SIU takes series at Missouri State with 8-6 win

Sunday, April 10

Springfield, Mo.

12:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

23-12, 7-4

Missouri State

14-21, 3-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	4	0	0	0	0	4	8	11	0
Missouri State	2	1	0	1	0	0	2	6	10	3

04/10/2016 | 12:00:00 | Softball

Box Score

April 10, 2016

By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Southern Illinois softball team won the series at Missouri State with an 8-6 win on Sunday afternoon. Jessica Heese hit a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie and give the Salukis their third MVC series win in four tries.

In a remarkably balanced offensive attack for SIU over the weekend, it was Heese who came through with the biggest hits. She hit a two-out grand slam in SIU's 6-3 win on Saturday and a seventh-inning, go-ahead two-run double on Sunday. In the series, Heese went 6-for-10 with two doubles, a grand slam and eight RBIs.

"She had two strikes on her and just had to battle," head coach Kerri Blaylock said of Heese's seventh-inning at-bat today. "She did a great job laying off pitches she shouldn't go after and hitting the one she should. She's a competitor, doing some good things."

SIU added two more runs in the seventh on a wild pitch and a Jessa Thomas RBI single. Those runs proved pivotal after Missouri State hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, but Brianna Jones pitched out of it and earned her 17th win of the season.

SIU also put up and four-run inning in the second. Merri Anne Patterson opened the floodgates for SIU by dropping a surprise bunt that forced a bad throw. Then, she stole second and third base and scored on a Savannah Fisher RBI single. SIU took advantage of another error and an Eyrika Brandenburg RBI single to grab an early 4-2 lead.

Armed with the early lead, Jones earned her 17th win of the season with 6.1 innings in relief. SIU didn't commit an error for the second-straight game and only committed one all series.

"Merri Anne Patterson did a great job giving us that spark and energy, laying down that bunt early," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "We played great defense again. We pitched well when we needed to, and Bri did a good job bouncing back today. Overall, I'm just very happy to get out of there with a series win."

Eight spots in the order had at least one hit on Sunday, and SIU totaled 11 hits on the game--the fifth-straight game with at least eight hits. Southern put runners on base in five of the final six innings and hit 7-for-16 with runners on base.

"Offensively, there was only one inning that we didn't have quality at-bats," Blaylock said. "We had quality at-bats throughout the entire game up-and-down the lineup."

UP NEXT: SIU returns home to face Murray State on Wednesday at Charlotte West Stadium. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. The Salukis and Racers will play in mid-week action for the second-straight week after SIU topped Murray State 10-5 at Racer Field this past Thursday.

NOTES: Jessica Heese had a 1.100 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage in the three-game series; she also had eight of the team's 15 RBIs...Heese, Eyrika Brandenburg, Jessa Thomas, Hanna Porter, Shaye Harre and Caylee Cook each reached in at least half of their plate appearances in the series; that group reached in 34-of-59 plate appearances across the three games (.576 ob%)...Heese and Brandenburg each had six hits in the series to lead the team; seven players had at least two hits...SIU has won three of its first four MVC series for the first time since 2012...That 2012 team won its first six three-game MVC series that year...Sydney Jones hit in all three games to extend her hit streak to six games...SIU improved to 21-5 when scoring at least three runs.