UTICA, NY - The Utica College softball team hits the road for non-conference action on Wednesday as they visit the University of Rochester for a weeknight doubleheader. First pitch at Rochester's Southside Field is set for 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday Postponed: Tuesday's home doubleheader against Ithaca College has been postponed to a later date due to difficult playing conditions.

Follow Along: Live Video will be available at https://uofrathletics.com/showcase, and live stats will also be provided by the University of Rochester Athletic Communications Office.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers battled St. John Fisher at home in a rematch of last year's Empire 8 final, but came out on the losing end of a sweep at 7-1, and 12-9. In game 1, catcher Jaime Miller drove in the team's lone run when she brought Kaitlyn Paul (Albany, NY/Guilderland) in to score. In game 2, the Pioneers brought a much closer effort to the table as they rallied back from an early 5-0 hole, but the Utica nine lost 12-9. Miller went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI in game 2, and Nicole Rice (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South) was 2-for-5 with 2 RBI. Jacqueline Aronin (Naugatuck, CT/Naugatuck High School) was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Utica  had twelve hits in the second game.

Success Rice: Senior Nicole Rice (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South) leads the team with 23 hits so far this season, and continues to mount her charge up the career list at Utica College. She has 178 career hits, which places her fourth all-time in Pioneer history. Twelve more hits would tie her with 2019 Pioneer Hall of Fame inductee Bridgette Plummer for the third most in school history, 33 more would move her into second, and a 37 hit tear would tie Kim Martin for the most hits in the history of the program. Her 32 career doubles rank seventh in school history, and she recently passed former teammate Sabrina Stransky (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) in career runs batted in with her 82nd career run batted in on Sunday. She needs to play in seven more games to crack the top ten in career games played at UC. She is second on the team this season in batting average with a .359, and has struck out just once this entire season and impressively, just 24 times in her entire collegiate career.

The Evans File: Junior Sadie Evans (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) has been continuing her steady career rise as a junior. After opening her career with a .167 average in limited playing time, she hit .283 in 2018, and is now producing hits at a team-best .372 average as a junior. She also holds a team-best 12 runs scored and has added four doubles and eight RBI to the attack this season. She also is an efficient base-stealer at a 4-for-5 run to start the year.

Helping Out: The Pioneers get plenty of unique contributions up and down their lineup that sports four hitters hitting over .300. Jacqueline Aronin (Naugatuck, CT/Naugatuck High School) is fourth on the team in batting average at .327, but occupies the team lead in OPS as one of just three Utica players running north of .400 in on-base percentage. She is the team's co-leader in runs scored with twelve. Sara Stransky (Miller Place, NY/Miller Place) has the team's top on-base percentage of .426, and Kaitlyn Paul (Albany, NY/Guilderland) has a team-best six doubles.

What's A Whiff: Utica hitters have struck out at the third-lowest rate in the conference this season. The Pioneers have gone down on strikes as a team just 57 times, and are averaging less than three strikeout instances a game when they're at the plate.

In The Circle: Gabriella Caccamo (Suffern, NY/Suffern) has been Utica's workhorse arm with a team-best thirteen appearances and a squad leading 3.24 ERA. She has started eight games and thrown four complete games while striking out 29 batters. Rookie Jane Field (Waterford, NY/Catholic Central) has started seven games with an ERA of 5.61, and has fanned 23 hitters.

About The Jackets: Rochester is 8-10 overall, and a perfect 4-0 to start in Liberty League play. They are riding a five-game winning streak that includes doubleheader sweeps of Skidmore and RPI this past weekend, and a game two win over St. John Fisher. They swept their most recent opponent, RPI, in a pair of one-run games, both by 4-3 scores. Freshman Alizah Ayon is hitting .389 with six homers and nineteen RBI while primarily playing first base. Pitcher Elizabeth Bourne is 3-4 with a 3.09 ERA, and Addy Szczerba and Hannah Leahy have also both started games.

Last Year: The Yellowjackets won both games of a doubleheader at Greenman Field 3-1, and 3-2. Nicole Rice (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South) was was 4-for-8 on the day with one run scored and one RBI for the Pioneers. Leahy and Bourne pitched the Jackets to the two wins although the Pioneers out-hit Rochester in both games. Caccamo allowed just one earned run for Utica as she took the game one loss.

Up Next: The Pioneers will visit Sage for an Empire 8 doubleheader on Saturday, before returning home on Sunday to face Stevens.