Salukis travel to Indiana State for three-game set

The Southern Illinois University softball team will head to Terre Haute, Ind. to take on the Indiana State Sycamores in a three-game series beginning Saturday, April 24. The weekend schedule has shifted due to rain in the forecast. Southern and Indiana State will now play one game at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, followed by a doubleheader at Noon (ET) on Sunday.

All-Time vs. Indiana State

• The Salukis lead the all-time series over the Sycamores, 76-28 in a series that dates back to 1976.

• Southern swept the series at Indiana State in 2019 for its first sweep of the Sycamores since 2011. The Salukis outscored the Trees, 20-5 in the three-game sweep and hit at a healthy .363 clip in the three-game set.

• In games played in Terre Haute, Southern is 30-12 all-time.

• Prior to 2019, the two teams had very little luck as of late getting games in when the series is in Terre Haute. In 2017 and 2015, the two teams only got to play twice and in 2013 the entire series was washed away.

• Southern has swept the last two three game series (2019, 2011) that the two teams have played in Terre Haute.

RPI Report

•Southern comes into the weekend with the highest RPI (39) in the Missouri Valley Conference.

• Illinois State (No. 47), UNI (No. 71) and Missouri State (No. 86) also have top-100 RPIs.

30-win season on the horizon

• The Salukis have won 30-plus games in 17 of Kerri Blaylock's 21 full seasons as head coach- the most 30-plus win seasons in the MVC during that time period.

• Since 1983, SIU has tallied 25 30-plus win seasons- which is also the most in the Valley.

Swiping Freebies

•Maddy Vermejan's 24 stolen bases are more than double her highest season total in her four seasons previously and she has more stolen bases in 39 games this season then she did in her previous 69 games (2019-20).

•It is the most stolen bases by a Saluki in a single-season since Jami Kloss stole 25 bags in 1996 and are tied for the third-most in a single-season in school history.

•Vermejan is just the eighth player in program history to steal 20-plus bases in a single-season.

•She needs two stolen bases to break Cheryl Venorsky's 1992 school record of 25.

•She is just the fifth player in program history, and the first in 25 years, with 50 career steals. She needs nine more stolen bases to break Jami Koss' school record of 63, set in 1996.

Hitting bombs

• Katelyn Massa became just the sixth player in program history with 30-plus career home runs when she socked a two-run bomb in SIU's 4-1 win over Evansville on April 11.

• Massa is also just the 23rd player in Missouri Valley Conference history to hit 30-plus round trippers in a career.

• Jenny Jansen has six home runs this season and 23 for her career- the eighth-most in program history.

Historic Run Producers

• Katelyn Massa's 140 career RBIs are the third-most in program history and are 16 shy of breaking Shaye Harre's 2017 career RBI record of 155.

• Massa's 140 RBIs are tied for the 10th-most in Missouri Valley Conference history. She needs 11 RBIs to crack the top-5 in conference history.

• Jenny Jansen ranks eighth in school history and 18th in MVC history, with 126 career RBIs. She's six shy of cracking the Top-15 in conference history.

Picking up Weekly honors

• Sarah Harness has earned four MVC Pitcher of the Week honors this season, which are the most in a single-season by a Saluki pitcher since Amy Harre racked up four in 2005.

• Bailey Caylor's MVC Newcomer of the Week honor two weeks ago marked the seventh time this season that SIU has taken home a MVC weekly honor- which are the most for the Salukis since 2016.

Weekly Honors

Feb. 22 - Maddy Vermejan, Player of the Week

March 1 - Sarah Harness, MVC Pitcher of the Week

March 9 - Sarah Harness, MVC Pitcher of the Week

March 22 - Elizabeth Warwick, MVC Newcomer of the Week

April 5 - Sarah Harness, MVC Pitcher of the Week

April 12 - Sarah Harness, MVC Pitcher of the Week

April 12 - Bailey Caylor, MVC Newcomer of the Week

Moved into second

• Maddy Vermejan is two runs shy of breaking Mallory Duran-Sellers career runs record of 162, set in 2012.

• Her 161 runs scored are the 30th-most among active DI players and the second-most in school history.

• Vermejan's 45 runs scored this season are tied for the fifth-most in a single-season in program history and are the most in a season since 2019, when she scored the fourth-most runs in a single season (46) in program history.

• The school record for runs scored in a single-season is 61, set by Mallory Duran-Sellers in 2012.

• Vermejan ranks 16th nationally with a 1.16 runs scored per game average.

