GEORGE MASON SOFTBALL (18-31, 9-14 A-10) at RHODE ISLAND (14-35, 9-14 A-10)
WHEN: Sat.-Sun., May 4-5, 2024
WHERE: Kingston, R.I. | URI Softball Complex
SCHEDULE:
Saturday Game One: Noon
Saturday Game Two: 2:30 p.m.
Sunday: Noon
HISTORY: George Mason leads the series 23-7; last played on March 25-26, 2023 (Mason won the series 2-1)

LIVESTATS:
SATURDAY GAME ONE: CLICK HERE
SATURDAY GAME TWO: CLICK HERE
SUNDAY GAME: CLICK HERE

WATCH (ESPN+):
SATURDAY GAME ONE: CLICK HERE
SATURDAY GAME TWO: CLICK HERE
SUNDAY GAME: CLICK HERE

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KINGSTON, R.I. – The George Mason softball team (18-31, 9-14 A-10) is will play their final regular season series, as they will travel to Kingston to face Rhode Island (14-35, 9-14 A-10) in a three-game weekend series at the URI Softball Complex.

A LOOK AT THE PATRIOTS
Last weekend, George Mason won their third consecutive weekend series by winning two of three against St. Bonaventure in their final home series of the season. After only one game was played on Saturday due to rainy conditions, the Patriots won Saturday's game 7-2 and split the Sunday doubleheader, losing the first game 3-2 and winning the second game 2-1.

In the series, Patriot shortstop Rachel Warrens (.329 / . 385 / .481) hit her fourth and fifth triples of the season, which is now a career-high for the graduate student. Maddy Myers (.226 / .288 / .329) hit the team's only home run of the weekend in Saturday's game. Myers is now tied for the team lead in home runs along with Logan Pickford (.160 / .206 / .330) and Sydney Bales (.280 / .333 / .447).

Starting pitcher Carly Cooper (6-13, 3.94 ERA) pitched a two-hit complete game and won her sixth game of the season on Saturday, and Jordan Tallman (5-8, 4.59 ERA) allowed only one run and struck out a season-high six batters to earn her fifth win in Sunday's win.

PATRIOT STAT LEADERS
BATTING
AVG: .333 (51-for-153) - Marlaina Bozek
OBP: .399 - Marlaina Bozek
SLG: .481 - Rachel Warrens
R: 29 - Rachel Warrens
H: 52 - Rachel Warrens
2B: 11 - Rachel Warrens
3B: 5 - Rachel Warrens
HR: 4 - Logan Pickford, Sydney Bales & Maddy Myers
RBI: 25 - Maddy Myers
SB: 17 - Rachel Warrens
BB: 18 - Marlaina Bozek

PITCHING
ERA: 3.92 - Kylie Wilkerson (Among starters)
IP: 129.2 - Carly Cooper
K: 85 - Carly Cooper

A-10 AWARDS THIS SEASON
Feb. 27 - Kylie Wilkerson (Rookie of the Week)
March 5 - Marlaina Bozek (Player of the Week)
April 2 - Carly Cooper (Pitcher of the Week)


NOTABLE STATS/STREAKS/AWARDS
Warrens helped George Mason win the team's third consecutive A-10 weekend series, as she had the most hits on the Patriot squad over the weekend with four. She also had the most triples with two, adding to her now career-high of five on the year. The graduate student from San Diego, Calif., had an especially stellar performance on Senior Day on Saturday, April 27, where she went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBI and a triple to help secure the 7-2 win over St. Bonaventure.

The Patriot defense has turned 31 double plays this season, which leads the Atlantic 10 Conference. Loyola Chicago is in second with 17 and Saint Louis is in third with 15. George Mason is also currently second in the nation in double plays per game with 0.63.


SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

RHODE ISLAND (14-35, 9-14 A-10)
Chosen to finish sixth out of ten in the conference in this year's Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll, the Rams have won 14 games in total and are currently in ninth place in the conference standings with a 9-14 conference record. Mason, on the other hand, is in eighth with a 9-14 record as well. The third team with a 9-14 record going into the final weekend is seventh place George Washington, who has the best overall record of the three with a 24-26 mark.

During their conference season, Rhode Island has lost two of three games to Fordham, Loyola Chicago, Saint Louis and Dayton, won two of three to St. Bonaventure & George Washington, have been swept by Saint Joseph's and split a two-game series with UMass.

The Rams are second to last in the conference in runs (135), hits (294) and RBI (120). They have drawn the least amount of walks with 104 but are the second-lowest in strikeouts with only 190.

The Rhode Island offense is led by last week's Atlantic 10 Player of the Week, Kylie Bulinski (.291 / .381 / .410), who leads the team in batting average and on-base percentage. The sophomore catcher is also tied for the team lead in hits (39) with graduate student infielder Elena Gonzalez (.281 / .367 / .396). Gonzalez is the team's power hitter, as she leads in doubles (9), triples (2, tied) and RBI (19). Junior infielder Emily Power (.270 / .319 / .393) has the most home runs on the team with four.

On the pitching side, Rhode Island has the most saves in the conference with seven. They have the third-highest ERA in the conference with 4.55, as well as third-highest in hits given up with 395. The Rams are fifth in runs (242) & earned runs (198) and have given up 137 walks, good for fourth-least in the A-10.

Rhode Island has two main pitchers in their rotation, both having had similar workloads throughout the season. Sophomore Ashley Hibbard (6-6, 3.13 ERA, 3 SV) has the most wins, saves, strikeouts (60) and innings pitched (98.1). Junior Katie Zaun (5-13, 3.99 ERA, 2 SV) has had the most starts for the Rams with 20 and has 42 strikeouts on 93.0 innings pitched. Zaun also has two saves under her belt.

The third most used pitcher in the staff, who also has two saves on the season, is graduate student Liz Lynchard (2-7, 5.21 ERA, 2 SV), who has 20 appearances, eight starts and 35 strikeouts on 45.2 innings pitched.

HISTORY WITH THE RAMS
George Mason has matched up with Rhode Island 20 times, with the Patriots having a 13-7 series edge over the Rams. Their first meeting dates back to March 18, 2007, where the Rams beat the Patriots 10-5 in Tampa, Fla., in the Speedline Invitational.

This will be the Patriots' first time in Kingston since April 6-7, 2019, when the Rams won two of three games.

The last time the two schools met in the regular season was last season on March 25-26, where the Patriots won two of three in Fairfax.

TEAM STAT COMPARISONS: Mason (49 games played) | Rhode Island (49 games played)
BATTING
AVG: .248 | .241
OBP: .320 | .313
SLG: .349 | .325
BB: 119 | 104
R: 172 | 135
RBI: 148 | 120
H: 310 | 294
2B: 50 | 46
3B: 10 | 6
HR: 19 | 15

PITCHING
ERA: 3.93 | 4.55
K: 182 | 157
BB: 156 | 137
R: 225 | 242
ER: 182 | 198
H: 370 | 395
2B: 50 | 63
3B: 14 | 10
HR: 33 | 18

FIELDING
FLD: .959 | .957
PO: 972 | 913
A: 364 | 355
E: 57 | 57