Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
University of Evansville
Salukis set to host Purple Aces for weekend series
04/04/2019 | 1:11:00 | Softball
Southern will play a night game on Friday and follow with a doubleheader on Saturday.
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team will put its seven game win streak on the line this weekend when it welcomes Missouri Valley Conference foe Evansville for a three-game set. Friday night's 7 p.m. game under the lights will mark the first regular season night game at Charlotte West Stadium since 2012, while Saturday's doubleheader is SIU's Green Up Game. Admission is free to all three games this weekend.
Promotions
• Friday night's game is part of SIU's Saluki Athletic Scholarship Fund Appreciation Week and admission is free.
• Saturday's doubleheader is Southern's Green Up Game. Admission is also free and the first 100 fans will receive a free pair of sunglasses. Mid-America Transplant will also be handing out free green shirts.
All-time vs. the Purple Aces
• The Salukis and the Purple Aces will meet for the 94th time Friday night with SIU holding a commanding 65-28 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1986.
• SIU has won five-straight, and six of the last seven, against Evansville including last season's series sweep.
• The Salukis are 39-10 at home against the Purple Aces which includes a 21-7 record at Charlotte West Stadium.
• Head coach Kerri Blaylock, a 1988 Evansville alumna, is 37-20 all-time as SIU's skipper against the Purple Aces.
• Blaylock still holds numerous Evansville career pitching records including career wins (79), innings pitched (883.2 IP), complete games (127) and shutouts (42).
Current Salukis vs. the Purple Aces
• Jenny Jansen has the highest batting average of any current Salukis vs. the Purple Aces, as she hit .385 (5-for-13) with a home run and a double in SIU's sweep last season.
• Maddy Vermejan is hitting .316 (6-for-19) in six career games against Evansville with a walk and two RBI.
• Brianna Jones is 4-3 in her career against Evansville with a .81 ERA and 59 strikeouts. She has allowed just seven earned runs over 60.1 innings versus the Purple Aces, including last season's 16-inning, 1-0 duel with Morgan Fleury that saw the two combine to strikeout a NCAA-record 46 batters.
Back-to-Back shutouts
• Southern pitched back-to-back shutouts in its mid-week wins and has an active streak of 15 innings without surrendering a run.
• The Saluki pitching staff held opponents to a .167 batting average during the streak and have allowed just eight hits- of which one is an extra base hit (a double).
• SIU has also walked just one batter during the streak.
On a tear
• Megan Brown hit her fourth home run in the win over Murray State and followed with a three-run bomb in the victory at St. Louis.
• She has now hit home runs in four of her last five games and is hitting a team-best .625 (10-of-16) with a 1.438 slugging percentage during SIU's seven-game win streak.
• Brown has an active six-game hitting streak, the longest such streak of her career.
Going Streaking
• Southern's current 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.
• SIU's last double-digit win streak came in 2011, when the Salukis ran off 10-straight from April 6 to April 20, 2011.
• Southern hasn't had an 11-game win streak since 2009, and SIU's last 12 game win streak was during the 2005 season.
7-game win streaks all-time
• The Salukis have had 40 7-plus win streaks in program history.
• 25 of those 40 7-or more game win streaks have come under head coach Kerri Blaylock, including six streaks of 10 or more wins.
• The longest win streak in school history came during the 1991 season, when the Kay Brechtelsbauer led Salukis ran off 23-straight wins en route to winning the Gateway Championship.
• Southern had two 10-plus win streaks during the '91 season, as SIU won 12-straight to open the season, suffered three-straight losses, then rattled off 23-straight victories. The Salukis went 42-7 and a perfect 14-0 in conference play that season.
History of Regular Season Night Games at Charlotte West Stadium
• The Salukis have played seven regular season night games (defined as after 6 p.m.) since Charlotte West Stadium opened in 2003.
• Southern is 7-0 all-time in regular season night games at Charlotte West Stadium with its last home night win coming against Evansville on April 17, 2012- a 9-1 Saluki victory.