SIU's all-time runs scored leaders

162 - Mallory Duran-Sellers (2009-12)

161 - Maddy Vermejan (2017-pres.)

159 - Colleen Holloway (1990-93)

Finding a way

• Jenny Jansen has reached base safely in 21-straight games, which is the longest streak by a Saluki since Taylor Orsburn reached base in 23-straight games in 2013.

•Bailey Caylor and Katelyn Massa both have reached base safely in 10-straight games.

Everyone gets a turn

• Southern has showcased its depth all season, as 18 of SIU's 19 players have started at least one game this season and all 16 hitters have recorded at least one at-bat.

• Elizabeth Warwick is the only player this season to hit in all nine spots of SIU's batting order.

Double-digit hits

• Southern pounded out a season-high 11 hits at Illinois State on April 11.

• Six different Salukis tallied at least one hit against the Redbirds, which included four with multiple base knocks.

• It marked the second time in the conference play this season that Southern has recorded double-digit hits.

Approaching another milestone

• The winningest coach in program history, Kerri Blaylock is two 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 737 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

Century Mark for Walks

• Katelyn Massa and Maddy Vermejan became the fourth and fifth players in school history to reach the 100-walk plateau in SIU's series sweep of Bradley.

• Massa ranks 17th among active DI players while Vermejan ranks 25th.

• Shaye Harre has the most walks (152) all-time by a Saluki.

Best start to a season

• Southern got off to a 16-0 start- its best start to a season in program history. (previous best: 12-0; 1991).

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.

Fielding at a high level

• The Salukis are once again ranked in the Top-25 nationally for fielding percentage. Southern ranks 20th with a .977 fielding percentage.

• 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 17 double plays in 39 games (.48/game) this season.

• Southern ranks 29th nationally in twin-killings per game.

• SIU has turned more double plays in 2021 than it did in 49 games in 2019 (12).

Taking free passes

• The Salukis lead the nation in total walks with 184 (4.8/game).

• Southern drew a season-high 12 walks in its win over Ball State on March 12 and again drew double-digit walks against Drake on March 20.

• Not surprisingly, Southern leads the Valley, and ranks 30th nationally, with a .387 on-base percentage.

An on-base machine

• Maddy Vermejan ranks second in the Valley, and ranks 7th nationally, with a .593 on-base percentage.

• Vermejan has reached base in 35 of SIU's 39 games this season. She's walked in 31 of Southern's 39 games and tallied at least one hit in 24 games this season.

• Vermejan's current .483 career on-base percentage would break Shaye Harre's school record on-base percentage of .476 and her .593 on-base percentage is more than 60 points higher than Shaye Harre's 2017 single-season record of .527.

Taking one for the team

• Vermejan currently leads the nation in hit by pitches per game (.66).

• Vermejan has been hit by a pitch in 18 games this season - which includes seven games in which she was plunked multiple times.

• The program's all-time leader in career hit by pitches (82), Vermejan also leads all active DI players in the category.

•Vermejan is also four hit by pitches shy of breaking the Allie Vadeboncouer's single-season record of 28, set in 2012.

Leading from the circle

• Southern leads the Valley in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.63) and is second in ERA (2.07).

• The Salukis rank 23rd nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio and rank 29th in the nation in Team ERA.

• Sarah Harness leads the Valley in wins (15) and walks allowed per seven innings (1.33). She ranks second in the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.70), ERA (1.61), strikeouts (147) and saves (2).

• 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.

Getting it done in non-conference play

• Southern holds an .857 winning percentage (18-3) in non-conference play this season.

• With one 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)

• 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.

A hole in the middle

• The Salukis were 15-0 this season with Ashley Wood at shortstop. Wood will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

• Jenna Christeson (1 game) and Jenny Jansen (23 games) have both started at short in Wood's absence.

• Southern has gone 14-10 without the 2019 MVC Freshman of the Year, who was hitting .317 with a .451 on-base percentage at the time of her injury.

Leading the Pack

SIU ranks either first or second in the Valley in a slew of statistical categories.

1st - Double Plays per game - .45

1st - Fielding percentage - .977

1st - On-Base Percentage - .397

1st - Strikeout to walk ratio - 3.63

1st - Walks - 184

2nd - Earned run average - 2.07

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Players Mentioned

Bailey Caylor

Jenna Christeson

Sarah Harness

Jenny Jansen

Katelyn Massa

Maddy Vermejan

Elizabeth Warwick

Ashley Wood

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