UTSA Roadrunners (23-23, 18-9) at Sam Houston State Bearkats (29-28, 14-13)
Saturday, May 3 ? 1 p.m. (DH) | Sunday, May 4 ? 1 p.m.
Bearkat Softball Stadium ? Huntsville, Texas
Series Record: UTSA leads, 29-24
Last Meeting: SHSU, 3-2 (May 11, 2007)
SAN ANTONIO ? In a tight race for second place in the SouthlandConference, UTSA (23-23, 18-9) travels to Huntsville for a three-gameseries at Sam Houston State (29-28, 14-13) this weekend. First pitch ina Saturday doubleheader is set for 1 p.m., followed by a single game at1 p.m. Sunday.
Tuning In: Live stats will be provided at goUTSA.com. Live audio will be available for Rowdy Zone subscribers at goUTSA.com.
SLC Tournament Seeding Scenarios: UTSA sits in second place at 18-9 in the league standings, just a half game ahead of Stephen F. Austin (17-9). Texas State (23-4) has secured the No. 1 seed and one of two first-round byes for the Southland Conference Tournament. The Roadrunners can stay in second with three wins, two wins and one SFA loss, one win and two SFA losses, or three losses as long as SFA is swept by Northwestern State. UTSA cannot drop below the No. 4 seed. Fourth-place UT Arlington (17-10) is knocking on the door and can move into second with victories against Central Arkansas combined with UTSA and SFA losses.
Base Hits
? UTSA leads the all-time series with Sam Houston State, 29-24, and has won three of the four meetings at Bearkat Softball Stadium
? The Roadrunners are 9-3 on the road in SLC play this year and 20-9 under Lori Cook
? Senior Amanda Nikolenko already has broken four UTSA career pitching records this season ? starts (105), innings (707), wins (65) and strikeouts (568) ? and needs just one complete game to match the career mark of 72 set by Jennifer Drake (1995-98)
Scouting Sam Houston State: The Bearkats were swept by Texas State last weekend and enter this series in sixth place in the conference at 14-13. Sam Houston State is 29-28 overall and is led by a solid one-two-punch in the circle in Morgan Mikulin (14-12, 2.01 ERA) and Brandi Crnkovic (15-16, 2.78). Hailey Wiginton is batting .397 with nine doubles, while Mikulin is hitting .327 with 11 two-baggers, seven round-trippers and 35 RBIs, all team highs. Head coach Bob Brock owns a career record of 909-494-1 in 23 seasons as a head coach.
SLC Supremacy: UTSA is the winningest program in Southland Conference history, owning a 268-166 (.618) all-time record in conference games. Dating back to 2004, the Roadrunners are 99-37 (.728) in league play. UTSA won three consecutive SLC regular season crowns from 2004-06 and captured SLC Tournament titles in 2004 and 2006. The Roadrunners have won at least 18 SLC contests for five straight seasons and eight of the last 10 years.
Tough Slate: UTSA is facing a tough schedule this year, including five teams that made the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Houston is ranked No. 9 in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Top 25, while Missouri is receiving votes. Houston is No. 13 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25, while Missouri is receiving votes. The Roadrunners defeated Texas, 3-2, when it was ranked No. 22 on Feb. 9, in Austin, and own a 4-1 win against Missouri on March 25. UTSA also is 2-5 against the top 40 in the latest NFCA RPI Index.
On The Road Again: UTSA will play just 19 of 49 regular season contests at Roadrunner Field this season, and has endured 10- and seven-game road trips during the year. Despite the tough road schedule, the Roadrunners are playing .500 ball (12-12) in true road contests.
Career Record Watch: Senior Amanda Nikolenko has set four UTSA career pitching records this season ? starts (105), innings (707), wins (65) and strikeouts (568) and needs just one complete game to match the career mark of 72 set by Jennifer Drake (1995-98). The Ashland, Mo., native also appears on seven different single-season lists, including second with 44 appearances last season, and tossed one of only eight no-hitters in school history on Feb. 10, 2007, against Rutgers.
Cantu Can Hit: Sophomore Rudi Cantu leads the team with 53 base hits and seven of those have gone for extra bases, including a team-high three triples. Her .329 batting average is second on the squad and she has registered a team-best 16 multi-hit games and enjoyed a season-long 11-game hitting streak from Feb. 23-March 8 in which she raised her batting average from .240 to .419. She has recorded at least one hit in 21 of the 27 conference games and is hitting .333 in league play. Among conference players, the Alvin native ranks second in runs, fifth in triples, eighth in hits and 11th in hitting.
Freshman Phenom: Freshman Dany? Holmes has emerged as one of the top first-year players in the SLC this season, as her impact has been felt at the plate and in the circle. She leads UTSA with a .338 batting average, five doubles, eight home runs, 33 RBIs, a .562 slugging percentage, a league-best .469 on-base percentage and 31 walks, which is a freshman record and just six shy of the school mark of 37 set by former All-American Amanda Michalsky. The left-hander also has posted a team-best 2.21 ERA to go along with her 8-6 record, 73 strikeouts and two shutouts in 88.2 innings of work. In league play, Holmes is even better with a .378 average, 7-1 record and 1.29 ERA. She ranks third in ERA and fifth in batting, while no other player appears in the top 10 in both categories. The Sugar Land native struck out a season-best 13 batters in a 7-3 win over McNeese State on March 1, one K shy of the school record.
Up Next: UTSA heads to San Marcos for the SLC Tournament on Thursday-Saturday, May 8-10.
