COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team is ranked fifth in the country and starts the Lone Star Conference season Friday with a two-game set against Eastern New Mexico.
 
WHO: Eastern New Mexico at A&M-Commerce
WHERE: Commerce | John Cain Family Field
WHEN: 4 p.m. on Friday, March 5
RECORDS: A&M-Commerce is 6-4, Eastern New Mexico is playing for the first time this season
RANKINGS: A&M-Commerce is ranked fifth nationally in the NFCA Division II Coaches' Poll.

LIVE VIDEO: LSC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: http://statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=tame
 
The latest… 
A&M-Commerce is coming off of a two-game sweep of No. 12 Rogers State. The Lions rank 12th in the conference in hitting at .269 and sixth in ERA at 2.78, but have played four games against nationally-ranked opposition in the last week.
 
Alyssa LeBlanc (Katy) leads the team with a 1.84 ERA, which ranks ninth in the LSC. She leads the league with 55 strikeouts.

Madison Schaefer (Frisco – Independence) ranks 19th in the LSC with a .452 batting average and her nine RBIs leads the team and ranks 14th. Kinsie Hebler (Cy-Ridge) leads the league in walks with 11 and hit the walk-off homer in the second Rogers game.
 
On the opponent…
The Greyhounds return three strong arms to the pitching rotation in Jordan Bowman, Tava Boone, and Brook Leger. Last season Leger led the way for the Greyhounds with a 4-1 record and a team-leading 36 strikeouts in 30.0 innings of work.
 
Bowman paced the Hounds with an ERA of 3.71 and a 2-1 record in 39.2 innings pitched. Boone finished the shortened season with a 2-3 record, 4.15 ERA, and 12 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.
 
On the series history…
This is the 14th and 15th meeting between the teams, with the Lions holding an 11-2 lead in the series. The teams have not met since 2019, when the Lions swept a three-game series. The Lions have not lost to the Hounds since 2017.