Salukis continue road swing at Loyola on Friday

CHICAGO -- The Southern Illinois University softball team continues its 11-game road swing at Loyola for a three-game set against the Ramblers. The two teams will play one game on Friday at 2 p.m. and will follow with a doubleheader on Saturday with the first game set to start at 11 a.m.

All-time vs. Loyola

• SIU leads the all-time series 13-4 in a rivalry that dates back to 1996.
• Southern won the series between the two teams last season at Charlotte West Stadium. SIU run-ruled Loyola in the opener, 9-1, before the Ramblers rallied to win game two, 5-2. The Salukis won the rubber match, 5-4 in eight innings.
• Loyola won the last series played in Chicago, taking two out of three from SIU in 2017.
• SIU's last three-game sweep in the series, and last sweep in Chicago, came in 2015.

Scouting the Ramblers

• The Ramblers are 22-19 on the season and have lost five-straight.
• Loyola opened the season with nine-straight wins and were 14-2 through 16 games.
• The Ramblers lead the MVC, and rank 30th nationally, with a .306 batting average. Allyson Ivey leads the league, and ranks 24th nationally, with a .433 batting average.
• Shannon McGee leads the MVC in runs scored (37) and is third in batting average (.421). McGee is currently the second-hardest batter to strikeout in the NCAA.

Active Salukis vs. the Ramblers

• Megan Brown went 4-for-8 with a RBI in last season's three game set with Loyola.
• Katelyn Massa is a lifetime .563 (9-for-16) hitter against the Ramblers in six career games. Massa has two doubles, a home run and eight RBI in her career versus Loyola.
• Jordan Spicer went 1-for-2 last season against Loyola with a solo home run.
• Maddy Vermejan is a lifetime .421 (8-for-19) hitter in six career games against Loyola. Vermejan has two doubles, five runs scored and two RBI in her career versus the Ramblers.
ª Brianna Jones is 4-1 with a 1.27 ERA in five career appearances against the Ramblers. Jones has thrown 33 innings and allowed just six earned runs while striking out 28.

Breaking out the Brooms

• The Salukis completed the three-game sweep of the Indiana State Sycamores last weekend, which marked SIU's first three-game sweep of Indiana State since 2011.
• Southern outscored Indiana State, 20-5 in the three-game sweep and hit at a healthy .363 clip for the weekend.
• It marked SIU's third conference sweep of the season (Valpo, Evansville)

4-0 In Non-Conference Mid-Weeks

• Southern defeated SEMO, 9-3 in Cape Girardeau, Mo. on Tuesday.
• SIU slugged three home runs and eight of nine Saluki starters recorded a hit in the win.
• In doing so, SIU improved to 4-0 in non-conference mid-week games and posted another top-60 RPI win, as SEMO came in ranked No. 58 in the RPI.

Record Breaker

• Brianna Jones went four and two third innings and allowed two earned runs on two hits to earn the win in SIU's 9-3 win at SEMO.
• Jones improved to 18-6 on the season and the win marked her 85th career win- which broke Amy Harre's career wins record of 84.
• Earlier this season, Jones became SIU's all-time leader in career appearances.

Jones rank in MVC History
2nd - Wins - 85
6th - Career Appearances - 157
8th - Innings Pitched - 789.0
9th - Complete Games - 86
T-15th - Shutouts - 25
18th - Games Started - 102

Getting closer

• Brianna Jones continues to climb higher up SIU's all-time career pitching list in several additional categories.
• She is just 31 innings shy of passing Amy Harre for most innings pitching in school history.
• Jones is tied for the MVC lead in wins (18) and is the only pitcher in program history to twice lead the league in wins (2016, 2018).
• Should Jones lead the league in wins for a third time, she would join Creighton's Tara Oltman (2007-10) as the only pitchers to accomplish the feat.
• She also leads the league in saves (4).

Jones ranking among active DI Pitchers
1st - Innings Pitched - 787.7
1st - Complete Games - 86
4th - Appearances - 157
5th - Victories - .689 win %
5th - Saves - 13
8th - Shutouts - 25
13th - Games Started - 102
15th - Strikeouts - 604

Crossing the Plate

• Susie Baranski scored her 91st career run in the sweep over Indiana State to crack the top-25 in school history.
• Baranski is tied with Krystal Stein (2005-08) for the 25th-most runs scored in program history.
• The junior slap hitter needs to score just nine runs to become the 19th Saluki to reach the century mark in runs scored.

Driving 'em in

• Katelyn Massa led the league in RBI last season and has 28 this season.
• She currently sits at 98 career RBI and is two shy of becoming the 16th Saluki to reach the century mark for runs driven in.

Stealing at a high rate

• Kyleigh Decker, who hit her seventh home run of the season in SIU's win over SEMO, is 8-for-8 on the season in stolen base attempts.
• For her career, the Casey, Ill. native is a perfect 12-for-12.
• Only four Salukis have ever finished their careers without ever being caught stealing, and only one, Dee Stull (1977-80) played all four seasons as a Saluki.

Not to shabby

• Maddy Vermejan is tied for the league-lead in fielding percentage with a perfect 1.000%.
• Vermejan is one of only two second basemen nationally with a 1.000 fielding percentage. Fairfield's Alisha Marshall is the other.

Multi-Hit Games

• Jenny Jansen has tallied multiple hits in 15 games this season, while Ashley Wood has done so in 11 games this season.
• Jordan Spicer, meanwhile, recorded her first multi-hit game as a Saluki at SEMO. Spicer went 2-for-4 with two RBI against the Redhawks.
• 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.

RPI

• SIU is one of three MVC teams ranked in the top-65 of the RPI. Drake is No. 24, SIU ranks 52nd while Missouri State sits at No. 65. Loyola is No. 144.
• It is SIU's highest RPI ranking since 2010, when Southern finished 52nd and posted 11 wins over Top-100 teams.
• Southern cracked the Top-45 in five-straight seasons from 2003-07 and finished as high as 28th in 2005. The Salukis received five-straight at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament during that stretch.
• In 2004, Southern ended the season at No. 33 after it went a ridiculous 24-14 against Top-100 foes, which meant 61.2% of its games that season were played against Top-100 opponents.

Getting On Base

• The Salukis lead the Missouri Valley Conference, and rank 18th nationally, with a .411 on-base percentage.
• Southern last led the league in on-base percentage in 2014 and 2012 was the last season in which SIU finished with a .400 or better on-base percentage.
• 10 Salukis currently have .400 or better on-base percentages, led by Maddy Vermejan, who has a .477 on-base percentage.

Slugging past opponents

• Southern is 20-2 this season when out-hitting their opponent.

First Run is Key

• SIU is 23-4 this season when scoring the first run of the game.
• Southern is just 4-6 when its opponents score first.

Six or more

• The Salukis are 15-0 this season when scoring 6-or more runs, including 8-0 when scoring 10-plus.

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Players Mentioned

Susie Baranski

Megan Brown

Kyleigh Decker

Jenny Jansen

Brianna Jones

Katelyn Massa

Jordan Spicer

Maddy Vermejan

Ashley Wood

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