Southern Illinois University
31-17, 14-9
Evansville
22-24, 10-13
Southern wins at Evansville in extra innings
05/04/2016 | 12:00:00 | Softball
By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Southern Illinois softball team beat Evansville 3-2 in nine innings on Wednesday evening. Eyrika Brandenburg hit the go-ahead RBI in the top of the ninth inning, and Brianna Jones retired 14-straight Evansville hitters to end the game and give Southern (31-17, 14-9 MVC) its sixth win in the last seven games.
"I thought we played a pretty good ballgame," SIU head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "We had really good pitching and defense again. The kids were attacking offensively from the get-go. Kelsey Gonzalez, Eyrika Brandenburg and Shaye Harre were immediately hitting the ball hard, and that set the tone for us offensively."
For the second time in two weeks, the top two ERA pitchers in the Missouri Valley Conference were pitted against each other. Two weeks ago, UE's Morgan Florey out-dueled SIU's Brianna Jones to get Evansville a 1-0 win. Today, Jones (22-10) won the battle and set a career high with 10 strikeouts.
The Aces (22-24, 10-13 MVC) scored their two runs on three hits in the third inning. SIU's Shaye Harre tied the game with a two-run homer in the top of the fourth. From that point on, Jones was dominant. Evansville went 2-for-20 the rest of the game, and Jones retired the final 14 batters of the game.
Meanwhile, Southern's offense was outstanding against Florey, who threw a one-hitter two weeks ago. Today, Sydney Jones, Jessica Heese and Merri Anne Patterson all doubled, but all three potential go-ahead runs ended up stranded. SIU hit five drives that were caught at the warning track.
"We didn't execute in a couple situations, but the kids didn't let it get them down," Blaylock said. "They just kept attacking."
Brandenburg went 3-for-5, her fourth three-hit game of her freshman season. Her first hit of the game scored on Harre's home run, and her third hit of the game drove in Gonzalez for the go-ahead run in the ninth, after Gonzalez had drawn a two-out walk and stolen second base.
SIU has won six of its last seven games--all MVC games--with the win, and the Salukis clinched a winning record in the MVC for the 16th consecutive season. Southern closes the regular season with a three-game series at Wichita State on Saturday (noon doubleheader) and Sunday (noon single game). The Shockers have already clinched the regular-season MVC title.
"We just want to be playing well going into the conference tournament," Blaylock said. "We have been doing a really good job playing relaxed and free, and we need to continue to do that."
NOTES: Shaye Harre (seven games) and Eyrika Brandenburg (eight games) extended their hitting streaks...SIU has won six-straight road games (all MVC games), dating back to a game-two win at Missouri State on April 9...Jessica Heese hit her 13th double of the season, tied for 6th in SIU single-season history...Shaye Harre's home run was her 12th of the season, tied for fourth in SIU single-season history and most since Katie Wilson hit 12 in 2010...Harre was intentionally walked in the eighth inning, her 23rd walk drawn in 23 MVC games; there hasn't been an MVC player average 1.0 walks drawn per game in league play since 2003...Harre has drawn 37 walks this year, tied for fifth in SIU history...Brandenburg is now hitting .348 in MVC play.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jones, Brianna (22-10)
L: Florey, Morgan (15-10)
Batting:
2B: Jones, Sydney 1 ; Heese, Jessica 1 ; Patterson, Merri Anne 1
HR: Harre, Shaye 1
RBI: Brandenburg, Eyrika 1 ; Harre, Shaye 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Gonzalez, Kelsey 1 ; Brandenburg, Eyrika 1 ; Harre, Shaye 1
SB: Gonzalez, Kelsey 1 ; Brandenburg, Eyrika 1 ; Fisher, Savannah 1
Batting:
2B: Luckett, Michal 1
RBI: Parr, Chandra 1 ; Florey, Morgan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Parr, Chandra 1 ; Luckett, Michal 1
SB: Scott, Hayli 1
