Game Info	Opponent Info
#22 Angelo State vs. #8 UT Tyler ASU: 15-1 (6-0 LSC) | UTT: 10-5 (2-4 LSC) Saturday, Feb. 24th | 1 / 3:30 p.m. (DH) Tyler, Texas		ROSTER	SCHEDULE	STATS
#22 Angelo State vs. #8 UT Tyler ASU: 15-1 (6-0 LSC) | UTT: 10-5 (2-4 LSC) Sunday, Feb. 25th | 1 (DH) Tyler, Texas		ROSTER	SCHEDULE	STATS

LAST TIME OUT

#8 UT Tyler scored five runs in their first two trips to the plate and then enacted the 9-0 run-rule of Cameron with two-run homers in the fifth and sixth innings on Wednesday afternoon. The victory earned the Patriot a 2-1 series victory over the Aggies and will send UT Tyler into their home openers over the weekend against #22 Angelo State on a high note. Graduate student Courtney Plocheck went 4-for-4, scoring three runs on four singles, and Sam Schott and JT Smith both hit the two-run homers to highlight a Patriot offense that totaled 12 hits. Junior Kaylee Davis went the complete six innings in the circle for UT Tyler, scattering just four hits, only one of which went for extra bases, and didn't allow a single free base.

 Audrey Escamilla and Sam Schott both homered twice on the day as #8 UT Tyler went 1-1 on the road at Cameron on Tuesday afternoon. Escamilla's pair of homers came in a 10-7 game one victory against Cameron, while Schott added one in the first game and another in a 4-2 game two loss at the hands of the Aggies. Escamilla finished her day 5-for-7 at the plate and registered five RBI, all of which came in game one. The Patriots move to 9-5 on the year and 1-4 in Lone Star Conference play.

