Salukis push win streak to seven with 6-0 win at St. Louis

Wednesday, April 3

Saint Louis, MO

4 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

20-9

Saint Louis University

9-22

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

Photo by: Will Becque

04/03/2019 | 7:46:00 | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

ST. LOUIS — The Southern Illinois University softball team won its seventh-straight game Wednesday with a 6-0 win over the St. Louis Billikens.

Southern plated two in the second, added a run in the fifth and blew the game open in the sixth courtesy of Megan Brown's fifth home run of the season, a three-run shot to right.

Claire Miller (5-2) got the win in the circle, as she threw four and two third innings, didn't allow a run and scattered four hits while striking out five. Brianna Jones came on in relief of Miller with two outs in the fourth and faced the minimum (seven) over her two and a third innings to earn her third save of the season.

"I thought Claire and Bri both did a great job today," 20th-year head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "Offensively, we grinded it out- when you face three different pitchers you have to go through three different adjustments and I thought we did a great job with that. The only thing I was a little disappointed with was that we had a couple of base running mistakes that we need to clean up but otherwise it was another good mid-week performance."

Southern scored a pair of runs in the top of the second. Jenny Jansen led off the frame with a single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Megan Brown. Katelyn Massa followed with a single and Kyleigh Decker brought Massa's courtesy runner, Bailey Pulley, in to score with a single up the middle.

After Miller worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom of the third and retired the side in the fourth, the Salukis manufactured a run in the top of the fifth.

Kyleigh Decker roped a leadoff single up the middle and Maris Boelens followed with a walk that chased SLU's starting pitcher Kallen Loveless. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Susie Baranski lifted a pitch to the outfield that brought in Decker from third.

In the fifth, a two-out single with a runner on first spelled the end of Miller's day in the circle. Jones came on in relief and promptly induced a popup to shortstop Ashley Wood to strand a pair of Billikens.

The Salukis broke open the game in the sixth. Wood reached on an error and Massa got on thanks to a fielder's choice. Brown then crushed her fourth home run in her last five games to clear the bases and give SIU a 6-0 cushion.

Jenny Jansen turned in a defensive highlight in the sixth. After St. Louis got its lead off hitter on with a single, Jansen snagged a line drive that was smoked at her at third and fired to first for the double play.

Southern's defense has been nothing short of spectacular during the win streak, as they have gone 41-straight innings without committing an error. SIU's pitching has been stellar as well, as the Salukis have allowed just 10 runs over the last seven games including an active streak of 15 innings without allowing a run.

"The one thing about this team that I have been very happy with is that, a majority of the time, we come to play," Blaylock said. "I don't have to get them up to play. We need to keep doing all the little things right and if we do that I feel really good about our club right now."

Southern's seven-game win streak is its second longest of the season, as the Salukis rattled off nine-straight wins from Feb. 9-24. It marks the first time since the 2007 season that SIU has had two win streaks of seven-plus games in the same season.

"To me, there's a lot of correlation between this team and that group of my teams from 2003 to 2007 because of how solid our pitching and defense have been," Blaylock said. "We talked to the kids today about expecting to win every time we take the field. We just want to keep this thing rolling and have a good game Friday night."

The Salukis are back at home this weekend for three games against Missouri Valley Conference foe Evansville. Southern will take on the Purple Aces at 7 p.m. Friday night and will follow with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m. Friday night's game will be free admission as part of the Saluki Athletic Scholarship Fund's Appreciation Week while Saturday's doubleheader will also be free of charge thanks to it being Southern's annual Donate Life Game.