PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico softball team is set for their first conference road series of the season at Texas Woman's with games rescheduled due to inclement weather to a Saturday and Sunday series.

The Hounds will take on Texas Woman's on Saturday afternoon in a double-header beginning at 1 p.m. and a single game on Sunday afternoon beginning at 12 p.m. Eastern New Mexico fell 0-3 to the recently appointed number-one ranked team in the country Angelo State last weekend in Portales to open up their 2019 Lone Star Conference schedule.

Eastern lost all three games in the series against the Pioneers last season by close margins of 5-4, 6-5 and 9-7 and will be looking to notch the program's first win over Texas Woman's in the last ten tries on Saturday afternoon.

LAST TIME OUT  
Eastern New Mexico showed promise against the no. 1 ranked team in the land Angelo State last weekend, remaining tied with the Rambelles after three innings in game one of the series and six innings of game number two of the series. The Hounds surrendered eight runs throughout the final three innings to fall 11-3 in game one and 11 runs in the top half of the seventh inning to lose 13-4 in game number two.

The high-powered Angelo State offense didn't take near the time to get rolling in the third and final game of the series, putting up eight and seven runs in the first two innings to cruise to a 19-2 win over Eastern New Mexico.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Texas Woman's has gotten off to a slow start this year with an overall record of 3-8 and dropped their opening LSC series 1-2 to Texas A&M-Kingsville last weekend on the road. The Pioneers finished last season with a record of 25-20 and will be well tested entering this weekend's series with Eastern New Mexico as they competed in two nationally-respected tournaments in the Arkansas Tech Tournament and OC/UCO Invitational during the first two weekends of the season.

The Pioneers have posted a team batting average of just .231 throughout their first 11 games, ranking 10^th in the LSC and have hit just one home run all season, tying them for last place in the category. Sophomore Avery Williams (.333) and junior Taylor Goulet (.316) are the lone Pioneers to have recorded a batting average of .300 or higher thus far in the season.

Junior Bailey Turner and sophomore Jordan Kisselburg have been the two primary starters for the team and have navigated around some of the region's top lineups throughout the early portion of the season, leading to a team ERA of 6.41.

TOP THREE TERRORS
Eastern New Mexico continued to produce throughout the weekend at the plate against Angelo State and still ranks near the top of the LSC with a .337 team average at the plate. The Hounds currently sit third in the category behind Angelo State and West Texas A&M and will look to use that consistency at the plate to their benefit this weekend.

KEEPIN THE STREAK ALIVE
Freshman Iliana Mendoza stayed hot over the weekend and will ride a seven game hit streak into this weekend's series against Texas Woman's. The Tucson, Ariz. native has recorded a hit in 11-of-22 at bats so far and has already matched the second longest hitting streak of the season from last year.

WE WANT MORE
Senior Karina Moreno has been an essential part of the Eastern New Mexico line-up in recent weeks, raising her season batting average up to .333 after hitting just .125 throughout the opening series of the year. Moreno recently had a six game hit streak snapped in the second game of the double-header last Saturday against Angelo State, and will look to continue her productivity moving into the second conference series of the year.

THE CLUTCH GENE
Sophomore Parker Smith has seen time at three different positions so far this season and has also been placed in three different places throughout the batting order, while still continually producing as one of the team's top situational hitters this season. Smith is hitting .625 with runners on and two outs, and has been even more effective when those runners are in scoring position with two outs.

She has recorded five hits in her seven at bats with two outs and runners in scoring position, good enough for an average of .714. Smith also leads the team with four two-out RBI's.