MIAMI (April 15, 2016) -- FIU softball continues its road trip to end the month with a three-game set at Conference USA foe UAB, starting Saturday with a 2 p.m. Eastern scheduled doubleheader. The Sunday finale begins at 2 p.m. at Mary Bowers Field in Birmingham.
 
FIU is 22-21 overall, with a 7-8 C-USA record. UAB enters the weekend 17-23 overall, and 7-5 in C-USA.
 
FIU comes off a doubleheader split Wednesday at Bethune-Cookman. After dropping a 4-3 decision in game one, the Panthers raw away with the 7-2 nightcap, giving FIU a chance for four wins in a week since the second week of March, the last time FIU saw any midweek action.
 
The Panthers sport the league's top batting average (.322) and sit second in on-base percentage (.389) and third in slugging (.451) with five of the eight league weekends completed. FIU is also second in the league in earned run average (3.04). UAB enters next to last in batting average (.260) and slugging (.371), and last in the league in on-base percentage (.332).
 
For the third week in a row, the Panthers will face either the reigning Player or Pitcher of the Week in the league, with UAB junior Mary Warren ready to face the Panthers after her seven-hit week in four games last week. The Blazers have a pair of batters in the top 10 in the league in batting average, but no one in the top 12 in pitching this season.
 
FIU has three batters in the top seven in the league – Ashley Leon (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep), Jackie Schoff (Bradenton, Florida / Lakewood Ranch), and A.J. Belans (Hollywood, Florida / American Heritage HS) – who are fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively in total batting average. Freshman Megan Kugelmann (Merritt Island, Florida / Cocoa Beach HS) paces the Panthers with a 1.78 earned run average, fourth-best in Conference USA, as his her opposing batting average of .209 to this point of the season.
 
The Panthers have won three Pitcher of the Week honors (all by Kugelmann) and twice had the Player of the Week in the league this season, once by Belans and the other by first baseman Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep).
 
The two teams have evenly split their league conference series over the past two seasons, as well as two previous meetings in Miami for a 4-4 all-time record. FIU won two of the three games in the series in Miami last April. The two teams scored exactly 22 runs each in the series.

#######
 
About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of Conference USA. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.