UTSA Roadrunners (9-11, 5-4) vs. Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions (17-6, 6-3)
Saturday, March 15 ? 1 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, March 16 ? Noon
Roadrunner Field (300) ? San Antonio, Texas
Series Record: UTSA leads, 23-9
Last Meeting: UTSA, 11-2 (March 11, 2007)
First Pitch: UTSA (9-11, 5-4 SLC) will put a 13-game winning streakagainst Southeastern Louisiana on the line when the Lions (17-6, 6-3SLC) come to Roadrunner Field for a three-game Southland Conferenceseries this weekend. First pitch in game one of a doubleheader onSaturday, March 14, is set for 1 p.m., followed by a single game atnoon Sunday.
Tuning In: Live stats will be provided at goUTSA.com. Live audio for Sunday’s game will be available to Rowdy Zone subscribers at goUTSA.com. Ed Suarez has the call.
Base Hits
? UTSA leads the all-time series, 23-9, and has won 13 consecutive meetings
? The Roadrunners are 11-5 against the Lions at Roadrunner Field
? UTSA is 64-18 (.780) at Roadrunner Field since 2004
? Senior Amanda Nikolenko broke Jennifer Drake’s UTSA career record for innings pitched (601) on March 2 ... she now has tossed 620.2 innings
? With 492 career strikeouts, Nikolenko has moved past Paige Whitley for second place on UTSA’s all-time list ... she needs 27 Ks to break Ursula Mares’ school record of 519
? Sophomore Rudi Cantu is batting .438 with 12 runs scored in nine conference games
? Sophomore Krista Sitka, who is on a five-game hitting streak, and freshman Whitney Balch are tied for the team lead with four home runs apiece
Scouting The Southeastern Louisiana: The Lady Lions improved to 17-6 on the season with a 5-1 win at Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday. Southeastern Louisiana is 6-3 in Southland Conference play and is led at the plate by Heather Sherrill, who is batting .427 with six home runs and 26 RBIs. Katie Duhe (.400) and Brooke Lockhart (.351) also are batting above .350 on the year for an offense that is hitting .303 as a team. Rachel Ray owns an 8-3 mark, 2.76 ERA and 79 Ks in 76 frames, while Jenna Yoder has a 7-3 record, 2.09 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 60.1 innings for the pitching staff. Head coach Pete Langlois is 334-397 in his 14th season at the helm.
UT Arlington Series Recap: Senior right-handers Janeille Nickels and Amanda Nikolenko combined for a three-hitter as UTSA won game one of its SLC series at UT Arlington, 2-1, last Saturday in Arlington. Sophomore Krista Sitka had an RBI double and freshman Whitney Balch drove in freshman Dany? Holmes with what proved to be the winning run with a two-out single in the third. The Mavericks pushed across a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to win game two, 1-0, and took the rubber game on Sunday, 2-0, as UTA’s Cara Hulme struck out a combined 25 batters in the two contests.
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conference history, owning a 255-161 (.613) all-time record in conference games. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 86-32 (.729) 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. Two teams are ranked in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Polls ? No. 13 Houston and No. 14 Baylor ? while Texas State is receiving one vote in the NFCA Poll and Missouri and Texas are receiving votes in the USA Softball Poll.
Career Record Watch: Senior right-hander Amanda Nikolenko broke Jennifer Drake’s career record for innings pitched (601) in her March 2 win against McNeese State, and she now has pitched 620.2 frames. The Ashland, Mo., native also is on pace to break UTSA career records for wins, starts, complete games and strikeouts. She enters Tuesday’s contest with 57 wins (record is 61), 91 starts (93), 61 complete games (72) and 492 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 480 home runs in 298 games, an average of 1.61 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 73-56 record (.566). 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 hits the road for a doubleheader at North Texas on Wednesday, March 19.
