Salukis split with Lady Bears to open conference play

Tuesday, March 12

Carbondale, Ill.

12 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

12-7, 0-1

Missouri State University

14-7, 1-0

Missouri State

Southern Illinois

Photo by: Tom Weber

03/12/2019 | 5:39:00 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Southern socked five home runs on the day, including four in an 11-2 run-rule win.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team split a Missouri Valley Conference doubleheader against Missouri State Tuesday. After the Lady Bears won game one, 5-3, with a three-run seventh inning, Southern came back with a vengeance in game two, run-ruling Missouri State, 11-2, in five innings.

"Missouri State has a lot of grit and a lot of spunk- they always do," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "They had more come-from-behind wins last year in the conference than anybody did. We knew it was going to be a battle today. I asked our team to respond between games and I thought they did that."

Southern hit five total home runs, of which four came in the game two win, and pounded out 17 total hits. Jenny Jansen went 4-for-7 with a home run and a double, while Ashley Wood was 3-for-7 with two home runs and five RBI.

Missouri State 5, SIU 3

In game one, the Salukis left eight on base and Missouri State plated three in the top of the seventh to win, 5-3.

Southern got out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first after Vermejan worked a six-pitch, one-out walk and Ashley Wood followed with her fifth home run of the season.

After a scoreless second, a leadoff walk and a fielder's choice spelled trouble for the Salukis in the top of the third. The Lady Bears used two RBI-singles to do their damage and tie the contest, 2-2.

The Salukis wrestled the lead back in the third. Wood and Jenny Jansen led off with back-to-back singles before a bloop, RBI-double by Katelyn Massa put Southern ahead 3-2.

Brianna Jones continued to work her way out of jams, as a diving catch by Sidney Sikes in the fourth inning stranded runners at second and third.

After Southern squandered a chance to add insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, a leadoff walk coupled with an error kept the door open for the Lady Bears in the top of the seventh. A single by Missouri State's starting pitcher Steffany Dickerson tied the game at 3-all and a 2-run single by Rachel Weber provided the go-ahead runs that the Lady Bears needed.

Saluki starting pitcher Brianna Jones got tagged with the loss in the circle. She allowed just three earned runs on six hits over six innings of work with three strikeouts. Claire Miller pitched the seventh and allowed two hits. Dickerson got the complete game win for Missouri State and allowed three earned on eight hits while walking two and striking out five.

"Dickerson did a good job," Blaylock said. "She threw extremely well. Where we got into trouble was we were a little careful pitching to them. We need to pitch to contact and not worry so much about making the big pitch."

At the plate, Southern was led by Ashley Wood, who went 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Seven Salukis recorded a hit in the first game, including doubles by Megan Brown and Katelyn Massa.

SIU 11, Missouri State 2 (5 innings)

In game two, two three-run home runs in the first inning were more than enough to back SIU starting pitcher Claire Miller in SIU's 11-2 run-rule win.

After Missouri State scored the game's first run in the top of the first, Southern exploded for seven runs in the home half of the frame. Susie Baranski led off the game with a single and moved to second on a Vermejan walk. Wood followed with her second home run of the day- a three-run blast to left center. Jansen then singled to left and Massa brought her in with a double to wall in right that chased Missouri State's starting pitcher Erin Griesbauer before she recorded an out.

Decker then drew a one-out walk before Jordan Spicer blasted her second home run of the season to clear the bases and put Southern ahead, 7-1. All told, SIU sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning.

Southern added to its lead in the bottom of the second after a RBI-double from Massa brought Jansen around to score from second.

After Missouri State got a run back in the third, SIU starter Claire Miller set down six of the next seven batters she faced.

Southern ended the game with three runs on two hits in the fifth. Jansen led off the frame with her third home run of the season- a solo shot to left center. Massa was hit by a pitch, and she came around to score on Kyleigh Decker's walk-off home run.

Miller improved to 4-1 on the season with the win. She scatted five hits across five innings and gave up two earned runs while striking out one.

At the plate, Jansen went 3-for-3 with a home run while Massa was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.

"I don't want opportunities to get away from us because I think we're a good ball club," Blaylock said. "That first game was a game we could've won. We have to get a little better. We still have a lot of youth playing. We made a couple of mistakes defensively on bunt situations that also exacerbated things. We also had some not so great at-bats with runners in scoring position. But I think we figured that out and we came out and set the tone early in the second game. Now we have a chance to win the series at their place."

Game three of the series is set for Tuesday, April 9 at Missouri State. The Salukis are back in action on Saturday, March 16 when they host the defending MVC champions, the Drake Bulldogs, for a three-game set. First pitch on Saturday is set for 12 p.m.