SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will look to continue one of the best starts in school history when it travels to College Station for five games at the this weekend's Texas A&M Invitational.
The Roadrunners (12-4), who are off to their best start since the 1995 team opened at 12-3-1, open play on Friday with a 10 a.m. matchup against Illinois State (6-9) before a 12:15 p.m. tilt with Boston (0-5). The squad then will face the Terriers and Redbirds again at 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., respectively, on Saturday and close the event with a 12:15 p.m. contest against No. 22 Texas A&M (13-4) the following day.
UTSA is coming off a 4-1 mark last weekend at the UTSA Classic that included a pair of wins each over Incarnate Word and Southeastern Louisiana. Senior Megan Low earned Conference USA Co-Player of the Week honors after she hit .545 (6-for-11) during the event with a double, triple, three home runs and seven RBIs. The Spring native walked seven times en route to a .722 on-base percentage to go along with a 1.636 slugging percentage.
The big weekend pushed her batting average to .378 and she is one of six Roadrunners to bat at least .320. Junior Jade Smith leads the team with a .477 batting average and the New Braunfels native batted .625 (10-for-16) last weekend. She had at least one hit in all five contests and capped the event with a pair of three-hit games.
The UTSA pitching staff enjoyed a successful weekend as well, as junior Kacy Freeze set a career high with 11 strikeouts in last Saturday’s win over the Lady Lions. Nicole Merrill nearly tossed a no-hitter on Saturday against Incarnate Word and she earned three of the four wins during the event to improve to 4-1.
The Roadrunners never have faced Boston and they dropped their only meeting with Illinois State, 3-2, on March 6, 1993, which also took place in College Station. Meanwhile, the Aggies own a 32-6 advantage in the all-time series with UTSA.