Ladyjacks Step Out of Southland Action, Take on SEC’s Aggies in College Station Wednesday

Wednesday, March 20

College Station, Texas

5 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Texas A&M

Buy Tickets

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Photo by: SFA Athletics

Ladyjacks Step Out of Southland Action, Take on SEC’s Aggies in College Station Wednesday

3/19/2019 8:16:00 PM | Softball

SFA seeks fourth Power Five win of season, second against SEC foe at Texas A&M

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Following back-to-back weekends of three-game league series without midweek matchups, the SFA softball team will step out of Southland Conference play for a non-conference tilt at Southeastern Conference stalwart Texas A&M Wednesday. First pitch from Davis Diamond in College Station, Texas, is slated for 5 p.m. as the Ladyjacks (15-12, 3-3 Southland) seek their fourth win over a Power Five program this season and first against an SEC opponent.

Wednesday evening's midweek tilt will be streamed live worldwide via the ESPN app on the SEC Network+, while Texas A&M will have a radio broadcast of the game on Willy 1550 AM. Live statistics of the contest can be followed via 12thMan.com and tickets can be purchased through the 12th Man Foundation.

For the second consecutive year, SFA will take on the Aggies (16-11, 1-5 SEC) in a non-conference midweek road affair after dropping a 4-0 decision at the then Aggie Softball Complex in February of 2018. The game will mark the 64th overall meeting between the two teams with the Ladyjacks' last victory over Texas A&M coming on March 8, 2009, when SFA scored an 8-4 win in College Station. The triumph came hours after long-time Aggie head coach Jo Evans recorded her 800th career win with a victory over Louisiana Tech earlier in the day.

SFA enters Wednesday's game with a 3-3 record against Power Five programs in 2019 and a 1-3 mark versus the SEC, having notched wins over then 24th-ranked Mississippi State and the Big Ten Conference's Illinois and Indiana.

LAST TIME OUT
The Ladyjacks claimed their second-straight Southland series win over three-time defending conference tournament champion McNeese over the weekend in Nacogdoches. Avenging its loss to the Cowgirls in the 2018 Southland Softball Tournament in Lake Charles last May, SFA began the three-game series Friday with a 7-0 shutout as senior first baseman Margarita Corona cranked out two three-run homers to account for all six of the Ladyjacks' RBI. After enduring an 8-2 setback in game two of Friday's doubleheader, despite getting a seventh-inning solo home run from redshirt center fielder Brittany Crawford, SFA clinched the league series Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 victory in the decisive game three. Timely hits, a pair of McNeese errors and a three-run bottom sixth inning worked in the favor of the home team. Freshman pinch hitter Mackenzie Bennett provided the game-winning hit as she stepped to the plate with two outs and bases loaded, connecting on a 2-1 pitch for a two RBI single to left field to give the Ladyjacks a 4-2 lead that they would not relinquish.

WILLING WILBUR
Freshman right-handed pitcher Kassidy Wilbur has been nothing short of sensational for the Ladyjacks in her inaugural collegiate season. The Bridge City, Texas (Bridge City HS), native picked up her second Southland Pitcher of the Week plaudit Monday after going 2-0 over the weekend against McNeese with two complete game wins. In the series opener with the Cowgirls Friday afternoon at the SFA Softball Field, Wilbur nearly collected a no-hitter as she gave up just one hit for her third complete game shutout of the season and first versus an opponent not ranked in the top 25. Fanning nine McNeese batters out of 25 faced, Wilbur walked just three. Saturday, Wilbur earned her eighth complete game win of the season with eight strikeouts. Allowing just two runs and two walks in 29 batters faced, Wilbur notched her ninth win of her freshman campaign. Finishing the weekend series with a 1.00 earned run average and 17 strikeouts in 14 total innings of work, Wilbur held McNeese to a .170 batting average and only two extra-base hits. She currently ranks eighth nationally with 122 strikeouts on the year, while leading the conference and ranking 34th in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings (8.8). Her 2.90 strikeout-to-walk ratio also ranks among national leaders and is fifth-best among all Southland pitchers, while her nine victories are second-most in the league and 47th-most in the nation. Wilbur was also named Southland Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 12 after going 4-0 over the opening weekend of the season with a two-hit complete game shutout of then 24th-ranked Mississippi State. She became SFA's first USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week on the same day after not allowing an earned run in three games starts and 22 innings, setting the program record for most strikeouts by a Ladyjack making her debut with 15 in the season-opening win over Valparaiso (6-2).

