KINGSTON, R.I. - Rhode Island heads to the Golden State this weekend for five games at the Silicon Valley Classic II, hosted by San Jose State. While at the tournament, the Rams will play three games against the host school, and once each against UC Davis and Cal State Northridge.

All three games against San Jose State will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.

RHODE ISLAND VS. UC DAVIS/SAN JOSE STATE/CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE - SERIES NOTES

• Rhode Island will be playing UC Davis and Cal State Northridge for the first time this weekend.
• The Rams have played two games against San Jose State, with the Spartans winning both contests.
• In 2005, the final scored was 8-0 at the San Jose State Tournament, where URI also played against Arizona State, Connecticut, Northern Iowa, Princeton and Colorado State.
• In 2017, the final score was 4-3, with the game played at the GCU Invitational in Phoenix.
• The last time Rhode Island played in California was 2020, when it appeared at the DeMarini Invitational hosted by Stanford.
• Rhode Island has never won a game in the state of California. The Rams are 0-18 all time in the Golden State.
• URI is traveling more than 3,100 miles for this weekend's tournament.

HOMECOMING OF SORTS FOR SEVERAL RAMS

• Rhode Island has eight women on its roster who are California natives.
• Outfielder Jessica Hennelly and pitcher CeCe Sidley are both Sacramento natives and grew up about 120 miles away from San Jose State. Hennelly and Sidley were high school teammates at Christian Brothers.
• Also relatively close to San Jose State was outfielder Leilyn Alvarez, who hails from Fresno.
• The remaining California natives are from the southern part of the state.
• Infielders Cassie Swenson (Panorama City) and Casey Miller (Carson); catcher Susan Harrison (Arcadia), outfielder Hannah Hernandez (Whittier) and Ashley Hibbard (Glendora) are all returning to their home state this weekend.

YOUNGSTERS PROVING PRODUCTIVE EARLY   

• Second-year head coach Whitney Goldstein landed several freshmen having a significant impact for URI.
• Freshman infielder Casey Miller is one of three players to start all 10 games and leads the team with 11 hits.
• Outfielder Hannah Hernandez has started nine games and leads the team with four steals.
• Kylie Bulinski has started eight games, getting the nod five times at first base, once behind the plate and once as the designated player. She leads URI with five runs batted in and had two doubles and a home run.
• Becca Zawistowski has started six games, getting the nod at first base and DP three times each. She leads the team with a .412 batting average.
• Sophomores Leilyn Alvarez and Emily Power have started eight and seven games, respectively. Alvarez is an outfielder and Power is the team's top defensive third baseman.

OFFENSE SHOWING SIGNIFICANT GROWTH THROUGH 10 GAMES

• Rhode Island is batting .277 as a team through the first 10 games, a big jump from the same point a year ago.
• In 2022, the Rams were batting .218 through its first 10 games, with one player batting above .290.
• Entering the weekend, URI has six player hitting .324 or better. Freshman Becca Zawistowski (.412), senior Skylar Rapuano (.350), senior Cassie Swenson (.333), sophomore Leilyn Alvarez (.333), senior Rachel Zingerman and freshman Casey Miller (.324).
• As a team, the Rams have nearly a 1-to-1 walk-strikeout ratio, drawing 32 bases on balls while fanning 36 times. Graduate student Elena Gonzalez is the hardest player in the Atlantic 10 to strikeout, as she has done so just one time in 28 at bats.
• Last year through 10 games, Rhode Island had struck out 56 times and drawn 33 walks.
• Swenson has three of the team's seven sacrifice bunts.
• The entire team had one sacrifice bunt through 10 games a year ago.