Saturday, May 6
Carbondale, Ill.
12 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
28-22, 0
5
vs
0
Missouri State University
22-23, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Missouri State
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
Southern Illinois
0
1
0
4
0
0
X
5
10
0
Salukis sweep Bears on Senior Day
05/06/2017 | 8:46:00 | Softball
CARBONDALE, ILL. - The Southern Illinois University softball team (29-22) swept its doubleheader against Missouri State (22-24) today in the team's final home series. The Salukis won game one, 5-0, and captured game two in five innings, 10-2. The two wins moved SIU's Missouri Valley Conference record to 16-8, which is the most league wins the program has had since 2012.Â
Game one was a textbook game for sophomore pitcher Brianna Jones, who tossed a complete game shutout, her fifth of the season and 15th of her career. In the first four innings, Jones allowed two hits and only one Bear made it to second base.Â
At the plate the Salukis got a huge game from Katelyn Massa. The Grover, Missouri native had solo blasts in innings two and four, giving SIU a 2-0 lead. Massa now has five home runs on the season and 21 RBIs.Â
Southern tacked on its other three runs in the fourth after Massa's second homer. First, Maddy Vermejan singled and advanced to second safely on a bunt by Haley Andrus, who was also safe on the play. With two on and nobody out, Savanna Fisher laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them both into scoring position. After a quick out by MSU, Eyrika Brandenburg shot one down the right field line for a triple, clearing the bases, giving SIU a 4-0 lead. Merri Anne Patterson blooped a single into left center, scoring Brandenburg from third. It was Patterson's 38th RBI of the season.
Jones took the 5-0 lead through the end of the game, finishing her 23rd complete game of the season and her 14th win. She gave up five hits in seven innings and had two strikeouts.
"It was a very consistent performance," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "I was proud of the way Bri threw and how our team was able to hit the ball. We hit the ball very hard today. Katelyn is also really coming into her own right now, too. We need someone to replace Shaye once she's gone and Katelyn is doing a heck of a job."
SIU carried the momentum over into game two of the doubleheader, winning the game by the run rule.Â
After the Bears got two runs in the top of the second, the Salukis responded with three in the bottom half. SIU plated three runs off of one hit and three errors committed by Missouri State.Â
Pitcher Savanna Dover shut down the Bears the rest of the way. The Saluki junior held MSU scoreless the next four innings and gave up only four hits. It was the seventh complete game of the season for Dover and her eighth win.
The Salukis held onto the one run lead until the bottom of the fifth. Fisher led off the inning with a double in the right center gap. Baranski bunted her to third, and Brandenburg drew a four-pitch walk. With runners at the corners, Shaye Harre hit a hard shot at the second basemen, scoring Fisher. On the play two errors were committed, resulting in Brandenburg scoring all the way from first base and Harre making it to second. The Bears ended up making three errors in the inning and had six total in the game. After a pitching change, Patterson singled to put runners at the corners. Next up was Sydney Jones who saw two pitches before sending one over the right field wall. It was her eighth homer of the season, which leads the team. The homer scored three runs, making the score, 8-2.
In the bottom of the sixth Southern sealed the game by adding two more runs on the board. Harre picked up the first RBI by hitting her 47th career double. She is now tied with Becky Lis for most two-baggers in Saluki history. It was the fourth SIU record that Harre has broken this season. Following Harre was fellow senior, Patterson, who drove in the final run of the game.
Game one was a textbook game for sophomore pitcher Brianna Jones, who tossed a complete game shutout, her fifth of the season and 15th of her career. In the first four innings, Jones allowed two hits and only one Bear made it to second base.Â
At the plate the Salukis got a huge game from Katelyn Massa. The Grover, Missouri native had solo blasts in innings two and four, giving SIU a 2-0 lead. Massa now has five home runs on the season and 21 RBIs.Â
Southern tacked on its other three runs in the fourth after Massa's second homer. First, Maddy Vermejan singled and advanced to second safely on a bunt by Haley Andrus, who was also safe on the play. With two on and nobody out, Savanna Fisher laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them both into scoring position. After a quick out by MSU, Eyrika Brandenburg shot one down the right field line for a triple, clearing the bases, giving SIU a 4-0 lead. Merri Anne Patterson blooped a single into left center, scoring Brandenburg from third. It was Patterson's 38th RBI of the season.
Jones took the 5-0 lead through the end of the game, finishing her 23rd complete game of the season and her 14th win. She gave up five hits in seven innings and had two strikeouts.
"It was a very consistent performance," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "I was proud of the way Bri threw and how our team was able to hit the ball. We hit the ball very hard today. Katelyn is also really coming into her own right now, too. We need someone to replace Shaye once she's gone and Katelyn is doing a heck of a job."
SIU carried the momentum over into game two of the doubleheader, winning the game by the run rule.Â
After the Bears got two runs in the top of the second, the Salukis responded with three in the bottom half. SIU plated three runs off of one hit and three errors committed by Missouri State.Â
Pitcher Savanna Dover shut down the Bears the rest of the way. The Saluki junior held MSU scoreless the next four innings and gave up only four hits. It was the seventh complete game of the season for Dover and her eighth win.
The Salukis held onto the one run lead until the bottom of the fifth. Fisher led off the inning with a double in the right center gap. Baranski bunted her to third, and Brandenburg drew a four-pitch walk. With runners at the corners, Shaye Harre hit a hard shot at the second basemen, scoring Fisher. On the play two errors were committed, resulting in Brandenburg scoring all the way from first base and Harre making it to second. The Bears ended up making three errors in the inning and had six total in the game. After a pitching change, Patterson singled to put runners at the corners. Next up was Sydney Jones who saw two pitches before sending one over the right field wall. It was her eighth homer of the season, which leads the team. The homer scored three runs, making the score, 8-2.
In the bottom of the sixth Southern sealed the game by adding two more runs on the board. Harre picked up the first RBI by hitting her 47th career double. She is now tied with Becky Lis for most two-baggers in Saluki history. It was the fourth SIU record that Harre has broken this season. Following Harre was fellow senior, Patterson, who drove in the final run of the game.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jones, Brianna (14-12)
L: Kaitlin Beason (12-11)
Batting:
SH: Darian Frost 1
Base Running:
CS: Erika Velasquez Zimr 1
Batting:
3B: Brandenburg, Eyrika 1
HR: Massa, Katelyn 2
RBI: Brandenburg, Eyrika 2 ; Patterson, Merri Anne 1 ; Massa, Katelyn 2
SH: Fisher, Savannah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brandenburg, Eyrika 1 ; Massa, Katelyn 2 ; Vermejan, Maddy 1 ; Pulley, Bailee 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
3
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P/INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C/INF
/ SoftballC/DP
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballINF
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