April 14, 2006
A showdown for first place in the Southland Conference gets underway Friday as the UT Arlington Mavericks meet the Texas State Bobcats Friday for a single game at 7 p.m. and a Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m.
ABOUT TEXAS STATE
Texas State (28-14) has won 14 straight Southland Conference games after losing their league opener, a 2-1 loss in nine innings to Southeastern Louisiana on March 11.
Senior outfielder Kristin Gunter leads the Bobcats with a .393 batting average, nine home runs and a league-leading 33 RBI.
Senior pitcher Katie Ann Trahan leads the league with 16 wins and has a 1.55 ERA. Sarah Lancour is 12-7 with a 2.14 ERA. She loss a hard-fought 1-0 decision to third-ranked Texas on Wednesday.
Texas State won the SLC regular-season title in 2001 and 2002 before UT Arlington won in 2003.
GARRO CLIMBS UP CHARTS
Senior lefthander Jill Garro (Bulverde, Texas) is ranked among the top 10 in the conference in earned run average (1st/1.28), wins (2nd/15), innings pitched (5th/148.00), batters struck out (3rd/145), games started (tied for 5th/21) and opposing batting average (3rd/.208) after last weekend's series against Louisiana-Monroe.
Garro tossed two shutouts last weekend, 2-0 and 5-0 over Louisiana-Monroe.
Garro (15-7) tied former standout Katy Cox for fourth place on the career victories list. Garro is now 53-44 in her career at UTA. She is fifth on the career innings pitched list with 624.2. Garro already moved into fifth place on the career strikeout list and has 498 career Ks heading into Saturday's game. She will move into fourth place with 15 strikeouts and third with 28 more.
Garro, was named the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week for the week of March 7 after allowing one earned run in an 11-inning complete game decision and followed with two innings of relief for the win in a doubleheader sweep against McNeese State on March 4.
Garro shut down Loyola Marymount in the Mavs' 10-0 win in the championship game of the Paradise Classic.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES'
UTA boasts not one, but two Jones' on the squad. Sophomore Katie Jones (Cedar Hill, Texas) started seven games at the Paradise Classic Tournament in Hawaii in the field and sophomore pitcher Laura Jones (Rogue River, Ore.) went 2-0 opening weekend with two complete-game performances in Hawaii.
Jones (8-3) is third in SLC in ERA at 1.60. In her previous start, Jones scattered four hits and struck out a career-high 10 in a 5-1 win at Sam Houston State April 1. The sophomore posted a near-perfect game in a 3-0 win over Texas Southern on March 14. Jones allowed a two-out single to left field in the top of the seventh inning to break up the gem.
MORE NAME GAMES
UTA has two Andersons on the squad - Courtni and Courtney. It is easy to separate them with Courtney being the Mavs' regular third baseman and Courtni behind the plate at catcher.
AUTUMN SPRINGS INTO ACTION
Senior outfielder Autumn Petrino (Rowlett, Texas) has hit safely in seven of 10 games. She is batting .407 (11 of 27) over the last eight games after batting .200 (12 of 60) since Paradise Hawaii Classic.
Petrino hit two doubles and a solo home run in the Mavs' 6-3 win at Sam Houston State on April 1. Petrino has scored 14 runs over the last 10 games and has 29 for the season.
She was named the Hawai'i Paradise Classic Tournament MVP after batting .462 with 12 hits and eight RBI. She was also named to the Southland Conference Player of the Week Honor Roll.
Petrino is ranked third on the career RBI list with 99 and she is the all-time leader with 45 career doubles.
RECORD WATCHING,/b>
Autumn Petrino needs two extra-base hits to move into the single-season top five list... Dee Jay Nelson needs one home run to tie Elizabeth Harsma for the single-season record with seven in 1998.
MORE ACCOLADES
Sophomore April Clougherty (Dallas, Texas) joined Petrino on the all-tournament team in Hawaii after batting .350 in eight games.
EXTRA BASES
UTA mustered just 45 extra-base hits in 2005. After 38 games, the Mavs have 81 extra base hits. UTA averaged fewer than 3.0 runs per game in 2005 and are averaging 4.36 runs per game this season.
UP NEXT
UTA travels to Stephen F. Austin next weekend for a three-game series.
QUICK HITS
* Amanda Swofford is tied for team lead in runs scored (20), second in doubles (10), and leads in walks (18) and sacrifice flies (2).
* Four players have started every game so far this season - Amanda Swofford, Dee Jay Nelson, Jenna Fortune and Autumn Petrino. * UTA leads the Southland Conference in defense with a .965 fielding percentage.
* Katie Jones has a hit in 10 of her last 11 games. She is batting .486 (18 of 37) over the past nine games. Her only home run of career was solo home run off Texas' Cat Osterman earlier this year.
* Dee Jay Nelson had a 16-game hitting streak stopped during a 4-3 loss at Sam Houston State. Nelson raised her batting average by more than 60 points during the streak. She is hitting .472 (26 of 55) over the last 19 games.
THIS SERIES
UT Arlington leads the all-time series, 57-34.
EXTRAS
UTA President James Spaniolo will throw out the first pitch of the game. The game is sponsored by Quiznos Sandwich Shop, 2713 W. Park Row in Arlington.
