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PENSACOLA, Fla. – West Florida has won 16 consecutive games and will visit Jackson, Tennessee, this weekend for a series against Union, which has won seven of its last nine. The Argonauts are 26-8 after a midweek win over Montevallo on Thursday with an 11-7 mark in the Gulf South Conference, and Union comes in at 21-15 with a 6-12 GSC record.
 
The three-game set will start with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 pm, and the series finale on Sunday will also start at 1 pm. All three games will feature live stats and a live video broadcast, and links for each can be found at GoArgos.com.
 
We've Won 16 in a Row

• West Florida picked up its 16th consecutive win on Thursday with an 8-1 victory at Montevallo. Reigning Gulf South Conference Pitcher of the Week Becca Taylor earned her 15th win, pitching five innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts and no walks. Last week, Taylor threw 20 scoreless innings with 18 strikeouts and no walks against Christian Brothers and Spring Hill.
• This is West Florida's longest winning streak since 2005, when the Argonauts won 27 in a row during their 60-win season.
• The Argonauts have hit .345 and slugged an impressive .493 over their last 16 contests, with 31 stolen bases in 36 tries. Six players are hitting over .300 and nine players have at least one extra-base hit. Caitlin Steel's .459 batting average leads the team, while Jacey Castro leads UWF with 14 RBI and 24 hits.
• UWF's pitching has improved in every way over the last 16 games. Becca Taylor, Sarah Maloney and Taylor Rolison have pitched to a combined 0.71 ERA over 109 innings, with 97 strikeouts and a .192 opponent batting average. Taylor has thrown 60 innings with a 0.58 ERA, and batters have hit .178 against her during the streak.
• West Florida had a 14-game winning streak during the last month of the 2016 season, which started with the Christian Brothers series on March 25. Rhiannon Sassman hit .500 with 10 extra-base hits during that stretch, Rachel Wright hit .442, and the pitching staff had a 1.49 team ERA with 73 strikeouts in 89 innings.
• The 16-game winning is the third-longest active streak in DII, behind Harding (21) and Colorado Mesa (17).

 
Becca Taylor is Pitcher of the Week Again

• For the second time this season, Becca Taylor was chosen as the Gulf South Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week. Taylor threw 20 scoreless innings against Spring Hill and Christian Brothers, striking out 18 batters, walking 0 and going 3-0 during the week.
• Taylor leads the GSC with 15 wins, going 3-0 last week and holding opponents to a .159 batting average. She spun complete game shutouts on Wednesday and Sunday, before blanking the Lady Bucs for another five frames on Monday afternoon.
• Last week was just the latest in a tremendous stretch for Taylor. Since the Alabama Huntsville series in mid-March, Taylor had thrown 31.1 consecutive shutout innings – a mark that ranks as the 10th-longest in GSC history. That scoreless innings run came to an end on Thursday in the first inning against Montevallo, but Taylor has still allowed just 4 earned runs in her last 48 innings, good for a 0.58 ERA. 
• Taylor ranks near the top in several other categories in the conference, as well. In addition to her league lead in wins, she is second in the league in innings pitched (118.1), fourth in strikeouts (77), sixth in ERA (2.01) and seventh in opposing batting average (.226).

 
About Union

• Winners of seven of their last nine, the Union Bulldogs bring a 21-15 record into the weekend series against UWF. In the team's most recent GSC series, Union took two of three from West Alabama at home to improve to 6-12 in the conference.
• Union third baseman and freshman Ashley Scott leads the team with a .407 batting average, 44 hits, 10 doubles, 5 triples, 39 RBI, a .704 slugging percentage and a .458 on-base percentage. Gabby Morris is not too far behind Scott, hitting .394 and leading the team with 6 home runs. Union is second in the GSC in slugging (.476) and on-base percentage (.400) and third in hitting (.331).
• The Bulldogs pitching staff is led by Hannah Ridolfi, who has a 2.99 ERA in 112.1 innings pitched, with 10 complete games on the year. Morris has also spent some time in the circle, with 57 strikeouts in 59 innings and a 4.51 ERA.
• West Florida leads Union 10-3 in the all-time series.

