Salukis hosts Drake to open MVC play

Saturday, March 20

Carbondale, Ill.

12 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Drake University

Photo by: Will Becque

03/18/2021 | 3:56:00 | Softball

vsdrake

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois University softball team opens Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend with a three-game set against the defending MVC Champion Drake Bulldogs. The Salukis are off to their best start through 20 games in program history while the Bulldogs have lost three-straight entering Saturday's doubleheader. All three of this weekend's games will be broadcast on ESPN+/ESPN3.

Saturday - 12 p.m. - ESPN3
Saturday - 2:30 p.m. - ESPN3
Sunday - 11 a.m. - ESPN+

All-time vs. Drake

• The Salukis lead the all-time series, 57-35 dating back to 1984.
• Southern is 30-23 against Drake under 22nd-year head coach Kerri Blaylock.
• Drake has won the six of the last seven meetings between the two teams.
• The Bulldogs took the first two games of their doubleheader in 2019, but Southern salvaged the series with a 1-0 win behind a gem from Brianna Jones on March 17, 2019.
• Southern's last three-game sweep of Drake: 2017.

Conference Openers

• The Salukis have won four of their last five conference openers, and seven of their last 10, dating back to 2010.
• SIU is 16-4 all-time in conference openers under head coach Kerri Blaylock. Southern won 14-straight conference openers from 1995-2008.

Approaching another milestone

• The winningest coach in program history, Kerri Blaylock is 12 wins shy of passing fellow Herrin, Ill. native Itchy Jones for the most wins by a head coach - male or female - in SIU's illustrious history.
• Blaylock's 727 career wins are second to Jones' 738 career wins.
• Blaylock won her 700th career game in a 9-0 run-rule win against Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 29.
• Blaylock joins Missouri State's Holly Hesse and Illinois State's Melinda Fischer as the only MVC coaches to win 700 games and is the fastest of the three to reach the milestone.

Head coach- Games took to reach 700 wins
Kerri Blaylock (SIU) - 1,078 career games
Melinda Fischer (Ill. St.) - 1,123 games
Holly Hesse (Missouri State) - 1,386 games

Getting it done in non-conference play

• Southern holds a .900 winning percentage (18-2) in non-conference play this season.
• With two more non-conference games on the schedule, SIU has a chance to break the school record for the best regular season non-conference winning percentage in program history. (Note: excludes MVC/NCAA Tournament games)
• Southern needs to at least split its final two non-conference games this season to break the record.
• Only three Saluki teams have finished a season with a non-conference winning percentage above .800- the 1991, 2003 and 2006 teams. All three advanced to a NCAA Regional.
• In fact, of the 10 times that the Salukis have finished a regular season with a .739 non-conference winning percentage or better, they have advanced to postseason play in eight of those seasons.
• The 2020 team posted a .761 non-conference winning percentage only to see the remainder of the season cancelled due to COVID-19.
• The 1993 team (.760) missed out the NCAA Tournament but did advance to the NIC Tournament, where they went 2-1.
• The 2009 team (.782) has the highest non-conference winning percentage for a Saluki team that didn't advance to the postseason.

Best start through 20 games

• Southern's 18-2 record is its best through the first 20 games of a season in program history.
• The 2021 team beat the previous 20 game best of 17-3, set by the 1991, 2006 and 2007 teams. All three went on to play in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Salukis have had a winning record through 20 games in 40 of 45 seasons dating back to the 1977 season. The 2015 season marked the only season under Blaylock in which the Salukis were below .500, albeit barely, after 20 games. The 2015 team was 9-10-1 at the 20 game mark.

School Record Streak

• Southern's school-record 25-game win streak came to a halt on March 13 after the Salukis dropped a pair of games by a total of three runs.
• It broke the previous school record for longest win streak of 23 games, set during the 1991 season.
• The Salukis went 31-1 and 393 days between consecutive losses.
• Southern's 16-0 start, meanwhile, was its best-ever to begin a season.

