WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE
vs. No. 3 Dayton, 2:30 p.m. Live Stats | ESPN+

RHODE ISLAND AT THE ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP   

• The winner of Wednesday's game advances to face No. 2 Loyola Chicago on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
• The loser of Wednesday's will play the loser of the George Mason-Fordham game immediately following the Rhody-Dayton game.
• All games at the championship are being streamed on ESPN+.
• Rhode Island is making its 10th appearance at the Atlantic 10 Championship, where it is 11-19 all-time.
• This is the first postseason appearance for URI since 2010, ending a 13-year drought.
• The last time URI made the tournament, it dropped its first two games, losing to Charlotte and Saint Louis.
• Saint Louis is the only team in this year's tournament field that Rhode Island has ever faced in the postseason, which was a 9-3 loss in the 2010 tournament.
• URI's last victory in the Atlantic 10 Championship came in 2002. The Rams beat Massachusetts 1-0 in the opening round and advanced to the finals with a 3-1 win over Temple. UMass beat Rhody 6-1 and 8-0 to win the tournament title.
• It was the second straight season UMass beat Rhode Island in the finals. In 2001, Massachusetts beat the Rams 5-1 to win the tournament.
• URI reached the finals in 1996 and was once again scheduled to go against Massachusetts. The games were not able to be played due to poor weather, and UMass was deemed the champion based on seeding.
• Rhode Island also was in the finals of the 1983 tournament, falling to Penn State 2-1 in the title game.
• That season the Rams received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship, the only appearance in program history. Rhody fell to UCLA 1-0 in nine innings and again 1-0 in 12 innings at the Northeast Regional.

PROGRAM TOOK MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN SECOND SEASON UNDER GOLDSTEIN

• In just her second season as the helm, Rhode Island head coach Whitney Goldstein doubled the team's win total for the second straight year.
• Goldstein took over a team that went 5-20 in 2021.
• The Rams went 11-35 last season, and then 22-29-1 this year.
• The 22 victories were the most for Rhody since it won a program-record 30 games in 2001.
• The 12 Atlantic 10 wins were the second-most in program history, and it also tripled the number of league wins from last season (4-19).
• Late in the season, Rhode Island won six straight contests, the program's longest winning streak since a seven-game run in 2002.

YOUTH ON DISPLAY IN RHODY LINEUP

• Rhode Island's youngsters have made an impact this season, as three true freshman and a sophomore make up four of the eight starting position spots in the lineup.
• Two of the team's top three pitchers are sophomore starter Katie Zaun and freshman reliever Ashley Hibbard.
• Zaun, a transfer from Division II East Stroudsburg, was URI's No. 2 starter all season, going 7-11 with a 3.08 ERA and 101 strikeouts.
• Last year she earned Division II Conference Commissioner's Association All-Atlantic Region Second Team honors.
• She also was named to the All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Second Team after going 12-6 with a 1.86 earned run average.
• She set a program record with 166 strikeouts while walking just 17 batters. Her 9.76 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranked fifth among Division II players, and she ranked third nationally in ERA.
• Hibbard is Rhody's top relief pitcher, going 4-2 with a 3.79 ERA over 20 appearances.
• First baseman Becca Zawistowski, center fielder Hannah Hernandez and catcher Kylie Bulinski are all true freshmen.
• Third baseman Emily Power is a sophomore.
• Hernandez started 39 of her 43 games and batted .283 with 12 runs and 11 stolen bases. She hit a team-best .309 in conference play.
• Zawistowski and Power have been defensive geniuses all season. Zawistowski had a .996 fielding percentage at first, recording 268 putouts and nine assists with just one error.
• Power had a team-high 88 assists and already is 16th in program history with 165 for her career.
• Bulinski took over the starting catcher duties midway through the season and started 39 games.
• Offensively she had 20 hits over her last 30 games after recording seven through her first 14 contests.

LYNCHARD APPROACHING 300 STRIKEOUTS

• Senior Liz Lynchard is a two-year team captain who has been URI's top pitcher the last two years.
• She enters the Atlantic 10 Championship with 298 career strikeouts and needs just two more to become the sixth Ram ever to reach the milestone.
• Lynchard is fifth in the league with 142 strikeouts this season.
• The 142 strikeouts are the third most in a season in program history, trailing only Gwen Rack (276 in 2002) and Jenna Thurston (172 in 2003).