March 27, 2003

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Bulldog softball team will attempt to do two things it has never done before when it faces Florida Atlantic at 5 p.m. CT Friday night at the FAU Softball Stadium. Beat FAU and move to 6-0 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Bulldogs are 0-10 all-time against the six-time A-Sun Champs but after sweeping UCF on Wednesday, Samford feels confident that this could be the year. Samford is 18-7 on the season and 4-0 in the conference while FAU enters Friday's action with an 18-19 overall record. The double header will open FAU's conference season.

Trisha Holman is batting .500 (7-14) over the last four games for the Bulldogs and is Samford's leading hitter with a .389 season average. Abi Casillo is showing signs of coming out of her slump as she is six for her last 13 (.462) from the plate. Samford's top three hitters coming into the week are a combined 5-40 (.125), but Holman, Casillo, and Deanna Resmondo have picked up their teammates going 18-39 (.462).

Florida Atlantic has played a very tough non-conference schedule that has included Arizona, South Florida, Ohio State, UCLA, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, and California. The Owls are led offensively by Callie Piper who is batting .337 on the year with five doubles. Pitching as always been FAU's strength. Candice Freel is 8-6 on the year with an ERA of 1.85 while Amanda Morin is 8-11 with an ERA of 2.14. The Owls are only batting .233 as a team but their staff ERA is 2.00. Pam Mazzarella has been successful both at the plate and in the circle. She is hitting .292 and is 2-2 with an ERA of 1.96.

Samford's pitching has been very strong helping the Bulldogs win 11 of their last 12 games. Erin Landsburg, this week's Atlantic Sun Pitcher-of-the-Week has pitched 10 innings in two of her last three starts. She has her ERA down to 2.00 and is 8-3 on the year. Emilee Lewis is coming off a fine performance at UCF where she gave up just one run on four hits over six innings. She is 7-2 on the year.

Friday's double header will be broadcast live on samfordsports.com with the pre-game show beginning at 4:45 p.m. central time.