Rams look to finish perfect March hosting Aggies

Colorado State Rams (24-4, 6-0 MW) vs. Utah State Aggies (11-14, 2-3 MW)
March 29-31 | Ram Field | Fort Collins, Colo.
Live Stats | Watch (Sat/Sun) | CSU Notes | US Notes

THE WEEKEND
Colorado State will carry its 15-game winning streak and perfect 6-0 league record into this weekend's series against Utah State. The Rams will play Friday at 4 p.m., before playing Saturday at 1 p.m., and Sunday at 12 p.m.

ORANGE OUT
The second game of the Utah State series, Colorado State will celebrate an 'Orange Out' and don its pumpkin orange jerseys. The Rams were once known as the Aggies from Colorado A&M before the name changed in the 1957. The Aggies' colors were pumpkin orange and alfalfa green.

#25STRONG
During the 2019 season, the Colorado State softball team will recognize it being #25Strong, referring to 25 years since being reinstated as a sport at Colorado State. The Rams' softball program began in 1976, but did not compete during the 1993 season due to the program being cut at the end of the 1992 season. Colorado State reinstated the softball program and competed in 1994.

RECORD SEASON
Colorado State will look to continue its strong start to the season and conference play, as it has recorded nine shutouts, while outscoring its opponents, 212-69. The Rams' 24-4 record is their best record since 1989 and their 6-0 in then MW is the best mark since the league began in 1999-2000.

QUICK WINS
The Rams have 10 wins so far this season by the run-rule, including the first-ever victory over Fresno State last weekend, 12-4 in six innings. Colorado State recorded seven run-rule wins in all of 2018. CSU's 10 run-rule victories this season is the most since the 1997 season.

LAST TIME OUT
Colorado State continued Mountain West Conference action last weekend at New Mexico and recorded its first conference road sweep since 2016.
CSU hit a series-high seven home runs over the three games, including hitting its third grand slam of the season.
The Rams also took a quick conference break and played at Northern Colorado Tuesday afternoon, earning their first extra-innings victory of the season with a 4-3 win over the Bears in eight innings.

NO-NO
Senior ace Bridgette Hutton hurled her first-career no-hitter in the dominating victory over Idaho State on Feb. 28. She allowed just three base-runners - all on walks - while not allowing a hit in the five inning victory on her way to recording her fourth win of the season.

GET ON BASE
Multiple Rams have gotten on base this year, led by Corina Gamboa who had an 18-game streak of getting on base early this season and currently has an eight-game on-base streak. Amber Nelson had her 12-game streak snapped during the second game of the New Mexico series, as did Tara Shadowen and Danni Klein who both had 11-game tears.

CONFERENCE AWARDS
Colorado State has dominated the Mountain West weekly softball awards this season as it has garnished a league-high six so far this season, including five-consecutive honors. Jessica Jarecki earned her second weekly award this week as she was named the MW Pitcher of the Week for her performances last weekend. The Rams' six awards is the most in a season while a part of the Mountain West Conference.

Feb. 26 - Ashley Ruiz & Jessica Jarecki
Mar. 5 - Lauren Buchanan
Mar. 12 - Amber Nelson
Mar. 18 - Corina Gamboa
Mar. 26 - Jessica Jarecki

STREAKING
Colorado State will look to improve its 15-game winning streak this weekend is the second longest in program history (1989) and second-longest active streak in that nation behind Oklahoma who is riding a 19-game winning streak.

LEADING THE NATION
After the second week of the conference schedule, Colorado State still leads the nation in doubles per game with a 2.54 average - a .45 difference to second-place Arizona St. The Rams have recorded 71 doubles so far this season, which leads the nation and ahead of Arizona St. (Pac-12), Texas (Big 12 and Georgia Tech (ACC).

NATIONAL STATS
Besides leading the country in doubles per game, Colorado State also ranks highly in a few categories. The Rams rank 7th in scoring with 7.57 runs per game, led by Danni Klein who is No. 7 in runs per game with a 1.21 mark. CSU also is 7th in slugging, led by Corina Gamboa who is smashing a .747 tally, which is No. 80 in the country. Colorado State also sits at No. 14 in batting average with a .333 as Gamboa leads the squad with a .412 average.

SHARE THE LOVE
Colorado State's roster is loaded across the lineup as every batter with 70-plus at bats is hitting over .270 and has at least one home run. Eight of the Rams' starting nine batters are hitting over .300 and slugging over .550.

OPPONENT SCOUT
Aggies: Utah State split the series with UNLV last weekend as game three was canceled due to rain. The Aggies were shutout 12-0 in the opener before taking game two, 4-3. USU started MW action dropping the series at Nevada after winning the series opener, 5-4.

TOP-25 RANKING
For the second week by Softball America, Colorado State is ranked No. 24 this week after entering the poll last week at No. 25. The Rams are also receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches and ESPN.com/USA Softball Polls.

BLASTING GRAND SLAMS
Corina Gamboa has hit just five home runs so far this season after hitting eight in 2018. But, she is making them count as two of the five have been grand slams. The junior hit her first slam of the season against Pacific on Feb. 25 before knocking her second against Fresno State on March 16 - both ended in a run-rule victory.

DEALIN'
Junior transfer Jessica Jarecki (10-1) has been dealing from the circle so far this season as she has 10 complete games (all wins), including four shutouts so far - No. 21 in the country. She also is No. 4 in the Mountain West and is No. 108 in the nation holding a 1.98 ERA. She leads the pitching staff with 58 strikeouts and has walked just 22 batters.

TOUGH AT THE PLATE
The Rams are seeing the ball well at the plate, as they rank 14th in the nation in batting average with a .333 and No. 21 in the nation in home runs per game with 1.29. CSU also is 7th in the country in slugging with a .602 mark.

HITTING STREAKS
Both Ashley Michelena and Danni Klein hold the longest hitting streak for the Rams with nine games. Corina Gamboa will carry a seven-game streak into Utah State after recording hits in the last two series.

DIGGING FOR TWO... OR MORE
Colorado State is already swinging a big bat as it has recorded a MW-high 71 doubles - 20 more than second place Nevada. The Rams have totaled 117 extra-base hits so far this season, led by Amber Nelson and Corina Gamboa who have 17 each, followed by Danni Klein with 15.

#25Strong

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