SAN ANTONIO - UTSA will return to the diamond this weekend when it heads to Lubbock for five games at Texas Tech's Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic. The three-day tournament will have the Roadrunners match up against Bowling Green, University of New Mexico and host, Texas Tech.
UTSA (7-6) will open the event with 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. games on Friday against Bowling Green (9-1) and New Mexico (2-13), respectively. On Saturday, UTSA will take on the Red Raiders (8-6) at 3:30 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. contest against the Lobos and it will close the weekend at 10:30 a.m. against the Falcons the next day. Live stats and streaming for UTSA's game against Texas Tech can be found at goUTSA.com
The Roadrunners are coming off a 7-1 setback against Texas State on Wednesday and the squad will look to build momentum in its final non-conference weekend of the campaign.
Sophomore Celeste Loughman leads the offense with a .415 batting average, .500 on-base percentage and .659 slugging percentage. In addition, Junior Bailee Baldwin has garnered national attention for the UTSA offense with seven home runs this season, good enough for fourth best in the NCAA.
In the circle, senior Lizzy Fox leads the pitching staff with 2.98 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 42.1 innings of work, while freshman Madison Nelson is 2-2 with a 3.32 ERA.
Heading into its fourth tournament of the season, New Mexico is coming off a doubleheader loss at the UCR Classic hosted by UC Riverside in Riverside, Calif. on Sunday. The Lobos fell by a narrow score of 5-2 in game one against George Washington before dropping an 8-1 final to UCR.
Chelsea Johnson leads the Lobos with a .308 batting average, while three pitchers each have thrown between 21 and 30 innings. First-year coach Paula Congleton has 10 returning letterwinners from last year's club that finished 20-30 overall and 6-18 in the Mountain West Conference.
Bowling Green returns four starters, including three newcomers, who are hitting over .400 as the Falcons head to Texas with a 9-1 record. BGSU's start is the best in program history. BG has outscored the opponents by a combined 67-17, and the Falcons have hit .353 as a team to the foes' .176.
Overall, freshman Sammy Dees leads the Falcons in hitting, with a .486 batting average, and she has an on-base percentage of .538 and a slugging pct. of .829 to pace the team in those categories as well. Dees has recorded seven multiple-hit games in her first 10 contests as a Falcon.
Texas Tech enters the weekend with an 8-6 record after a DH split vs. New Mexico State on Tuesday. Freshman Erin Edmoundson was named Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week on Monday. She is 5-1 with an ERA of just 0.88, while Jessica Hartwell is batting a team-best .500 with five homers and 14 RBI. Head coach Adrian Gregory welcomed back nine players from last year's club that went 19-36 overall and 4-14 in conference play.
