SERIES NOTES: at Nicholls
4/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 29, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Stephen F. Austin at Nicholls
May 1-2, 2010 • Thibodaux, La.
Ladyjacks
Record: 24-16 (16-8)
Last 5/Streak: 1-4/L4
Coach: Gay McNutt
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Colonels
Record: 23-16 (14-10)
Last 5/Streak: 3-2/L2
Coach: Jenny Parsons
SID: Brandon Rizzuto
E-mail: brandon.rizzuto@nicholls.edu
Web: geauxcolonels.com
SERIES INFORMATION
THIS WEEKEND: After getting swept for the second time in three Southland Conference series, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team will try to hold its ground heading into the final two weeks of the season. The Ladyjacks are second in the league standings with a 16-8 mark and a 24-16 overall record. But they finish the year by playing two of the league's top four teams, starting with Nicholls on the road this weekend. The Colonels come into the series with a 23-16 season mark and a 14-10 record in league action.
LAST WEEK: SFA went 0-4 last week, opening with a 3-2 loss at Louisiana-Monroe and finishing with three straight defeats at Central Arkansas over the weekend. The Bears rallied late in the opener for an 8-2 verdict that set the tone for the series. In Sunday's doubleheader, UCA took a 4-3 win to begin the day then polished off the sweep with a 5-0 verdict that marked the ninth time this season for SFA to be shut out. The Ladyjacks took an early lead in the loss at ULM and in the second game against the Bears but couldn't come up with late offense in either game. SFA batted .236 as a team and was outscored, 20-7, combined in the four games. The Ladyjacks left 26 runners on base for the week, hitting just .174 with runners in scoring position.
THE COLONELS: Nicholls comes into the weekend as the No. 4 team in the Southland Conference. The Colonels hold a one-game lead over fifth-place McNeese State and are just a half-game behind UT Arlington. Nicholls has dropped each of its last two Southland series. The Colonels salvaged their three-game set against UTSA with a win on the final day. That victory kicked off a three-game run that included a win at Southern Miss and a win in the opener at Northwestern State. But the Demons took the last two games in that series to drop Nicholls behind UTA in the standings. The Colonels' .251 team batting average ranks ninth in the Southland, and Nicholls is 10th in the league in runs scored with 156 on the year. But the Colonels boast the fourth-best team ERA in the league (3.07), and the .238 opponents are batting against Nicholls pitching ranks second in the Southland.
LAST MEETING: SFA swept Nicholls in a three-game set in Nacogdoches last season to move from sixth place in the Southland to second in the league. The Ladyjacks opened with a 4-3 win in the first game, then notched a 6-0 verdict and a 1-0 win in the series-ending doubleheader to complete the sweep. The three victories improved SFA's win streak to a season-best seven games.
UP NEXT: SFA will finish up the 2010 regular season with a three-game home series against Texas State. The Bobcats are currently first in the Southland standings and will be making their first trip to Nacogdoches since the 2008 season, when SFA took two of three. The Southland Conference Tournament will be played in San Marcos, May 13-15.
NEWS AND NOTES
SWEPT AWAY: In three seasons under head coach Gay McNutt, the Ladyjacks have been swept in a Southland Conference series just three times. But two of those sweeps have come this season. SFA dropped all three games at UT Arlington, then got swept out of Conway, Ark., with three losses at Central Arkansas last weekend.
BROOM GOES BOTH WAYS: In the Ladyjacks' four Southland series sweeps, SFA has batted .368 as a team and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 90-23. The Ladyjacks have banged out 22 doubles, 19 home runs and two triples for a team slugging percentage of .614 in the 12 wins. In their two losing efforts against UT Arlington and Central Arkansas, the Ladyjacks have batted just .210 and been outscored, 27-5, with only three home runs and a .287 slugging percentage.
WORST TO (ALMOST) FIRST: SFA opened the season with a five-game losing streak that stands as the worst start in the Southland Conference this year. Since that skid, though, the Ladyjacks are 24-11 and have put together two separate win streaks of five or more games. SFA goes into the last two weekends of the season just a game back of Texas State in the Southland standings. The Ladyjacks are 16-8 against the conference, while the Bobcats sport a 17-7 league record.