 
What Has Happened Since We Last Lost?

• The sports world has been busy since UWF last lost on March 5. In professional sports, the United States defeated Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic to claim its first championship in the tournament's history, and the NFL voted to move the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas beginning in 2019 or 2020.
• More importantly, several other UWF have seen a great deal of success in the last 26 days.
• The women's basketball team continued its run in the NCAA Tournament, going as far as the Elite Eight and bringing home a South Region Championship for the first time in program history.
• The swimming and diving team competed at the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, finishing sixth overall for the second consecutive year. Theresa Michalak won four individual national championships and set three NCAA DII records, and Monica Amaral won both diving titles for the second time, and they were named the NCAA Swimmer of the Year and Diver of the Year, respectively. In all, UWF had 22 All-Americans between the nine student-athletes who qualified for the trip.
• The women's golf team took a 19-shot victory at the Bama Beach Bash in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on March 19, with Paloma Vaccaro taking the individual title and Lauren Lamm finishing just a shot behind her. On the men's side, Chandler Blanchet, who is ranked No. 1 in DII, won the Bobcat Invitational in Eatonton, Georgia, to claim his fourth win of the year.
• Men's tennis made the leap to No. 1 in the country in the latest ITA National Men's Rankings, and the UWF women's tennis team moved up to No. 6. The men's team has beaten No. 1 Hawaii Pacific, No. 3 Armstrong Atlantic and No. 12 UC San Diego this month.
• The baseball team has also gone on a strong run, winning its last 10 games and have jumped up to second place in the GSC standings, just a game back of Delta State.

 
The Pitching, Wow

• Perhaps the biggest improvement in UWF's performance during the 16-game winning streak has been in the circle. The staff, made up of Becca Taylor, Sarah Maloney and Taylor Rolison, has put together a 0.71 ERA with six shutouts and a .192 opponent batting average during the run.
• That's not to say UWF pitching has struggled this year, as the Argonauts lead the GSC in shutouts (11) and opponent batting average (.219), and the staff is second in strikeouts (184) and ERA (2.18).
• Taylor has led UWF during the streak with a 0.58 ERA and six complete games in 10 starts, holding the opposition to a .178 batting average and allowing just seven walks in 60 innings. Maloney has put together a 0.99 ERA with a 5-0 record in six starts and has struck out more than a batter per inning, and Rolison has held opponents to a .188 batting average and struck out 12 in 13.2 innings.
• West Florida is fourth in DII with 11 shutouts on the year, and Taylor is 10th in the country with 15 wins. That total for Taylor leads the GSC, while Maloney leads the conference in strikeouts per seven innings (7.9) and ranks second in the conference in hits allowed per seven innings (5.1). Rolison ranks in the top 10 in the league in strikeouts per seven innings (6.3; 5th) and in hits allowed per seven (5.53; 3rd).

 
On April Fool's Day

• The series with Union will begin on April 1, marking just the fourth time UWF has played on April Fool's Day since 2006. In 2015, the Argonauts split a doubleheader against Spring Hill, with a 4-2 win and a 4-6 loss. In 2012, North Alabama came to Pensacola and the Argonauts swept the Lions 5-3 and 3-2. On that unfortunate April 1, 2011, Valdosta State took two from West Florida, 0-4 and 3-11.
• The fact that UWF has not had many contests on April 1 could be a simple math issue. April 1 has historically occurred on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday (58 times each) than on any other day of the week.
• While there has not been much UWF action on April 1, some other big events have occurred on April Fool's Day. For example, President Dwight Eisenhower authorized the creation of the Air Force on April 1, 1954. On the date in 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne formed Apple, Inc., and Google announced Gmail to the public in 2004.