PATRIOT NEWS AND NOTES

- A 9-0 run-rule of Cameron secured the series victory for the Patriots and ended their stretch of road games to open Lone Star Conference play on a high note. UT Tyler will return home for the first time in 2024 on Saturday and Sunday and will meet an Angelo State club that enters the weekend 15-1 on the year and ranked no. 22 nationally. UT Tyler will have already met a top five nationally ranked South Central Super Regional team from last season in West Texas A&M, a South Central Regional qualifier from last year in Cameron and the aforementioned 15-1 and nationally-ranked Rambelles in their first three series of the LSC schedule.
- The Patriots currently own the longest active home winning streak in all of Division II softball. UT Tyler is 337-43 (.886) all-time on their home field at Irwin Field, and completed the 2023 season with a perfect 33-0 mark at their home ballpark. The Patriots are 82-7 (.921) in home Lone Star Conference games and have never lost more than six games at home in a season.
- UT Tyler ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference with a .333 batting average entering the weekend. Senior Audrey Escamilla leads the team with a .415 batting average and is tied for the team lead with four homers. Sam Schott, who is tied with Escamilla with the team lead in homers, has homered in four out of her last five games, including each of the three games on Tuesday and Wednesday at Cameron. 
- The Patriot pitching staff has produced a team ERA of 2.22 in 2024, fifth best in the Lone Star Conference. Crimson Bryant and Genesis Armendariz have served as the primary starting options for UT Tyler thus far. Bryant has posted a 1.63 ERA in seven appearances and sports a 4-1 record. 
- UT Tyler moved back a pair of spots into the no. 8 slot of the latest NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Patriots received 296 votes to come in behind Mississippi College and Rogers State in the no. 6 and no. 7 spots. North Georgia remained as the unanimous no. 1 ranked team in the poll with all 16 available first-place votes. West Texas A&M jumped into the no. 2 spot in the latest national poll, remaining ahead of UT Tyler (no. 8) and newly ranked Angelo State (no. 22) as the highest of the three ranked LSC representatives. Texas A&M-Kingsville remained in the receiving votes category. 
- For a third consecutive season, UT Tyler softball was selected as preseason favorites in the Lone Star Conference Softball Preseason Poll as voted upon by the league's head coaches, sports information directors and media representatives. The Patriots received 25 first-place votes and 591 total votes to sit ahead of no. 2 ranked West Texas A&M, who garnered 576 points. Oklahoma Christian came in at no. 3 in the preseason poll behind UT Tyler and West Texas A&M with 519 total votes. Lubbock Christian (500) and Cameron (412) rounded out the top five in the no. 4 and no. 5 slots. The complete 2024 LSC Softball Preseason Poll can be found below.
- UT Tyler softball is in the midst of the 20th year of the program with an all-time record of 766-148 (.841) dating back to the inaugural 2005 campaign. The Patriots are 171-30 (.865) in four seasons of Division II play and have gone 99-16 (.889) in Lone Star Conference games over that timeframe. UT Tyler has finished as Division II National Semifinalists in both seasons of Division II postseason eligibility in 2022 and 2023.
- The Patriots have won 50-plus games in two seasons after going 50-5 back in 2015 and have not registered double-digit losses in a season in 12 straight years. 
- UT Tyler has made 12 appearances in an NCAA National Championship Tournament between the Division II and III levels, and have advanced to the NCAA World Series in nine of those 12 trips.
- Head coach Mike Reed and his staff garnered ATEC/NFCA South Central Regional Coaching Staff of the Year honors for a third consecutive season. The honors come in each of the first three complete seasons at the NCAA Division II level. Coach Reed and his staff have been named regional staff of the year by the NFCA on nine different occasions (2023, 2022, 2021, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2009) dating back to the program's inaugural season in 2005. 
- UT Tyler softball is 337-43 (.886) all-time on their home field at Irwin Field, and completed the 2023 season with a perfect 33-0 mark at their home ballpark. The Patriots are 82-7 (.921) in home Lone Star Conference games and have never lost more than six games at home in a season.
- The Patriots return the majority of the production from their lineup a year ago in 2024, highlighted by the LSC Preseason Player of the Year Courtney Plocheck, as well as returning NFCA First Team All-American JT Smith. Smith broke the UT Tyler softball record for stolen bases (46), runs scored (84), walks (52)  and triples (7) in 2023.
- Plocheck, Smith and Arias all return in 2024 after All-Lone Star Conference First Team selections, while Audrey Escamilla and Cassidi Mullen each return to the program this year following All-LSC Second Team campaigns a year ago. Sam Schott rounds out the returning All-LSC selections for the Patriots after her All-LSC Third Team nod. 
- Head coach Mike Reed is in his 20th season at the helm of the program after previously serving for three seasons as the head coach at East Texas Baptist before taking over at UT Tyler. Reed ranks fourth among all NCAA divisions in career winning percentage (.825), posting a 869-178 career mark through 22 career seasons. He owns the second-highest all-time win percentage among Division III coaches, coaching 18 of his 20 seasons at the Division III level, and is a nine-time American Southwest Conference Coach of the Year, and seven-time NFCA Regional Coach of the Year. He has helped develop 36 All-Americans, 103 all-region and 162 all-conference selections and has led the UT Tyler program to the NCAA World Series in nine of the 13 years since the Patriots became postseason eligible in Division III.
- The home of UT Tyler softball has been recognized as a 2023 Netting Professionals/NFCA Field of the Year honoree by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. Irwin Field received recognition as the top softball facility across the Division II landscape as one of seven facilities across seven different levels to earn the award. Opened in 2005, Irwin Field is a continuous host of NCAA postseason competition. The facility has hosted two Division III national championship tournaments, along with 10 regional and six super regional rounds. This award, made possible by NFCA Official Sponsor Netting Professionals, recognizes top fields/stadiums in the nation for their flawless grounds maintenance and exceptional playing surfaces. These locations are selected by the NFCA Awards Committee for NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Cal JC, NWAC, and High School. The winners were nominated by NFCA member coaches and selected by a panel of their peers on the NFCA Awards Committee.