Softball | 3/27/2015 12:50:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State softball team will continue its home stand this weekend with a conference series against No. 8 UL Lafayette, beginning Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Bobcat Softball Stadium. Texas State comes into this weekend's contests with a 20-13 overall record and 5-3 mark in Sun Belt Conference play.
 
The last time that the two squads faced off against each other was last season at Lamson Park in Lafayette, La. The Ragin' Cajuns swept the series including an 8-3 victory on Sunday.
 
A Look At The Competition
UL Lafayette enters the weekend with a 25-4 overall record and 10-2 mark in conference.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns have won every Sun Belt series they have played this season, going a perfect 3-0 against Georgia Southern and UT Arlington while going 2-1 against South Alabama and Troy. The only common opponent during conference play so far is Georgia Southern and the Bobcats also swept the Eagles.
 
UL Lafayette was picked to finish first in the SBC Preseason Poll and currently they are in first place in the league.
 
As of March 24th, the Ragin' Cajuns rank ninth in the NFCA Division I Coaches Poll and eighth in the USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
 
Leandra Maly leads the team offensively with an average of .460. Haley Hayden then leads the squad with 36 hits while Lexi Elkins and Shellie Landry lead the team with a conference-high 12 home runs. The Ragin' Cajuns currently own a .334 team batting average. Jordan Wallace and Christina Hamilton have put in the majority of the innings in the circle for UL Lafayette. Wallace owns an 11-2 record and a 1.45 ERA with 132 strike outs this season.
 
Bobcat Tidbits
Last Wednesday, freshman shortstop Ariel Ortiz led the Bobcats to a victory after her three-run double in the second gave Texas State an early lead over former Southland Conference foe McNeese State. With that double, Ortiz continues to lead the Sun Belt Conference with 15 of them, three more than the next highest spot. Nationally, Ortiz sits in seventh in doubles per game.

 
Ortiz is second on the Bobcat squad now with a .366 batting average behind Kendall Wiley who owns a .393 mark. Wiley and Kelli Baker each lead the team with 40 hits.
 
The Bobcats currently are hitting .297 as a squad and have launched 40 home runs this season, a mark that is just 13 bombs shy of tying the school record of 53.
 
Freshman pitcher Randi Rupp, after throwing the first no-hitter since 2012 against UL Monroe last Monday, now leads the nation with seven shutouts. She also is first in the SBC and third in the nation in strikeouts with 180.
 
Texas State currently is sitting in a tie for fourth place with South Alabama in the Sun Belt Conference standings. The Bobcats we picked to finish fourth in the league.
 
Final Details
First pitch against the Ragin' Cajuns is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Bobcat Softball Stadium with game two to follow. Sunday's contest will begin at 12 p.m. Live stats, live audio, and live video will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com.