UTA Notes | Watch | Stats | Tickets

ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington opens up its six-game, final home stand of the season with a three-game set with Troy beginning on Saturday at Allan Saxe Field. First pitch of the series, changed due to anticipated rain on Saturday, is set for 4 p.m., while the teams will close the series with a doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m. on Sunday

The weekend series marks the team's Strike Out Cancer initiative, with Sunday's game featuring free pink t-shirts and towels for fans. UTA will be hosting a fundraising drive at the game.

The Mavericks (22-19) enter a pivotal stretch in their campaign with the final nine games coming against teams in the top half of the standings. UTA, third in the league by percentage points over Troy, face nationally-ranked Louisiana next weekend on Senior Weekend, and then travel to nationally-ranked Texas State in the regular season series finale the next week. UTA is at the highest point in the standings it has been at this point of the season since joining the league for the 2014 season.

Troy leads the all-time series with a 9-8 record, however, the Mavs took two-of-three from the Trojans last season on the road. The surging Trojans are 27-18 this season, with an 11-8 record in the league. Troy did not reach the postseason tournament last year.

HOW TO WATCH/FOLLOW
Fans can watch via Mavs All-Access, a subscription stream featuring HD quality video to go with its Gametracker on UTAMavs.com. Fans can follow UTA via Twitter by following the team's account at @UTASoftball for behind the scenes action, as well as updates throughout the weekend.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Reagan Wright moved into 9th in UTA history with a HR against Georgia Southern. Wright knocked 6 in 5 games in the previous week… UTA is 6th in the nation in double plays turned per game at 0.59, UTA turned 4 against Georgia Southern UTA is 21st in fielding percentage (0.974)... Sandra Mendoza saw the end of her 13-game hitting streak in Game 2 last weekend, however, she has reached safely in a team season-high 15 games... Reagan Wright has reached in the last 12, Laura Curry in the last 11 and Krista Rude in the last 8. Wright leads the team with 7 multi-RBI games, including the only player with a 4-RBI game (has 3) and a 5-RBI game (8 vs. ULM, single-game program record)…. Wright is 1 of 10 players in the nation with a 3 HR game this season and 3rd in program history.

The Mavs are 20-7 when scoring 3 or more runs, but just 2-12 when scoring 2 or fewers... UTA is 10-3 when it scores in the 1st inning and 16-8 when scoring first. On the other end, UTA is 4-3 when the opponent scores in the first, and just 6-11 when the opponent scores first... The Mavs are 18-0 when leading after the 5th, and 15-1 when leading after the 4th, however, UTA is just 0-16 when trailing after the 6th and 2-15 after the 5th.

WHAT THE LAST WEEK LOOKED LIKE:
The Mavs claimed 2-of-3 at Georgia Southern to close a season-long 8-game road trip (5-3 during trip). Reagan Wright knocked 3 of the team's 4 runs in during a 4-2 win as she hit her 8th HR of the season, a 2-run shot.

After falling 2-0 in Game 2 of the series, UTA came back strong in Game 3, helped along by 5 runs in the first on the way to a 10-7 win. KJ Murphy finished with a 3-hit game, while Laura Curry and Melanie Mendoza each had 2 hits.

UTA took on Oklahoma State (No. 26 in the USA Today/ESPN Poll) in the midweek in Stillwater, Okla. on Tuesday evening. The Mavs exploaded for 8 runs in the 6th inning to top Oklahoma State, earning their first win over a Big 12 program since 2008.

HEAD COACH Peejay Brun
UTA coach Peejay Brun enters her first season at the helm of the Mavericks. Brun owns a 153-169-2 all-time record as a head coach after two seasons at Hawaii-Hilo and a stint at Sienna.

Brun brings 19 years of collegiate coaching experience to the Mavericks program, including six as a head coach. For nine of the last 11 seasons, she has served as an assistant coach at Texas State University.

A 1994 graduate of the University of Hawai'i, Brun comes to UTA following one season in her second stint as an assistant at Texas State after serving as the head coach at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo for two years. She led UH Hilo to a 63-33-1 overall record, a 41-19-1 record in the PacWest Conference.

Brun developed a NFCA All-America selection, eight all-league honorees and two all-region selections at UH Hilo. Eighteen student-athletes under her direction earned all-PacWest academic honors and six were named NFCA Academic All- America.

FOLLOW THE MAVS SOCIALLY
For up-to-date news, photos, videos and updates you can follow UTA sports program online at UTAMavs.com or via any of several social media accounts on twitter @UTAMavs, Instagram @UTAMavs, Snapchat @UTAMavs and Facebook at UTArlingtonAthletics.