SLAMMIN' SOUTHEASTERN: Of SFA's four Southland series sweeps, the three-game run against Southeastern Louisiana is the most dominant. The Ladyjacks batted .439 as a team and outscored the Lions, 21-1, winning two games by run-rule. SFA had five doubles and four home runs for a .697 slugging percentage that ranks just behind the .698 the Ladyjacks slugged against McNeese State. The SFA pitchers held Southeastern to a .207 average and finished the weekend with a 0.82 ERA.
SHUT DOWN: SFA's season-best seven-game win streak came to an end with a 7-0 loss at Texas A&M. That defeat marked the Ladyjacks' first shutout since a 3-0 loss to Notre Dame on Feb. 21. SFA followed that up with three straight scoreless losses at UT Arlington, marking the longest run of consecutive shutouts since the Ladyjacks dropped five straight games without scoring during the 2002 season.
STREAKS: SFA's season-best seven-game win streak overlapped with another impressive Ladyjack streak. SFA hit at least one home run in each of those seven wins, beginning the streak with five straight multi-homer contests. The Ladyjacks blasted 16 home runs over the seven-game streak, bettering the 12 total long balls they hit in the first 21 games of the season.
SCORE! : When SFA scores two runs or fewer, the Ladyjacks are 2-14. But SFA has a 22-2 record when scoring at least three runs and is a perfect 14-0 when scoring six runs or more.
EARLY TO RISE: The Ladyjacks are 19-3 this season in games when they score first.
HOLDING ON TIGHT: SFA has been tough to beat when the Ladyjacks can grab a lead. They are 16-2 this season when leading after the fourth inning and 15-0 when leading after the sixth.
WORKING FROM TWO TO FIVE: The second and fifth innings have been the most productive for SFA this season. The Ladyjacks have scored 37 runs in the second and 33 runs in the fifth inning. They've outscored the opposition by a combined total of 70-34 in those two innings.
STEPPING UP: Five Ladyjack veterans -- Briana Bishop, Amber Price, Jessica Arana, Ashley Struchtemeyer and Michele Huffman -- have a higher batting average this season than their career mark.
SOUTHLAND SWITCH: SFA's season batting average of .281 ranks second in the Southland Conference, but the Ladyjacks' conference-only average of .307 leads the league by a total of 25 percentage points.
NO RUNS, NO PROBLEM: SFA's 163 runs scored this season are tied for seventh in the Southland Conference. But the Ladyjack pitching staff is taking up the slack. SFA has allowed just 125 runs for the year and has a 2.83 ERA -- both of which rank second in the Southland.
BELOW AVERAGE: The Ladyjack pitching staff has held opponents to the third-lowest batting average in the Southland Conference. Foes are hitting just .241 against SFA pitching for the season.
RECORD WATCH: Senior Kendal Harper has added a pair of career records to her resume this season. Her triple against Centenary College gave her 13 for her career, surpassing Carrie Woydziak's former career mark of 12. Harper also took over the career hits record with her 201st hit during the series with A&M-Corpus Christi. She currently has 219 base knocks. Harper also holds single-season records for hits (75) and stolen bases (28), both recorded in 2008. She needs only 10 more stolen bases to set a new mark in that category.
MAKIN' HIT RECORDS: Briana Bishop already holds the SFA career records for home runs (33), RBI (127) and walks (82). With 35 doubles so far, she needs just two more to erase Angela Froboese's record of 36 two-baggers.
TWO DOWN, STEP UP: Brittany Caruthers leads the Ladyjacks with a .471 batting average when hitting with two outs and runners on base. She's even better with two out and runners in scoring position. Caruthers bats .600 in those spots. Her 10 two-out RBI lead the team.
STREAKING: Kendal Harper, Briana Bishop and Amber Price share the longest hitting streaks on the team this season at nine games. The longest current streak is Kayla Gutowski's eight-game run.
-- SFA --
