Game Info	Opponent Info
Oklahoma Baptist vs. #5 UT Tyler OBU: 18-7 (12-1 LSC) | UTT: 25-5 (17-4 LSC) Wednesday, March, 20th | 3 / 5 p.m. (DH) Tyler, Texas		ROSTER	SCHEDULE	STATS

LAST TIME OUT

UT Tyler softball put together another big offensive day on their way to their 16^th straight win and a series sweep of Oklahoma Christian. The Eagles held a 4-1 lead over the Patriots heading into the fourth inning, but a four run inning gave the Patriots a lead they would never relinquish. Christin Haygood got the win in the circle after going three and two thirds innings while allowing no runs and just three hits. She added one walk but struck out three hitters. Only one runner reached third base under her watch, and she struck out two hitters in the final inning to cap off the run rule. In the bottom half of the third, the Eagles put each of their first two hitters on base, before a single through the left side plated their second run of the contest. That single brought in Haygood for Armendariz, and the Eagles got a clutch two out single to make it 4-1. From there it was all Patriots, as they scored 11 unanswered runs and held the Eagles completely scoreless to finish off the run rule win in the sixth inning. Eight Patriots hitters recorded a hit on the day, and four Patriots recorded at least two hits. Nicole Price led the way with a 3-for-3 effort that included two RBI and two runs scored.

#5 UT Tyler followed up a marathon 6-5 victory over Oklahoma Christian in 10 innings with a dominant 9-0 game two win to extend a now 15-game winning streak on Saturday afternoon. The Patriots tied the game in the top of the seventh inning on a two-run homer from JT Smith to force what would be an eventful extra innings of softball in game one, and then used a complete effort from the top to the bottom of the lineup in game two to run away with the win. Christin Haygood and Genesis Armendariz picked up the wins in the circle as Haygood continued her stellar relief work in game one and Armendariz pitched a complete game shutout in game two. Smith went 4-for-8 on the day with two homers and five RBI to spearhead the Patriot offense.

PATRIOTS NEWS AND NOTES

- UT Tyler will carry a 16-game winning streak into their final regular season non-conference action of the season on Wednesday afternoon against Oklahoma Baptist. The Patriots current win streak is the second longest active streak in all of Division II softball and has generated five straight Lone Star Conference series sweeps. 
- Oklahoma Baptist enters the doubleheader at Irwin Field having won 16 of their last 18 games. The Bison are 18-7 on the year, 12-1 in Great American Conference play and are coming off a 2022 season in which they went 44-12 and advanced to the 2023 NCAA DII Central Regional Tournament.
- UT Tyler has won 43 straight contests at Irwin Ballpark, the longest active home winning streak in all of Division II softball. The Patriots are 9-0 at Irwin Field this season and have out-scored their opposition by a 59-to-10 margin in those contests.
- UT Tyler is 6-3 this year against teams associated with the NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll.
- UT Tyler stayed put in the no. 5 slot of the latest 2024 NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll as announced by the organization on Tuesday morning. The Patriots stayed at no. 5 for the second week in a row after earning 335 total votes. The top five of this week's poll remained unchanged, as North Georgia stayed as the unanimous no. 1, followed by West Texas A&M, Rogers State and Tampa in the no. 2, no. 3 and no. 4 spots. West Texas remained as the highest of three ranked Lone Star Conference representatives at no. 2 alongside UT Tyler and no. 21 Angelo State. St. Mary's entered the receiving votes category of the poll as the fourth LSC representative to be associated with the poll.
- UT Tyler leads the Lone Star Conference and ranks 15th nationally with a team ERA of 1.74 on the year. All four members of the UT Tyler pitching staff have produced an ERA below 2.00 on the year. Junior Kaylee Davis sits a perfect 7-0 on the year and produced a team-best 1.40 ERA in 55.0 innings pitched. Classmate Christian Haygood picked up three wins in her relief appearances last week against Texas Woman's and Oklahoma Christian, and hasn't given up a run in each of her last six appearances entering Wednesday.
- The Patriots rank second in the LSC and 12th nationally with 270 hits as a team in 2024. UT Tyler sits 19th in all of Division II softball with a .335 team batting average. Senior Cassidi Mullen leads the team with a .438 average on the year, and is joined by Courtney Plocheck (7th, .417) in the top 10 highest batting averages in the LSC. Junior Sam Schott and JT Smith rank second and third with 35 and 32 runs scored, while Schott (10th, 27) and graduate student Michelle Arias (9th, 28) rank within the top 10 in the league in RBI.
- JT Smith was named the Lone Star Conference Hitter of the Week on Tuesday afternoon after hitting .421 at the plate in the series sweeps of Texas Woman's and Oklahoma Christian. Smith scored eight times, hit a pair of homeruns, a triple and a double to slug .947 for the week. She drove in six runs, drew a pair of walks and finished with at least a hit in all but one of the Patriots' six games.
- UT Tyler softball is in the midst of the 20th year of the program with an all-time record of 781-148 (.841) dating back to the inaugural 2005 campaign. The Patriots are 186-30 (.865) in four seasons of Division II play and have gone 114-16 (.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. 
- 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 884-178 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.