Softball set for final away series of 2018

Saturday, April 28

Evansville, IN

12:00 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

University of Evansville

Maris Boelens, Jenny Jansen and Susie Baranski (Left to right)

04/27/2018 | 2:13:00 | Softball

By: Tony McDaniel, SIUSalukis.com

Saluki softball (24-20, 7-11 MVC, t-sixth place) will take on the Evansville Purple Aces (14-29, 7-13 MVC, 10th place) in Evansville, Indiana. This weekend is a pivotal one as a good performance could go a long way toward's Southern's MVC Tournament seeding. The Salukis still have six games to play and can finish as high as third and as low as 10th. Southern is part of log-jam at the bottom half of the MVC. The bottom five team in the MVC all have seven wins and just three games separate fifth and ninth place.

SCHEDULE, WEATHER AND MEDIA LINKS

Leading off...

The Salukis are 24-20 on the season and in sixth place at 7-11 in the MVC.
Junior pitcher Brianna Jones is 20-7 on the season. She has the 19th most wins in the nation.
Sophomore Katelyn Massa is challenging the single-season RBI record. She has 44. The program record is 51. There are still six regular-season games to play.
Freshman Jenny Jansen is having a breakout season hitting .319 with 6 home runs and 23 RBIs. She is top-five all-time among freshman at SIU in doubles and top-10 in home runs.

Milestone/Record watch...

Southern's long time head coach Kerri Blaylock is approaching several big career records and milestones.

As of 4/27 she is...

The all-time leader in wins at SIU with 651. She passed Kay Brechtelsbauer with her 634th on Feb. 23 against UConn.
Managed her 1,000th game against UT-Martin on March 14 in a 2-1 win.
She is one win from her 300th in MVC play. She will be the third coach in Conference history to win that many games.
Nationally Ranked Statistically

(Top-50 only)

Maddy Vermejan is third in the nation in hit by pitch per game. She's been hit 20 times in 44 games for an average of .45.
Kyleigh Decker is 32nd in the nation in hit by pitch per game. She's been hit 13 times in 44 games for an average of 0.30.
Katelyn Massa is 42nd in the nation in RBI per game. She's averaging one a game.
Brianna Jones has won 20 games this year; good for 19th in the nation.
She is also 44th in the nation in strikeouts with 164.
Maddy Vermejan is 44th in the nation in on-base percentage at .503.
As a team, the Salukis are 49th in the nation in home runs per game. Southern's hit 39 in 44 games this year for an average of 0.89.

MVC Leading Salukis...

Vermejan is tops in the Valley in hit by pitch per game with 0.45 per game. Decker is second on the MVC.
Vermejan also leads the league in on-base percentage at .503.
Katelyn Massa tops the league in RBIs per game at 1.00.
Brianna Jones leads the Conference in wins with 20.

Starting Fast...

The Salukis are 17-3 this season when they score first, 10-3 when they score in the first inning and 8-2 when leading after one inning. Adversely, the team is 5-8 when trailing after the first inning and 6-7 when allowing runs in the first inning.

Sophomore slump?

Sophomore Katelyn Massa leads the team in RBI (44), home runs (9), doubles (11), slugging percentage (.618), walks (25) and total bases (81). She's struck out just 15 times in 131 at-bats, the fewest among all starters.
She has already surpassed her 2017 numbers in doubles, home runs, RBIs, runs scored, total bases, walks and steals.
Massa has been named the MVC Player of the Week twice this season. First on Feb. 19, after her performances at the Gamecock Invitational and again on March 19, after the Loyola series.
This year sophomore Maddy Vermejan has hit five home runs and earned 26 RBI. She leads the team in batting average (.376), runs scored (34), hit-by-pitches (20) and on-base percentage (.503).
In all of 2016, she had just 20 RBI and didn't hit a round-tripper.
Vermejan was named as the MVC Player of the Week on April 23, after she hit three home runs and had 10 RBI in a three-game series at Bradley.
Sophomore first baseman is in her first year as a full-time starter.
She's played in all 44 games and is hitting .282 with four homers and 16 RBIs. She leads the team in triples with two.
Last year, Decker appeared in just five games and hit .120 with a homer and 5 RBIs.

Ace in the hole...

Saluki junior Brianna Jones is off to a fantastic start to the 2018 season.
Jones is 18-7 with 159 strikeouts, 44 walks and 19 complete games, three of which have been shutouts. She currently has an ERA of 2.22.
Jones earned the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week Award on March 12 for her performance at the USF Under Armour Showcase after going 3-0 with 23 strikeouts, four walks, three complete games and holding opposing hitters to a batting average of .181.
Twice this year she has struck out 10 hitters. She did so once against Mercer on 2/16 and again against Maine on 3/11.