Saluki softball opens conference play Tuesday with two against Missouri State

Tuesday, March 12

Carbondale, Ill.

12 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Missouri State University

Saluki softball opens conference play Tuesday with two against Missouri State

03/11/2019 | 5:44:00 | Softball

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois University softball team will open the conference portion of its 2019 schedule Tuesday when its hosts the Missouri State Lady Bears (13-7) for a MVC twin bill. First pitch between the Salukis and the Lady Bears is set for 12 p.m. and the game can be streamed on ESPN+. The Salukis have won four-straight conference openers and are 16-3 all-time in MVC openers under head coach Kerri Blaylock.

Conference Openers

Southern has won four-straight conference openers, and seven of their last nine, dating back to 2010.
SIU is 16-3 all-time in conference openers under head coach Kerri Blaylock. Southern won 14-straight conference openers from 1995-2008.

All-time vs. the Lady Bears

Southern lost both regular season games to Missouri State last season but gained redemption with a victory over the Lady Bears, 9-8 to advance to the MVC Tournament Championship game.
Prior to last season's losses, Southern had won five-straight over Missouri State.
20th-year head coach Kerri Blaylock sports a .703 (38-16) lifetime winning percentage against the Lady Bears.
The Salukis lead the all-time series, 53-51 dating back to 1976.

Perfect Again

Brianna Jones threw the fifth perfect game in school history in the 16-0, run-rule win over Butler on Sunday.
Jones needed just 57 pitches to set all 15 batters she faced on Sunday.
She became the first pitcher in program history to throw two perfect games in a single-season as well as in a career.
She is the only pitcher in NCAA Division I to throw two perfect games this season.
She is just the sixth player in NCAA Division I softball to record multiple no-hitters.
She is joined by USC Upstate's Christina Biggerstaff, Louisiana's Kandra Lamb, Virginia Tech's Keely Rochard, UCLA's Megan Faraimo and Houston's Trystan Melancon in doing so.

On a tear

Jenny Jansen continued her strong start to the season at the plate for the Salukis against Butler as she went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI to notch her fifth-straight multi-hit game.
The Warrenton, Mo. native is hitting .611 (11-for-18) over her last five games.
The Warrenton, Mo. native has now tallied multiple hits in five-straight games and in 10 of Southern's 18 games this season.
For perspective, over the last 16 seasons, the most multi-hit games in a season is 19 by Mallory Duran-Sellers during the 2011 season. It marks the 60th time since 2003 that a Saluki has tallied double-digit multi-hit games.

Heating Up

Susie Baranski recorded her second three-hit game of the season against Miami (OH), as she went 3-for-3 with three singles.
Baranski went 4-for-5 over the weekend to bump her batting average to .325.

Only a freshman

In the win over Butler, Ashley Wood went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a RBI and a stolen base.
The Orland Park, Ill. native has seven multi-hit games on the season already and has recorded a hit in four-straight games.
She leads all Missouri Valley Conference freshmen in batting average (.377), slugging percentage (.698), runs batted in (18), and is tied for the lead in home runs (4).

Season-Best

Southern scored 16 runs in the win over Butler, its most runs of the season.
Southern had eight different hitters record at least one hit and six batters with at least one RBI.

Big 4th inning

Southern scored 10 runs in the bottom of the fourth of yesterday's win over Butler.
11 batters went to the plate before the Bulldogs recorded the first out of the fourth inning.
Southern improved to 6-1 against Butler under coach Blaylock and Jones moved to 3-0 in her career against the Bulldogs.

Getting back going

Maddy Vermejan had her most productive day at the plate as Southern's the two-spot of the lineup in the win over Butler, as she went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI.
It was Vermejan's fourth multi-hit game of the season.

Games against 2018 NCAA Tournaments

Southern has played six games this season against opponents that advanced to the 2018 NCAA Tournament in UIC.
The Salukis are 5-1 this season in those games.

Sacramento State: W, 6-1

North Dakota St: W, 10-9

Mississippi State: W, 4-1

Ohio: W, 3-0

Ohio: W, 2-1

No. 17 Kentucky: L, 5-6

Perfecto Part 1

Brianna Jones threw the fourth perfect game in Saluki history, and the eighth perfect game in the NCAA this season, in SIU's 10-0 five-inning win over St. Louis.
It marked the second no-hitter of Jones' career and her first perfect game- it was the first perfect game thrown by a Saluki since Nikki Waters no-hit Gardner-Webb in 2009.
Jones became the eighth different Saluki with multiple no-hitters, joining Lori Day, Carisa Winters, Erin Stremsterfer, Amy Harre, Cassidy Scoggins, Ashley Hamby and Danielle Glosson.

Throwing Gas

Brianna Jones sports an 9-4 record on the season.
The Manchester, Tenn. native has allowed two or less earned runs in 14 of her 16 appearances in the circle this season.
Jones currently ranks no. 3 in program history in career wins with 76. She's six wins behind Cassidy Scoggins for second and nine 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 saves list.
She is just the sixth Saluki pitcher to reach the 700-inning plateau.
She is second in program history to Amy Harre (90) with 80 complete games.
Jones leads all active NCAA DI players in complete games (81) and innings pitched (718.1).

Jones ranking amongst active DI Pitchers

3rd - Appearances - 142

5th - Victories - 76

6th - Saves - 11

6th - Shutouts - 24

12th - Games Started - 93

13th - Strikeouts - 552

Top-25 in Fielding Percentage

The Salukis currently lead the MVC and rank 20th nationally with a .974 fielding percentage.
Southern has committed just 13 errors through 18 games this season.