutive SLC regular season crowns from 2004-06 and captured SLC Tournament titles in 2004 and 2006.
Tough Slate: UTSA is facing a tough schedule this year, including five teams that made the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Three teams ranked in last week’s USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll ? No. 10 Baylor, No. 16 Houston and No. 25 Texas ? while Missouri and Southeastern Louisiana are receiving votes. In the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll, Baylor is ranked No. 13, while Houston is No. 20. Texas and Missouri are receiving votes.
Career Record Watch: Senior right-hander Amanda Nikolenko is on pace to break UTSA career records for wins, starts, complete games, innings pitched and strikeouts. She enters this series with 56 wins (record is 61), 87 starts (93), 59 complete games (72), 593 innings pitched (601) and 479 strikeouts (519).
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 469 home runs in 288 games, an average of 1.63 per game. The Roadrunners have led the NCAA in home runs in four of the past five seasons and have hit more long balls during that span than any other program. In 2006, 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.
A New Era: Lori Cook is in her third year as head coach with a career 68-51 record (.571). In her first season in 2006, UTSA went 37-14, 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.
Up Next: UTSA hosts McNeese State in a three-game series this Saturday-Sunday, March 1-2, at Roadrunner Field.