More about the hot start

• Southern's program record 16-0 start to the season is all the more impressive when you consider that SIU has used a multitude of different lineups with a mix of seasoned veterans and relative newcomers.
• 11 of SIU's 19 players have played in fewer than 37 career games and Southern has, at times, started four freshmen this season.
• In fact, freshmen accounted for nearly a fourth (27-of-110) of SIU's hits and more than a fourth (25-of-89) of Southern's runs scored during its best-ever start.
• In the circle, Southern leads the MVC with a 1.66 ERA despite being comprised of three underclassmen with between 9-28 career appearances.

Streaking at Charlotte West Stadium

• Southern has won 21-straight home games dating back to the 2019 season.
• SIU's last loss at home came on May 4, 2019.
• SIU's 21-game home win streak is the third-longest in the nation. Drake's 28-game home win streak is the longest.
• The school record for longest home win streak is 43 games, set between 1990-92.

Receiving Votes

• Southern received votes in the most recent NFCA Top-25 coaches poll and in the ESPN.com/USA Today Top-25 Poll.
• The Salukis received votes in the NFCA poll for the fourth-straight week, coming in at No. 28 with 13 votes.
• SIU joins Louisiana (Sun Belt; No. 15) and UCF (AAC; No. 20) as the only non-Power 5 programs to rank in the top-30.
• Southern comes in at No. 31 in the most recent ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top-25 poll with 13 votes.

Fielding at a high level

• The Salukis are once again ranked in the Top-20 nationally for fielding percentage. Southern ranks 16th with a .981 fielding percentage.
• Southern had its errorless streak halted at 63 innings against Samford on March 14.
• The Salukis finished the 2020 season ranked 12th in NCAA DI in fielding percentage with a .977 fielding percentage. SIU's 14 errors were the fewest of any Valley team.
• It marked the third time in the last five seasons that Southern has finished in the top-15 in the nation in fielding percentage.
• SIU finished seventh in 2017 and fourth in 2019.
• Southern is the only non-Power 5 school to finish Top-15 nationally in fielding percentage in three of the last five seasons.
• The only other programs to finish Top-15 nationally in three of the last five seasons are: Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma and Washington.

Turning Two

• The Salukis have turned 14 double plays in 20 games (.70/game) this season.
• Southern ranks fifth nationally in double plays per game.
• SIU has turned more double plays already in 2021 than it did in 49 games in 2019 (12).

Taking free passes

• The Salukis lead the nation in total walks with 102.
• Southern drew a season-high 12 walks in its win over Ball State on March 12.
• SIU has drawn at least three walks in all 20 games this season.
• Not surprisingly, Southern ranks second in the Valley, and 36th nationally, with a .398 on-base percentage.

Setting the table

• Maddy Vermejan leads the Valley, and ranks 22th nationally with a .597 on-base percentage.
• Vermejan has reached base in 18 of SIU's 20 games this season. She's walked in 17 of Southern's 20 games and tallied at least one hit in 12 games this season.
• Vermejan's .472 career on-base percentage ranks second to Shaye Harre (.476) and is the highest for a right-handed hitter in program history.

Taking one for the team

• With her two hit by pitches in SIU's win over SEMO, Maddy Vermejan became the program's all-time leader in the category.
• Veremejan's 72 career hit by pitches are the most among active DI players.

At the top of their class

• Madi Eberle leads all Valley freshmen, and ranks fourth nationally amongst true freshmen, in wins (6).
• She also leads all Valley freshmen in walks allowed per seven innings (1.12).
• Bailey Caylor, meanwhile, leads all Valley freshmen with a .348 batting average.

Leading from the circle

• Southern leads the Valley in both earned run average (1.67) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.92).
• The Salukis rank 12th nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio and rank 27th in the nation in Team ERA.
• Harness ranks second in the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.40), second in strikeouts (74) and third in walks allowed per seven innings (1.04).
• SIU finished second in ERA in both 2019 and 2020. Southern last finished with an ERA under two in 2007. The 2007 season marked the final year of an 11-year stretch in which the Salukis posted a team ERA below two.

Head of the Class

SIU ranks top-2 in the Valley in a slew of statistical categories.

1st - Earned run average - 1.67
1st - Double Plays per game - .70
1st - Fielding percentage - .981
1st - Strikeout to walk ratio - 4.92
1st - Walks - 102
2nd - On-base percentage - .398
2nd - Scoring - 4.90
2nd - Shutouts - 4