MONROE, La. -- ULM (13-15, 0-3 Sun Belt) continues its four-game road trip at Troy this weekend. The series marks the first of six straight conference games for the Warhawks.
Janel Salanoa and Mackenzie Miller are each hitting over the .300 mark entering play this weekend. Salanoa's .338 clip leads the team while Miller has the advantage in doubles. Both players have a team-high and are tied for second in the Sun Belt with12 stolen bases. Alexis Cacioppo leads the squad with five home runs.
Haylie Wilson has been great in the circle over her last five games, compiling a 4-1 record. In 32 innings of work, she has a 0.66 ERA with 14 strike outs while walking only seven.
As a team, ULM ranks third in the conference with 40 doubles. Meanwhile, the team's eight triples rank second. The Warhawks are in the top-50 nationally in doubles, triples and stolen bases per game.
Saturday's doubleheader begins at 11 a.m. The series concludes in Sunday's single game starting at 1 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT: ULM swept Lamar in last week's twin bill but dropped a 1-0 decision at McNeese State Tuesday. In the doubleheader sweep, the Warhawks received solid pitching from Haylie Wilson. ULM's bats came alive in both contests Thursday and pushed across a combined 11 runs. ULM played spectacular defense in the last three games, particularly in the outfield.
SCOUTING TROY: Troy (12-18, 2-3 Sun Belt) enters the weekend coming off a series loss to North Texas. The Trojans host the Warhawks after spending 21 games on the road.
They are a deep team with three offensive cogs. Caitlin Ortiz leads the squad and ranks third in the Sun Belt with a .384 batting avg. Hannah Renn is slugging .694, the fourth-best mark in the league. She has 23 RBI to go along with seven doubles and seven home runs.
In the circle, Rachel Rigney has seen the vast majority of the time. Rigney is 6-8 with two saves in 22 appearances (14 starts). She has an ERA of 4.67 in 93.0 innings pitched. She has struck out 47 while walking 34.
Opponents are hitting at a .286 clip off Trojan pitching, with 80 extra-base hits (including 25 homers).
WARHAWKS ONLINE: Follow live stats at ULMWarhawks.com, get updates via Facebook (Warhawks) and through Twitter (@ULMWarhawks).
WARHAWKS ON THE ROAD: ULM had a 21-game road trip spanning most of February and into march. The Warhawks rack up a over 9,000 miles this season.
BASE THIEVES: The Warhawks finished the 2012 campaign with 105 stolen bases, the second highest total in the Sun Belt and also a school record. Base runners were caught just 20 times last season. Meanwhile, ULM allowed just 44 steals on 56 attempts-the third lowest in the league. So far in 2013, ULM is 54-of-67 in stolen bases. The mark is best in the conference. The Warhawks' 2.04 stolen bases per game average ranks 16th nationally.
THREE'S THE MAGIC NUMBER: ULM is 10-4 when scoring three or more runs this season.
SALANOA'S SUCCESS: Senior Janel Salanoa launched her third home run of the year and the 19th of her career against Lamar. She is now one long ball away from tying Megan Miller for sixth all-time in program history.
CACIOPPO IN THE CLUTCH: Alexis Cacioppo left the yard against Lamar on Thursday to help give ULM some insurance. She also homered twice in the Florida trip. Her three-run blast with two down in the top of the seventh against FAU gave ULM a chance to win the middle game of the series. Here solo shot against Michigan State helped insure the 6-1 victory. Both long balls came with two strikes. Earlier in the year, Cacioppo hit a three-run shot against Arkansas on a 3-2 count with two out in the top of the eighth. It proved to be the game-winning hit.
PROGRAM MILESTONES: ULM needs three victories in 2013 to win its 800th game as a program and two to win its 50th Sun Belt contest.
AT THE HELM: Rosemary Holloway-Hill is in her 29th season as head coach. She is two wins away from winning her 800th game as a head coach at any level. She is joined in the dugout by Associate Head Coach Sara Vogt. This is Vogt's third season in the role and fifth overall at ULM.
FAMILIAR FACE: Back in January, ULM head coach Rosemary Holloway-Hill announced the addition of Lindsay Rittenhouse-Becton to the staff as the Warhawks' pitching coach. Rittenhouse-Becton graduated from ULM in 2008 as the school's all-time saves leader.
VETS & ROOKIES: The 2013 Warhawks feature 10 returning players and nine newcomers, including eight freshmen. Four of the eight freshmen were high school teammates at Hahnville (La.) High School, where together they were state champions in 2011 and runners-up in 2010 and 2012. Three other Warhawks have played on state championship squads.
MAKING THE GRADE: ULM Softball posted a 3.478 GPA in the Fall 2012 semester. It was the highest team GPA among all ULM sports teams. The Warhawks 2011-12 team GPA ranked 41st in the Division I, according to the NFCA. That was one spot higher than Stanford and just below 2013 opponent St. Louis.
PRESEASON PICKS: The Warhawks were picked to finish eighth in the Sun Belt by the conference head coaches. UL-Lafayette was unanimously picked to repeat as Sun Belt champions.
PRESEASON AWARDS: Senior 1B Janel Salanoa was named to the CollegeSportsMadness.com All-Sun Belt second team earlier this year.
QUOTABLE: “I feel like this team belongs, and you'll see new and exciting things happen from them.” - Rosemary Holloway-Hill on the 2013 Warhawks.
