Salukis to host Coach B Classic in Chattanooga

Friday, March 1

Chattanooga, Tn.

4:15 p.m. (CT)

Southern Illinois University

Murray State University

Photo by: Will Becque

02/28/2019 | 2:35:00 | Softball

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team hosts the Coach B Classic at Frost Stadium Warner Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Joining SIU for the two-day, four-team event will be No. 17 Kentucky, Saint Louis and Murray State.

All-Time vs. Kentucky

• The Salukis are 1-3 all-time vs. the Wildcats.
• This will mark the fourth meeting between the schools when Kentucky is ranked.
• Southern's last win over Kentucky came on Feb. 28, 1998- a 5-1 victory in Carbondale.
• The Wildcats have since won three-straight over the Salukis, including the most recent matchup- a 7-1 Kentucky win on Mar. 3, 2017.

Scouting the Wildcats

• The Wildcats are 9-7 on the season, with six of their seven losses coming against ranked opponents.
• Kentucky won three out of five at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, with two of their losses coming against No. 1 UCLA and No. 5 Washington.
• Jenny Schaper is hitting .348 with 10 extra base hits, including three home runs.
• Eight different Wildcats have gone yard thus far this season, paced by Mallory Peyton's five home runs.
• Grace Baalman is 4-3 in the circle with a 3.27 ERA while Meghan Schorman is 2-0 with a 1.79 ERA.

All-time vs. Ranked opponents

• The Salukis will face the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats on Friday and Saturday, which will mark the first time since 2011 that SIU has played three games against ranked opponents in a single season.
• Southern defeated No. 25 Mississippi State, 4-1 on Feb. 14 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico- which marked SIU's first win over a ranked opponent since 2013.
• The Salukis last won multiple games over ranked opponents in the same season in 2007. SIU won 41 games that season and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Multiple wins over SEC Schools - same season

• Southern's 4-1 win over No. 25 Mississippi State was its first over a SEC school since 2011.
• The Salukis last posted multiple wins over SEC programs during the 2007 season.

All-time vs. St. Louis

• This will mark the 51st meeting between St. Louis and Southern Illinois University.
• SIU holds a commanding 46-4 lead in the all-time series.
• Southern has won two-straight and three of its last four meetings against Saint Louis.
• The Salukis won 24-straight games against the Billikens from 1992-2002.

Scouting the Billikens

• St. Louis went 28-29 in the Atlantic 10 a year ago and return three who earned A-10 postseason honors in sophomores Sadie Wise, Kat Lane and Alyssa Chavez.
• Wise was the first Billiken freshman to earn a spot on the All-Atlantic 10 first team while Lane and Chavez nabbed All-Rookie honors.
• The Billikens are 2-7 this season and most recently split a pair of games against UT Martin.
• Lane leads the team with a .313 batting average with an extra base hit and two RBI.
• St. Louis has a team earned run average of 5.52 and teams are hitting .297 against the Billikens this season.

All-time vs. Murray State

• This will mark the 10th meeting between Murray State and SIU.
• The Salukis are 6-3 all-time vs. the Racers and have won two-straight in the series.
• The two programs split at the Coach B Classic last season.

Scouting the Racers

• The Racers finished last season with a 16-36 record and bring back a pair who earned OVC postseason honors in seniors Madison Culver and Lillie Goetz.
• Culver was named to All-OVC first team as a catcher, while Goetz was selected to the All-Newcomer team.
• Murray State has lost three-straight and are 4-9 overall on the 2019 season.
• Brenna Finck leads the Racers with a .421 average (16-of-38) with 11 runs scored.
• Culver is hitting .308 with three of Murray State's four home runs.

Fun while it lasted

• Southern's nine-game win streak came to an end with a 2-1 loss to the Creighton Bluejays on Feb. 24.
• Southern's nine-game win streak was its longest since 2012.

Still a great start

• Southern's 10-3 start to the season is its best start to a season since 2011, when the Salukis also entered the Coach B Classic with a 10-3 record.
• To keep the similarities going, Southern also opened the 2011 Coach B Classic against No. 24 Kentucky.

Throwing Gas

• Brianna Jones went 2-0 in the circle with a .50 ERA and allowed just eight hits in 14 innings of work last weekend.
• Jones improved to 7-1 on the season and ranks eighth in the nation in both wins (7) and saves (2).
• Jones currently ranks no. 3 in program history in career wins with 74. She's eight wins behind Cassidy Scoggins for second and 11 shy of Amy Harre's school record of 84.
• With her save against Northern Colorado, Jones broke a three-way tie for fifth on SIU's all-time list.
• Jones leads all active DI pitchers in innings pitched (700.1) and complete games (78).
• She is just sixth Saluki pitcher to reach the 700 inning plateau.
• Her next complete game will move her into a tie for second in program history. Jones is currently 13 complete games shy of breaking Harre's school record of 90.

Jones ranking amongst active DI Pitchers

3rd - Appearances - 137
5th - Victories - 74
6th - Saves - 11
6th - Shutouts - 22
12th - Games Started - 89
12th - Strikeouts - 545

Not Making Many Mistakes

• The Salukis rank 16th nationally with a .978 fielding percentage with just eight errors through 13 games.
• Southern's eight errors are the fewest in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.

Lots of free passes
• Kyleigh Decker tied the school record with four walks against Mississippi Valley State on Feb. 10.
• She is one of 15 players in the NCAA this season to draw four walks in a game.

Salukis receiving votes

• For the second-straight week, the Salukis received a pair of votes in the most recent NFCA Coaches Top-25 poll. Drake and SIU are the only teams receiving votes in the NFCA Top-25 poll.

MVC Weekly Honors

• The Salukis have won three of the nine total weekly awards that the Missouri Valley Conference has handed out this season.
• Katelyn Massa was named the MVC Player of the Week after she hit .500 in the first week of the season.
• Brianna Jones was named the MVC Pitcher of the Week the second week of the season after she went 4-0 in the circle with a microscopic .74 ERA against four opponents that played in the postseason a year ago. The three-time All-MVC First Team selection allowed just 13 hits in 19 innings of work and struck out 18 while walking just four.
• Ashley Wood earned MVC Newcomer of the Week honors after she hit a team-best .615 (8-of-13) with two extra bases hits, two walks and 3 RBI and didn't record an error in the field at shortstop for SIU in Puerto Vallarta. She recorded at least one hit in all four games, and multiple hits in three of the four games.
• Wood is the first Saluki to earn MVC Newcomer of the Week since Jones did so in 2016 while Jones picked up her ninth career MVC Pitcher of the Week honor- which is tied for the fifth-most in MVC history.