MIAMI (March 22, 2017) -- Fresh off a three-game sweep to begin Conference USA play and riding a school-record 12-game win streak, FIU softball will host Jacksonville for a non-conference midweek contest Thursday at 6 p.m. at Felsberg Field at FIU Softball Stadium. The game precedes both teams heading to a conference road series for the weekend.
 
The Panthers are 26-6, and find themselves in the "Others Receiving Votes" category of this week's USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll. FIU is 10^th in the country in fielding percentage (.978), 19^th in earned run average (1.74), and 44^th in batting average (.312) as of Monday's NCAA statistics report.
 
FIU started 3-0 in C-USA after a weekend sweep of North Texas. The Panthers have outscored opponents 79-15 during the win streak, with an ERA of 1.01 in that span.
 
Senior Stephanie Texeira (Miami, Florida / Gulliver Prep) has broken the program's career records for home runs, RBI, walks, and most recently, runs scored. She has scored 16 runs, with four homers and 12 RBI in the last 12 games, all team highs. She is this week's C-USA Softball Player of the Week.
 
The team has won games on pitching and defense. FIU has a fielding percentage of .983 and allowed just 11 earned runs in the 12-gae win streak. Freshman pitcher Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes) is 6-0 with two saves in the last 12 FIU games. She has 46 of the 76 strikeouts recorded by the team in that span. She was the C-USA Pitcher of the Week on Monday, March 13.
 
Jacksonville is 20-11 on the season, getting ready to begin their conference season this weekend at FGCU. The Dolphins have won their last three games and five out of their last six, scoring 47 runs in those last six contests. JU and FIU both average nearly six runs per game and have comparable power numbers, but the Dolphins have a team ERA of 3.10, while the Panthers sit at 1.74 for the season.
 
Dolphins junior Allie McCourt leads the team with 43 hits, 28 runs and a .406 batting average. Senior pitcher Taylor Thorpe has a 1.99 ERA and a 7-2 record in her eight starts and 21 appearances.
 
PantherVision will be covering the game live, with live stats links also posted at FIUSports.com. Following the contest, FIU will head on the road for its first trip out of Florida, with a weekend C-USA series at Middle Tennessee.

#######
 
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/.