Salukis extend win streak to eight with series opening win over Aces

Friday, April 5

Carbondale, Ill.

7 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

21-9, 6-3

University of Evansville

12-20, 2-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Evansville	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	3	8	0
Southern Illinois	0	1	4	1	0	0	0	6	7	0

Photo by: Will Becque

Salukis extend win streak to eight with series opening win over Aces

04/05/2019 | 10:02:00 | Softball

Box Score

Ashley Wood crushed her 7th home run of the season in SIU's 6-3 win over Evansville

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team won their eighth-straight game Friday night, as they took the series opener from Evansville, 6-3.

Southern scored a run in the second, put up a four-spot in the third behind Ashley Wood's seventh home run of the season and added another run in the fourth.

"Evansville is a very good ball club and they've struggled a little bit because their ace (Morgan Florey) has been hurt," head coach Kerri Blaylock said. "But they've got some freshmen and newcomers who can hit, they are aggressive and believe they can win. We're still making a couple of base running mistakes but I thought we hit the ball well, Bri pitched pretty well and we got the W."

Brianna Jones won her 14th game of the season, and 81st of her career, after she went the distance Friday. She allowed three earned runs on eight hits and struck out five. With the win, Jones moved into a tie with Cassidy Scoggins for second on SIU's all-time wins list and also moved into a tie with Amy Harre for the most career appearances (151) in program history.

Southern's defense behind Jones was nothing short of spectacular, led by a pair of freshmen infielders in Sidney Sikes and Ashley Wood. Sikes made a pair of diving plays in foul territory in the second and third innings while Wood has made a habit of making difficult plays look routine. In the sixth with a runner on first and two outs, the Orland Park, Ill. native fielded a sharply hit grounder and fired off one foot to nab the runner at first and get SIU out of the frame.

"All year, our defense has been very solid and I think it wins us ballgames," Blaylock said.

Southern was error-free for the eighth-straight game and has now gone 48-straight innings without recording an error. During the streak, the Salukis have jumped up to No. 8 nationally in fielding percentage.

"I'm proud that we are ranked in the top-10 nationally for our defense especially when you consider that we don't strike out a lot of people so there are a lot of balls put into play," Blaylock said.

After a scoreless first inning, Southern plated its first run in the bottom of the second. Katelyn Massa led off the frame with a double to left and Megan Brown extended her hitting streak to seven games with a RBI-single.

Evansville got on the scoreboard in the top of the third, as they used two hits to tie the contest at 1-all and end SIU's scoreless streak at 17 innings.

The game didn't remain tied for long. Sidney Sikes was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the third and Maddy Vermejan followed with a double. Wood brought them both in to score with her team-best seventh home run of the season. Southern pushed across another run in the frame by way of a RBI-double by Massa.

The Aces got a run back in the fourth as they took advantage of a leadoff double.

Southern manufactured a run in home half of the fourth to extend its lead to four. Kyleigh Decker was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, went first to third on a sacrifice bunt and came into score on a sacrifice fly.

Evansville added a run in the seventh but Jones induced a pop up to record the final out and strand a runner at third.

The Salukis will go for the series win tomorrow as they play two against the Aces. First pitch of SIU's Green Up Game is set for 12 p.m. and admission is free for all spectators. Mid-America Transplant will be handing out free t-shirts while free sunglasses will also be available.