UMass To Host Rhode Island, UConn For Three Midweek Games

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts softball team will host a trio of games this week on Sortino Field as they are set to take on Atlantic 10 opponent Rhode Island for a doubleheader tomorrow at 1 p.m. before wrapping up midweek competition the following day against UConn at 4 p.m. The Minutewomen (26-12 Overall, 14-0 A-10) head into tomorrow's league matchup with the fifth-longest conference winning-streak in the nation after sweeping St. Bonaventure over the weekend.

UMass opened up the weekend series against the Bonnies with a 10-1 win in six-innings on Saturday afternoon, led by two-RBI performances from Jena Cozza and Melissa Garcia while seven different Minutewomen recorded a base hit. In game two, Madison Gimpl gave UMass the lead in their final at-bat in the seventh inning with a bases-clearing three RBI double in an eventual 5-1 win. Gimpl drove in three more runs in the series finale on Sunday with a pair of hits as UMass closed out the weekend with a 5-2 win.

The Minutewomen swept their doubleheader last season on the road at Rhode Island (11-28 Overall, 3-10 A-10) with a game one extra-innings 9-5 win led by Cozza and Kaitlyn Stavinoha's two RBIs each while six different UMass batters drove in a run. UMass went on to close out the doubleheader with a 5-3 win in game two.

UMass will battle regional opponent UConn (17-30 Overall) in a single game on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Huskies won the last meeting a season ago 7-1 on their home field to bring the series to 49-45-1 in favor of the Minutewomen.

Through 14 league games this season, UMass owns a .377 team batting-average with seven different hitters recording averages of plus-.300 at the plate with five of those hitting over the .400 mark. Cozza continues to lead the way at the plate with a .500 average in league competition with 22 runs scored and 20 RBI to go along with a .661 on-base percentage. Erin Stacevicz adds at .489 batting-average to bring her season mark to .389 at the dish after putting together a .500 average over five games last week.

The UMass pitchers put in another solid week in the circle as they went 4-1 with a combined 1.75 ERA over the five games. Kiara Oliver led the way with a 2-0 record and a 0.79 ERA to go along with 22 strikeouts as she improved to 14-3 on the season. Meg Colleran picked up a pair of wins as well in 9.1 innings of work, grabbing her first win of the week against Hartford on Thursday before opening up the Bonnies series with 5.0 innings of work in game one to pick up her 10^th win of the season.

The Tuesday series against URI along with Wednesday's contest against UConn will be streamed live on the A-10 Digital Network.

The Minutewomen will head out on the road after their three midweek games to the Bronx, N.Y. for a three-game series against Fordham in a battle of the top-two teams in the Atlantic 10.

For complete coverage of the UMass softball team, follow the Minutewomen on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @UMassSoftball and online at www.UMassAthletics.com.

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Players Mentioned

Meg Colleran

Jena Cozza

Melissa Garcia

Madison Gimpl

Kiara Oliver

Erin Stacevicz

Kaitlyn Stavinoha

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University of Massachusets Athletics