DEALING IN THE CIRCLE
Wilbur is not the only Ladyjack who has been impressive this season inside the circle as SFA's pitching staff ranks 13th nationally in total strikeouts (204) and is 46th in the nation and tops in the Southland with a 2.65 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Junior Ashley Kriesel, who owns three complete game wins in 2019 and four total, has already collected a no-hitter (Feb. 16 versus Jackson State) and a save (Feb. 20 against Texas Southern) in her first year as a Ladyjack. The right-hander ranks 39th nationally with 8.7 strikeouts per seven innings and is second only to Wilbur in the Southland in that category. Kriesel also ranks among conference leaders in total strikeouts with 64 in 51 and 2/3 innings of work. Fellow junior Jordan Llinas has provided a steady arm from the bullpen this season as well. The righty owns a 2-0 record in 22 and 2/3 innings pitched and has notched 17 strikeouts in seven game appearances.

DICKSON REACHES 200
With SFA's series-clinching win over McNeese Saturday, Ladyjack leader Nicole Dickson claimed her 200th career win as a head coach. Of Dickson's 200 wins, 63 of them have come while at the helm of the Ladyjacks after she posted 137 victories as a head coach at the junior college level. Dickson won 99 games in two years at Tyler Junior College after going 38-19 in her lone season leading Paris Junior College.

AMONG LEADING MID-MAJORS IN FIRST RPI RANKINGS
With the NCAA's first release of the RPI softball rankings Monday, SFA is No. 68 in the nation and sits as the second-highest Southland program. The Ladyjacks, who have posted a 9-2 record in neutral site games in 2019, rank ahead of notable Power Five programs such as California, Syracuse, NC State, Iowa, Purdue, Boston College, Utah, Duke, Rutgers, Nebraska, Virginia, Michigan State and Penn State.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Out of 297 total Division I softball teams, the Ladyjacks own the 80th-most difficult schedule based on past, future and cumulative opponent's records. The teams SFA has faced already this season are currently a combined 377-311 (.548) overall. For perspective, the team with the most difficult schedule is the Pac-12 Conference's Washington, who's past opponents currently own a combined winning percentage of .673. The Ladyjacks currently own the third-toughest schedule among Southland programs with only Sam Houston State (33rd) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (69th) owning a more difficult schedule in 2019.

AGAINST POWER FIVE AND TOP-25 OPPONENTS
Owning a 3-3 record against Power Five program opposition this season, SFA has picked up three top-25 wins against the nation's most powerful conferences. The Ladyjacks began their 2019 campaign by capturing the Bulldog Kickoff Classic in Starkville, Mississippi, where they knocked off then 24th-ranked Mississippi State in the title game with a two-hit, 1-0 shutout. Two weeks later, SFA took down then 25th-ranked Illinois out of the Big Ten Conference at South Alabama's Mardi Gras Invitational in Mobile, Alabama, with a 7-2 victory. The following weekend, the Ladyjacks made it back-to-back weeks knocking off one of the nation's best by picking up perhaps their most impressive non-conference win of the season thus far. SFA handed then 16th-ranked Indiana its first loss of 2019 with the Ladyjacks' second 1-0 shutout of a top-25 opponent at LSU's Purple & Gold Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Hoosiers are currently ranked 22nd nationally according to the latest USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 poll.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M
Led by head coach Jo Evans, who has amassed 1,208 career wins in 34 seasons as a head coach with 895 of those coming in her 23 years at Texas A&M, the Aggies enter Wednesday afternoon's matchup having lost five of their last six games. Texas A&M has begun SEC play 1-5 after facing then No. 10 LSU and then 20th-ranked Auburn in conference series over the past two weekends. The Aggies own a 15-5 record at Davis Diamond this season with their lone home losses coming to LSU twice, fellow Southland member McNeese (3-1), Liberty (4-2) and North Texas (10-2) in five innings. Featuring one of the most prolific offensives in the nation, Texas A&M ranks 28th nationally in batting (.313), 43rd in slugging (.467) and 50th in scoring (5.52 runs per game). The Aggies have tallied 32 doubles and 20 home runs so far in 2019, ranking 80th in the nation in home runs per game (0.74). Texas A&M has made it to the NCAA Regionals for 17 consecutive seasons, claiming regional titles four times since 2011 and making it to the regional final each year since 2010. Earning their sixth trip to the Women's College Series in 2017, the Aggies played for a spot in the 2018 Women's College Series by forcing a deciding game three against host Florida in the Gainesville Super Regional.

On Deck…
The Ladyjacks return to Southland play this weekend when they host Houston Baptist in a three-game series Friday and Saturday, March 22-23. SFA will duel with the Huskies at SFA Softball Field in a doubleheader Friday beginning at 1 p.m., before wrapping up the series Saturday with a 12 p.m. first pitch for game three.

Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Ladyjack softball throughout the 2019 season.

-SFA-