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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team returns home over the weekend for a series against Delta State, set to begin on Saturday at 1 pm with a doubleheader. The series will wrap up with a single game on Sunday afternoon, also at 1 pm.
 
The series starts a 10-game homestand for the Argonauts, which includes midweek doubleheaders against Palm Beach Atlantic (Tuesday, March 3) and Christian Brothers (Thursday, March 5), before another weekend series with West Georgia on March 7-8.
 
West Florida enters the weekend at 10-6 overall with a 3-3 Gulf South Conference mark, and Delta State is 5-9 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
 
All baseball and softball tickets can be purchased at the gate by the ticket box in the center of the East Sports Complex entrance.
 
Fans can also follow along with the game's live video broadcast and live stats, which can be found at GoArgos.com or by clicking the links above.
 
ABOUT DELTA STATE
Delta State has had an up-and-down start to the season, at 5-9. The Lady Statesmen have had notable wins over now-No. 15 Rogers State and Northeastern State, but they have also fallen to Tuskegee and Christian Brothers.
 
Sophomore infielder Taylor Picou has led the offensive charge for DSU, hitting .395/.465/.711 with team highs in batting, OBP, slugging, RBIs (6), hits (15), and runs (9). The team's primary starting pitcher has been junior Olivia Burns, a transfer from Itawamba CC, where she earned NJCAA All-Region honors and was named the MACJC pitcher of the year. Burns has thrown to a 3.48 ERA over 56.1 innings, with a 2-6 record this season.
 
DSU currently ranks 12th in the Gulf South Conference in scoring (3.2 runs per game) and ERA (5.11), but the Lady Statesmen have a good deal of power -- they rank fifth in the league in total home runs (9).
 
UWF holds a 26-11 record against the Lady Statesmen since 2006, and has gone 13-2 against them since 2015.
 
A LOOK AT LAST WEEK
UWF bounced back from the opening conference weekend at Montevallo to go 3-1 over last week, with a win in the home-opener against Spring Hill and a series win over West Alabama. UWF now stands at 3-3 in the GSC and 10-6 overall.
 
West Florida hit .371 for the weekend, averaging nearly 7 runs per game. Eight Argonauts hit .300 or better over those four games, with Grace Gilbert's .538 batting average leading the way. Teala Howard hit .500 and led the team in slugging (.857), on-base percentage (.533), and stolen bases (5), Angela Agurkis led UWF with 6 RBIs, and Mika Garcia had a team-high 6 runs scored.
 
UWF also had a collective 2.24 ERA, while opponents hit .179 against the pitching staff. Megan Warhurst did not allow an earned run over 5.2 innings, and Gilbert posted a 0.88 ERA with a .194 batting average.
 
A NOTE ABOUT ANGELA AGURKIS
Transfer Angela Agurkis has gotten off to a hot start for UWF, batting .316 and slugging .579 through 7 games. In the sophomore's five starts, she has recorded four games with multiple RBIs, hit two doubles and a home run, and batted .353.
 
THE UNHITTABLE MEGAN WARHURST
Freshman Megan Warhurst has posted a 1.66 ERA over 25.1 innings to start her career, and she's been extremely difficult to hit. Her .105 opponent batting average is the best in the GSC, and her 2.4 hits allowed per seven innings ranks sixth in Division II. Warhurst earned her third win of the year last weekend, going 5.2 innings against West Alabama and allowing just one hit with two unearned runs.
 
IN GSC PLAY
Conference play continues for UWF over the weekend, with the series at West Alabama. West Florida has been one of the best teams in the GSC over the last three years, holding a .704 winning percentage (69-29) and the second-most wins in the conference over that time, behind only Alabama Huntsville (71-29; .710). UWF also won its fourth GSC title last season -- its first since 2005.
 
Outfielder Teala Howard led the league in batting against conference opponents last year, hitting at a .438 clip, and Grace Gilbert and Kelsey Sweatt led the league in GSC wins with 10 each. Sweatt also ranked second in opponent batting average against GSC teams, at .205.
 
IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME
With 15 of the team's first 16 games coming on the road to start the season, UWF will finally get its first home conference series of the year this weekend. Over the last three years, the Argonauts have hit .321 at home while averaging 5.7 runs per game, and the pitching staff has compiled a 2.18 ERA. West Florida has also had a 65-12 record at home in that time.
 
Juniors Courtney McLellan, Grace Gilbert, and Mika Garcia have truly stood out at home in their two years with UWF. McLellan is a career .356 hitter at home with 9 doubles and twice as many walks as strikeouts, and Garcia has hit .330 with a .546 slugging percentage at the UWF Softball Complex. Gilbert has a career .398/.451/.490 batting line and an 18-2 record in the circle with a 1.99 ERA at home.
 
Jacquelynne Poling broke out at home in 2019, hitting .382 with 8 doubles and 16 RBIs in just 23 games played. Teala Howard hit .485 and was a perfect 24-24 in stolen base tries at home in her freshman season.