Jones' Gem leads Salukis to win over Bulldogs

Sunday, March 17

Carbondale, Ill.

12 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

14-9, 2-3

Drake University

14-13, 2-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Drake	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
Southern Illinois	1	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	3	0

03/17/2019 | 3:14:00 | Softball

Box Score

The senior hurler went the distance and struck out seven to record her fourth shutout of the season.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill — Senior hurler Brianna Jones rebounded from a loss to the Drake Bulldogs on Saturday with a dominant four-hit, complete game shutout in the circle to lead the Southern Illinois Salukis to a 1-0 win over the Bulldogs on Sunday at Charlotte West Stadium.

The Salukis scored a run in the first inning off a Jenny Jansen single and Jones made it stand up. The senior hurler went the distance, as she scattered four hits, walked four batters while striking out seven. The Manchester, Tenn. native pitched around traffic on the base paths all game, as Drake got runners on base in five of seven innings and stranded eight.

"(Brianna) was fantastic," 20th-year head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "She really took yesterday hard and she wants to make sure during her senior year that she is doing everything she can to help her team. She was really down on herself and we had a 20 minute conversation in the office about what she's meant to me as a player and what she's meant to this program as a player. If she never won another game she is still going to mean that much to us. I told her to relax and go out and attack and she took it heart and did it. She did a great job."

Southern jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Susie Baranski led off the frame with one of her two hits on the day. Maddy Vermejan laid down a solid sacrifice bunt that spelled trouble for Drake's starting pitcher Nicole Timmons, who bobbled the throw and gave SIU runners on first and second with no outs. After the Bulldogs recorded the first out of the inning, Jansen drove the fourth pitch she saw to the wall in center for a single that scored Baranski from second.

"We needed to score early," Blaylock said. "We knew going into this series that if we were going to win ballgames here it was going to be a close scoring game. Scoring first was great and it allowed Bri to settle down."

That was more than enough for Jones, who pitched her way out of jam after jam. Drake looked as though it was going to get at least one run back in the third, as the Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out. A heads up defensive play by Kyleigh Decker, who fielded a dribbler and fired it home kept the shutout intact and Jones next battled through a 12-pitch at-bat to retire Taryn Pena with a pop-out to left.

After a Baranski single to lead off the third, Drake handed the ball over to its All-American pitcher Nicole Newman, who faced the minimum over her four innings of work and didn't allow a hit.

Southern's defense behind Jones was superb, as the Salukis didn't record an error and made tough plays whenever Jones needed them to.

Ashley Wood fielded a one-hopper cleanly and gunned out Abby Buie at first for the third out of the fourth inning and Nicole Johnson followed with a highlight-worthy play of her own to end the top of the fifth.

The Bulldogs got their leadoff hitter on and a two-out walk gave them runners on first and second. Hannah Pals then drove a ball to the gap in left field that Nicole Johnson ran down for the inning's final out.

"Ashley Wood has had more one-hop plays in the last two days than she said she has probably had in her whole life," Blaylock said. "Nicole Johnson in left field did a great job. We had some great plays all-around."

Jones then retired six of the next seven batters she faced to improve to 10-6 on the season and hand Drake its first loss in Missouri Valley Conference play since April 29, 2018.

At the plate, Baranski was 2-for-3 with a run scored while Jansen was 1-for-3 with a RBI.

The Salukis are back in action on Wednesday, March 20 when they travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo. to take on the SEMO Redhawks for mid-week game starting at 3 p.m.