DAYTON - The University of Dayton softball team is going west to St. Louis for a midweek Atlantic 10 match-up Wednesday. Dayton will square off against Saint Louis March 27 with first pitch set for 3 p.m. ET at the Billiken Sports Center.
About Dayton
Dayton (12-16, 2-1 A-10) opened Atlantic 10 play last weekend at home with a 2-1 series win over George Mason. The Flyers swept Saturday's doubleheader, 2-0 and 7-1, and fell to the Patriots, 6-3, on Sunday. Senior
Kyle Davidson leads the team with a .378 average (8th A-10), 34 hits (4th A-10) and 15 stolen bases (2nd A-10) while senior
Lisa Tassi is also a beast on the base paths with 12 SB (3rd A-10). In the circle for the Flyers, senior
Jessica Gilliam (5-7) has worked 71.0 innings and tallied 51 strikeouts (t-5th A-10).
Scouting the Billikens
Saint Louis (8-18, 3-0 A-10) is coming off a series sweep of La Salle on the opening weekend of conference action, picking up three wins at home. The Billikens' freshman outfielder Gabbie Kowalik was named the A-10 Rookie of the Week Monday and the team is led offensively by Sadie Wise with a .373 average (9th A-10). Kallen Loveless (6-5) carries the team's low ERA (3.87) and has recorded a team-best 41 strikeouts (8th A-10).
Series Stuff
Saint Louis holds a 21-11 advantage in the all-time series but Dayton won two out of three meetings last season, including a 1-0 elimination-game win at the 2018 A-10 Championship. The two split the regular-season doubleheader played in Dayton April 5, 2018.
RPI Rankings
In the NCAA's most recent Rating Percentage Index (RPI) for the 2019 season posted on March 24, Dayton came in at 211 according to NCAA.com. Saint Louis was ranked 226.
Catch Me If You Can
As a team, Dayton is 51-for-61 in stolen bases on the season - the 51 stolen bases ranks first in the Atlantic 10. Senior
Kyle Davidson leads the Flyers on the base paths with 15 stolen bases (2nd A-10) on the season. Senior
Lisa Tassi has stolen 12 bases (3rd A-10) while sophomore
Briley Sidor has collected six stolen bases.
So Offensive
Three Flyers are currently hitting above .300 (min. 10 AB) and their combined number of hits account for 46 percent of the team's hits.
Kyle Davidson: .378, 34
Lisa Tassi: .350, 28
Abby Ehrenborg: .316, 25
Start Me Up
Senior
Kyle Davidson has made 141 consecutive appearances in the Flyers' starting lineup. During her career at UD, Davidson has started in 163 of the 172 games she has played.
#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 282 wins at UD. Notable - coach LaPlaca currently has 413 career wins as a head coach.
