DAYTON - The University of Dayton softball team will close out the 2018 regular season this weekend at Rhode Island. The Flyers and Rams are set to play two on Saturday followed by a single game Sunday at URI Softball Complex.

About Dayton
Dayton (25-23, 12-8 A-10) had its four-game winning streak halted last weekend as George Mason claimed a three-game series sweep of UD in Fairfax, Va. The Flyers are tied for third place in league standings and UD ranks first as team with 255 pitching strikeouts and second with 63 doubles and 51 stolen bases. Dayton has three players hitting above .300 led by junior Kyle Davidson with a .340 average (12th A-10). Davidson has also tallied a team-best 50 hits (t-7th A-10), 17 doubles (1st A-10), 15 walks and 13 stolen bases (6th A-10). In the circle, senior Manda Cash (12-7) carries a 1.50 ERA (2nd A-10) and has recorded 133 strikeouts (2nd A-10).

Scouting Rhode Island
Rhode Island (12-32, 3-17 A-10) is coming off two losses at St. Bonaventure in a weather-shortened Atlantic 10 series. The Rams picked up a 2-1 win over the Bryant Bulldogs Thursday at home. The URI offense is led by Kylie Shivery with a .308 average while Erica Robles and Erika Yeager have tallied 31 hits apiece. Becca Rogers (3-12) leads the Rams' pitching corps with a 2.77 ERA (8th A-10) and 114 strikeouts (4th A-10) over 108.2 innings pitched

Series Stuff
There have been 47 meetings between Dayton and Rhode Island in a series that dates back to 1996. The Flyers hold a slim 26-20-1 advantage over the Rams but URI won the last two match-ups, breaking up the Flyers' five-game winning streak.

RPI Rankings
In the NCAA's most recent Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2018 season (through games played on April 29), Dayton came in at 197 according to NCAA.com. Rhode Island ranked 270.

Batter Up
Senior Kailee Budicin has recorded 601 career at bats during her time as a Flyer, second only to former Flyer Kathleen Maloof (606). Budicin is on pace to set a new Dayton career record for at bats this weekend.

Bring Me Home
Freshman Abby Ehrenborg leads the team and ranks 10th in the A-10 with 30 RBI this season. Ehrenborg has posted eight multiple RBI games in 2018 including five RBI at Wright State on March 15.

Star in the Circle
Senior Manda Cash, the 2016 A-10 Pitcher of the Year and three-time 2018 A-10 Pitcher of the Week, has already made her mark on the Dayton record book and continues to climb the rankings. She  became Dayton's all-time career strikeouts leader on the first day of the 2018 season and now has 687 career Ks. Additionally, Cash's 3.90 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the all-time best career average while her career ERA of 1.82 ranks third and her 51 career wins ranks fourth all-time in program history.

Start Me Up
Two Flyers have started all 48 games this season: Kailee Budicin and Kyle Davidson. Jaclyn Kweder has started in 47 of the 48 games shes has played in.

Walk This Way
Senior Kailee Budicin and junior Kyle Davidson have each taken a base on balls 15 times this season. Budicin has tallied 65 walks for her career, which ranks fifth all-time in program history.

Catch Me If You Can
As a team, Dayton is 51-for-60 in stolen bases on the season - the 51 stolen bases ranks second in the Atlantic 10. Junior Kyle Davidson leads the Flyers on the base paths with a career-high 13 stolen bases (6th A-10) on the season. Freshman Briley Sidor has collected 10 stolen bases (t-7th A-10) while junior Lisa Tassi has nine (t-12th A-10).

So Offensive
Four Flyers are currently hitting above .300 and their combined number of hits account for 47 percent of the team's hits.
Kyle Davidson: .340, 50
Kelly Fitzgerald: .328, 21
Kailee Budicin: .327, 49
Abby Ehrenborg: .323, 40

You Look Familiar
Senior infielder Kailee Budicin and senior outfielder Jaclyn Kweder have each played in 199 games, just four away from the Dayton career-games-played record held by former Flyer Natalie Mariano (203). For her career, Budicin has started 196 times, including in 193 consecutive games, which ranks second only to Mariano's 200 games started.

#Winning
Dayton head coach Cara LaPlaca tallied her 233rd career win at UD on April 15, 2017 at La Salle, surpassing former Flyer head coach Jodi Eickemeyer as Dayton's all-time winningest coach. She now has 264 wins at UD.