• Three of SIU's seven regular season night wins have come against Evansville. The Salukis have squared off against the Purple Aces under the lights in 2006, 2008 and 2012.
RPI
• SIU is one of three MVC teams ranked in the top-60 of the RPI. SIU ranks 51st while Evansville sits at 234.
• 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.
Hits in Pairs
• Jenny Jansen has recorded multiple hits in 13 of SIU's 29 games this season, which includes three three-hit games.
• Over the last 16 seasons, the most multi-hit games in a season by a Saluki is 19- set by Mallory Duran-Sellers during the 2011 season.
Scoring first
• SIU has scored first in 20 of its 29 games this season and sports a 17-3 record when doing so.
Slugging away
• SIU has out-hit its opponent in 18 of its 29 games this season and holds a 16-2 record when doing so.
Chasing History
• Brianna Jones sports a 13-6 record this season after she earned all three wins in the circle against Valparaiso in SIU's last MVC series.
• Jones currently ranks no. 3 in program history in career wins with 80 and is two wins behind Cassidy Scoggins for second and five shy of Amy Harre's school record of 84.
• She is just the sixth Saluki pitcher to reach the 700-inning plateau and is less than 70 innings shy of Amy Harre's school record of 820.1 innings pitched.
• She needs 15 strikeouts to become the sixth Saluki pitcher to reach the 600 strikeout plateau.
• She is second in program history to Amy Harre (90) with 83 complete games.
• Her 150 career appearances are the second-most in school history and are two shy of breaking Amy Harre's school record of 151.
• Jones recorded her 12th career save in SIU's 6-0 win over Saint Louis- which moved her into sole possession of fourth in school history. She is five saves shy of Carisa Winters school record of 16 saves.
Follow the Leader
• Brianna Jones threw her fifth complete game of the season in SIU's 20-1 game one win over Valpo.
• In doing so, Jones increased her lead among active DI pitchers in several statistical categories.
• The three-time All-MVC first team selection leads all active DI pitchers in career complete games (83) and innings pitched (756.0).
• She also ranks in the top-10 amongst active DI pitchers in appearances (4th, 150), victories (5th, .678%), saves (5th, 12), and shutouts (7th, 25).
• Jones currently leads the league in wins (13) and is tied for the league lead in saves (3).
RBI Leader
• Ashley Wood's RBI in SIU's 4-0 win over Murray State gives her 32 on the season and she now leads the MVC in the category.
• Her 1.10 runs batted in per game rank 39th nationally and are tied for fifth nationally among freshmen.
• Her 32 total RBI are tied for the seventh-most nationally among freshmen.
• Her 32 RBI are the 10th-most in a single-season by a freshman in program history.
• She is 18 RBI shy of breaking Taylor Orsburn's 2011 freshman record of 49 and 20 RBI shy of breaking SIU's single-season record of 51, set by both Allie VadeBoncouer (2012) and Katie Wilson (2010).
Getting On Base
• The Salukis lead the Missouri Valley Conference, and rank 21st nationally, with a .406 on-base percentage.
• Southern last led the league in on-base percentage in 2014. Two years prior, Southern led the league with a .402 on-base percentage- which marked the last season in which SIU finished with a .400 or better on-base percentage.
• Eight Salukis currently have .400 or better on-base percentages, led by Katelyn Massa, who has a .442 on-base percentage.
Taking free passes
• SIU drew 10 walks in its 20-1 win over Valparaiso.
• It marked the second time this season in which Southern has drawn 10-plus walks.
• The Salukis walked 12 times in their 15-3 win over Mississippi Valley State on Feb. 10- which is tied for the ninth-most in a NCAA DI game this season.
• SIU's two games with 10 or more walks are as many as they had in the previous five seasons combined.
Glove Work
• The Salukis currently lead the MVC and rank eighth nationally with a .978 fielding percentage.
• Southern has committed just 18 errors through 29 games this season and have gone 41-straight innings without committing an error.
