UTSA Roadrunners (12-11) at North Texas Mean Green (12-16)
Wednesday, March 19 ? 1 p.m.
Lovelace Field (300) ? Denton, Texas
Series Record: UTSA leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: UTSA, 9-0 (Feb. 12, 2005)
UTSA Roadrunners (12-11, 8-4) at Central Arkansas Bears (2-21, 0-9)
Friday, March 21 (DH) ? 5/7 p.m. | Saturday, March 22 ? Noon
Farris Field (300) ? Conway, Ark.
Series Record: UTSA leads, 3-0
Last Meeting: UTSA, 14-6 (March 18, 2007)
SAN ANTONIO ? Riding a three-game winning streak, UTSA (12-11, 8-4 SLC)hits the road for four games this week, beginning with a non-conferencetilt at North Texas (12-16) at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19 in Denton.The Roadrunners then travel to Conway, Ark., for a three-game SouthlandConference series at Central Arkansas (2-21, 0-9 SLC) onFriday-Saturday.
Tuning In: Live stats will be provided for the North Texas game at meangreensports.com.
Base Hits
? UTSA is 1-0 all-time against North Texas and 3-0 against Central Arkansas.
? Senior Amanda Nikolenko broke Jennifer Drake’s UTSA career record forinnings pitched (601) on March 2 ... she now has tossed 635.2 innings
? Nikolenko tied the UTSA mark for career starts 93 against Southeastern Louisiana on March 16
? With 507 career strikeouts, Nikolenko has moved past Paige Whitleyfor second place on UTSA’s all-time list ... she needs 13 Ks to breakUrsula Mares’ school record of 519
Scouting North Texas: The Mean Green improved to 12-16 on the seasonwith a 4-3 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday. Mallory Cantler leads theoffense with a .389 batting average, eight doubles and 17 RBIs, whileKristina Fowler heads up the pitching staff with a 3-6 record, 2.27 ERAand 39 strikeouts in 58.2 innings. Head coach TJ Hubbard is in hisfirst year.
Scouting Central Arkansas: The Bears enter a Tuesday night contest withOle Miss with a 2-21 overall record and are 0-9 in SLC play. JanaeOwens is the top hitter with a .267 batting average and six RBIs, whileLyndsey Harris has seen the most work in the circle and owns a 1-10record, 4.83 ERA and 21 Ks in 78.1 innings. Interim head coach NatalieShock is in her first season.
Southeastern Louisiana Series Recap: Senior Amanda Nikolenko earned apair of wins and a save to help UTSA sweep three nail-biters fromSoutheastern Louisiana last weekend at Roadrunner Field. Theright-hander tossed a two-hit shutout in the 3-0 win in the opener andfreshman Dany? Holmes won it with a walk-off, three-run homer in theseventh. Holmes and Nikolenko combined to hold the Lions to just onerun in game two, a 2-1 victory, while Nikolenko was solid again in thefinale, a 3-2 win, as senior Lindsay Perry singled home a pair of runswith two outs in the bottom of the sixth to lift the Roadrunners totheir 16th straight win against Southeastern Louisiana.
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conferencehistory, owning a 258-161 (.616) all-time record in conference games.Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 89-32 (.736) in league play.UTSA won three consecutive SLC regular season crowns from 2004-06 andcaptured SLC Tournament titles in 2004 and 2006.
Tough Slate: UTSA is facing a tough schedule this year, including fiveteams that made the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Two teams are ranked in thisweek’s USA Today/NFCA Top 25 ? No. 11 Houston and No. 15 Baylor ? whileMissouri and Texas State are receiving votes.
Career Record Watch: Senior Amanda Nikolenko broke Jennifer Drake’scareer record for innings pitched (601) in her March 2 win againstMcNeese State, and she now has pitched 635.2 frames. The Ashland, Mo.,native also tied the career mark for starts with her 93rd againstSoutheastern Louisiana on March 16. The right-hander is on pace tobreak UTSA career records for wins, complete games and strikeouts. Sheenters this week with 59 wins (record is 61), 63 complete games (72)and 507 strikeouts (519).
A New Era: Lori Cook is in her third year as head coach with a career76-56 record (.576). In her first season in 2006, UTSA went 37-14, wonits third consecutive SLC regular season title with a 22-5 mark, wonthe SLC Tournament for the second time in three years and made itssecond NCAA Tournament appearance.
Up Next: UTSA returns home to host Missouri at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25.
