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Scouting UMass
· UMass (14-21, 8-9) enters a crucial conference series this weekend in sixth place in the A-10. The Minutewomen control their own destiny in the hunt for one of the six A-10 Championship berths, following a 3-game sweep of St. Bonaventure last weekend.
· UMass is hitting .271 on the year with 36 home runs. UMass has hit 24 in league play, which leads the A-10.
· Senior SS Quianna Diaz-Patterson has been the dominant hitter for UMass this season, ranking second in the country in batting avg. (.535), fourth in OBP (.619) and tenth in slugging (.960).
· Sophomore C Ashton Wince is hitting .320 with three doubles, 10 RBI and three sac bunts in 30 games. Her BA is up 91 points from a year ago, when she hit .229 in 30 games as a freshman.
· Sophomore OF/P Tara Klee is third on the squad with a .300 avg and seven HR and a .589 slugging pct.
· Senior 1B Bridget Lemire is also a threat at the plate, hitting .270 with a league-best 10 home runs to go along with a team-high 30 RBI. She is averaging a home run every 10.1 at-bats in 2015.
· While the offense has been steadily improving over the past month, the pitching staff has had its ups and downs, and brings a 4.88 ERA and an opponent batting avg of .283 to Dayton.
· Senior Caroline Raymond (10-13, 4.08) has struck out 65 and walked 99 in 135 IP. In 12 conference starts she is 7-5 with a 3.15 ERA and a .209 opponent BA. Freshman Meg Colleran (3-8, 5.44) has made 16 appearances and 12 starts, with eight complete games -- 3 in A-10 play -- in her rookie campaign.
· The UMass defense has been the Achilles heel for much of the season and carries a league-low .943 fielding pct. overall and .941 in A-10 play. The Minutewomen are coming off a season-high six error performance in Tuesday's 10-6 loss at Boston University. UMass has played eight clean games and eight more with just one miscue.
Scouting Dayton
· Dayton (32-12, 15-2) enters the series in first place in the A-10, coming off a 3-game conference sweep of George Washington and riding a four-game win streak overall. The Flyers have won all six previous A-10 series, dropping just one game at Saint Louis and at Fordham. In 17 league games, UD has posted seven shutouts, and allowed more than run just three times. The Flyers are 21-3 in their last 24 games.
· UD is 12-0 at home this season -- with a current 15-game winning streak -- and 9-0 against league competition.
· The Flyers are batting .282 collectively with 21 home runs and a league-best 62 doubles. Senior 1B Tiffany Ricks (.392-10-31) and sophomore RF/P Gabrielle Snyder (.389-2-27) are the top offensive threats for the Flyers. Ricks ranks sixth in hits (47), fifth in doubles (11) and tied for third in HR (9). Snyder is sixth in BA and tied for first in doubles (13).
· Dayton's pitching staff leads the league and ranks 17th in the country with a 2.18 ERA. Senior righthander Kayla English (16-5) leads the A-10 with a 1.47 ERA (22nd in NCAA). She is fourth in the league with 105 strikeouts. In league play, she has been nearly unhittable with a 10-1 mark and a 0.63 ERA. Snyder (7-5, 2.96) has started 11 games and appeared in 21 for the Flyers. Freshman lefty Manda Cash (7-1) is tied for the A-10 lead with six saves, is second with a 1.58 ERA and third with 109 strikeouts. She has four saves in conference action over nine relief appearances.
Series With Dayton
The Minutewomen are 33-5 all-time against the Flyers and 12-2 in Dayton. UMass has posted 13 shutouts and held Dayton hitless twice - Brandice Balschmiter had a perfect game in 2008 and Sara Plourde collected her first-career no-hitter in 2009.
· Last season, UMass swept Dayton during the regular season in a doubleheader in Amherst, but split a pair of meetings in the A-10 Championship. UMass got a clutch, pinch-hit 2-run single by Lindsey Zenk in the sixth spark a 6-run inning and come away with a 7-2 win in the tourney's first game, before UD scored five unanswered runs in the 4th-6th innings in a 6-2 elimination game victory a day later.
· Two years ago the teams opened the A-10 season and split a pair of games. UD won the Friday contest 9-4 before UMass won a 14-12 shootout, jumping out to a 9-1 lead after three innings.
Diaz-Patterson Compiling One of the Top Offensive Season In School & A-10 History
· As mentioned in the `Scouting UMass' note, senior SS Quianna Diaz-Patterson possesses one of the top bats in the A-10, if not the country. She is second in the country in batting avg. (.535), fourth in OBP (.619) and tenth in slugging (.960). All three are on pace to break the school records and the BA is on pace to eclipse the current A-10 mark of .487 (Carla Camino, Rutgers in 1993). She enters the weekend having reached base in 10-consecutive plate appearances, which is tied for eighth in Division I history.
Power Returning To Amherst
· UMass has hit 36 home runs this season, marking the most since belting 40 in 2012. The Minutewomen have sent 24 out of the park in A-10 games, the most in the conference. The school record is 70 set by the 2009 team. Only five previous teams have hit at least 40 in a season. The team's .455 slugging pct. is currently fifth in school history. UMass has hit two grand slams this season -- one by Tara Klee at George Mason and one by Bridget Lemire at Rhode Island.
· Bridget Lemire has a team- and conference-high 10 thus far, with nine coming in A-10 play. The last time a UMass player won the A-10 HR crown was in 2009 when Sam Salato hit a school record 19. That marked the end of a streak of eight-consecutive years where a UMass player won or shared the title. Quianna Diaz-Patterson is second on the team and tied for third in the A-10 with nine HR, while Tara Klee has added seven to the team total.
UMass Career Records Check
· Senior Quianna Diaz Patterson enters the Dayton weekend ranked in the top 10 of a number of UMass career statistics: .381 BA -- 3rd; .608 Slugging -- 3rd; .466 OBP -- 3rd; 141 runs -- 7th; 44 doubles -- t-6th; 14 triples -- 8th; 72 walks -- 7th; 15 HBP -- 6th.
· Diaz-Patterson and classmate Bridget Lemire are among the top-20 in home runs. Both have hit 16 in their career, which puts them in a tie for 16th. .
Preseason Poll
· Massachusetts was picked to finish fourthin a vote of the league's 10 head coaches during the preseason polling period. Fordham earned all 10 first place votes and was a unanimous top pick, followed by Saint Louis and Saint Joseph's, ahead of the Minutewomen. Dayton, George Washington, George Mason, La Salle and St. Bonaventure rounded out the poll.
A-10 Championship
· For the 10th time in school history, UMass will play host to the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament, May 6-9at Sortino Field. The format features six teams in a double-elimination bracket, with the first and second-place teams based on regular-season winning pct. receiving day one byes.
· Tickets will cost between $3-$8 per day or you can grab a 4-day tournament pass for $12 (youth) or $24 (adult). Students of Atlantic 10 Conference schools are free to all games with a valid ID. |
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