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Scouting UMass
· UMass (15-25, 8-11) enters a crucial conference series this weekend battling for one of the three remaining spots in next week's 6-teamAtlantic10 Conference Championship. The Minutewomen control their own destiny, needing at least one victory to qualify and can finish anywhere from 4th to 7th place in the final standings.
·UMass ishitting .267 on the year, but has managed just .219over the last fivegames.UMass has hit 37 home runs and24 in league play, which leads the A-10.
·Senior SSQuianna Diaz-Pattersonhas been the dominant hitter for UMass this season, ranking fourthin the country in batting avg. (.500), 10thin OBP (.590) and 24thin slugging (.879). She opened the year with a 15-game hitting streak and enters the SLU serieshaving reached base in 14-straight contests.
·Sophomore CAshton Winceis hitting .322 with three doubles, 10 RBI and three sac bunts in 35 games. Her BA is up 93 points from a year ago, when she hit .229 in 30 games as a freshman. She has stepped up her game defensively, throwing out three of the last five would-be base stealers and 5 of the last 11 overall. She has thrown out seven on the year.
·Senior 1BBridget Lemireis also a threat at the plate, hitting .300 with a league-best 11 home runs to go along with a team-high 35 RBI. She is averaging a home run every 10.0 at-bats in 2015. She is hitting .397 with all 11 HR and 35 of her 36 RBI over the last 27 games after opening with a .096 avg in the first 12 games.
·Sophomore OFTara Kleeis fourthon the squad with a .267 avg,seven HR and a .514slugging pct.
·While the offense has been steadily improving over the past month, the pitching staff has had its ups and downs, and brings a 5.06ERA and an opponent batting avg of .284into the weekend.
·SeniorCaroline Raymond(11-14, 3.94) has struck out 71and walked 107in 151 IP. In 13 conference starts she is 7-6 with a 2.91ERA and a .210 opponent BA. FreshmanMeg Colleran(3-11, 5.60) has made 19appearances and 15 starts, with ninecomplete 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 .944 fielding pct. overall and .942 in A-10 play. UMass has played eight clean games and ninemore with just one miscue.
ScoutingSaint Louis
·Saint Louis(33-16, 15-5) enters the series in secondplace in the A-10. The Billikenshave set the school record for victories in a season, eclipsing the previous mark of 30 set in 2010 and 2014.
·The Billikensare batting .303and average 5.96 runs per game. SophomoreSSAlex Nickel (.448-11-29) paces the SLU offense and is tied for the A-10 lead in HR with UMass'Lemire. Junior PBrianna Lore (.331-4-27) is one of seven players with a batting avg. of .300 or better. Freshman 2B Allie MacFarlane (.319-8-47) leads the A-10 in RBI and teammate Lindsay Friedman is second with 44.
·Saint Louis'pitching staff is third in the leaguewith a 3.22ERA with four shutouts while yeilding a .273 opponent batting avg - third in the A-10. Lore(17-9) is fourth inthe A-10 with a 2.58 ERA.
Series WithSaint Louis
·UMass has posted a 14-4-1 record against Saint Louis, dating back to the first meeting nineyears ago in St. Louis. SLU claimed the initial contest 1-0 before UMass responded with a 13-3 win in five innings in 2006.UMass is 7-1 in Amherst against SLU and 6-3-1 at the Billiken Sports Center. The lone tie in the series occurredthreeyears ago at SLU when the teams went into the ninth inning knotted in a 3-3 score when rainforced a delay. Due to UMass' travel arrangements, the game ended in a tie.
·Last season, SLU swept a doubleheader with wins of 2-1 and 6-4, on the opening weekend of league play.
·Two years ago, much like this season, the teams concluded league play in Amherst. UMass needed asweep to qualify for the league tournament. The Minutewomen won the first game, 5-2, before allowing seven runs in the second inning of a 12-3 loss in the finale.
Diaz-Patterson Compiling One of the Top Offensive Season In School & A-10 History
·As mentioned in the `Scouting UMass' note, senior SSQuianna Diaz-Pattersonpossesses one of the top bats in the A-10, if not the country. She is fourthin the country in batting avg. (.500), 10thin OBP (.590) and 24thin slugging (.879). 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 14-consecutive games.
Power Returning To Amherst
·UMass has hit 37 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 threegrand slams this season -- one byTara Kleeat George Mason and twobyBridget Lemireat Rhode Island and this past Tuesday against Boston College.
·Bridget Lemirehas a team- and conference-high 11 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 Samantha 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-Pattersonis second on the team and tied for third in the A-10 with nine HR, whileTara Kleehas added seven to the team total.
UMass Career Records Check
·Senior Quianna Diaz Patterson enters the Saint Louisweekend ranked in the top 10 of a number of UMass career statistics: .380 BA -- 3rd; .603 Slugging -- 3rd; .464 OBP -- 3rd; 141 runs -- 7th; 45 doubles -- 5th; 14 triples -- 8th; 75 walks -- 6th; 15 HBP -- 6th.
·Diaz-Patterson and classmateBridget Lemireare among the top-20 in home runs. Lemirehas hit 17 in her career, ranking her 15th, while Diaz-Patteron's 16 put her in a tie for 16th.
Preseason Poll
·Massachusetts was picked to finish fourth in 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 6-9 at 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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$3-8 | UMass students free with a valid UMass ID
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