Salukis head to Starkville for Bulldog Kickoff Classic

The Southern Illinois University softball team heads to Starkville, Miss. to take part in the Bulldog Kickoff Classic, hosted by Mississippi State. The Salukis are slated to take on Mississippi State, Georgia Tech and Central Arkansas during the two-day event. Southern is coming off a weekend in which it went split a quintet of games, which included a win over the College of Charleston in its season opener and an 8-0, run-rule win over Purdue Fort Wayne behind a no-hitter from Madi Eberle.

Scouting the Bulldogs

The Bulldogs opened the 2022 season by dropping three of its first four games at the Mark Campbell Invitational. Two of Mississippi State's losses came to No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 3 UCLA.
Mia Davidson, a three-time All-Region honoree, returns to lead the Bulldogs at the plate. The graduate student catcher was one of 50 players named to USA Softball's Collegiate Player of the Year Watchlist and needs one home run to move into a tie atop the SEC's all-time home run list. Davidson is 0-for-8 in two career games against the Salukis.
Aspen Wesley leads the Bulldogs in the circle, as she sports a .88 ERA in eight innings of work.

All-time vs. Mississippi State

SIU holds a 5-7 all-time record against the Bulldogs.
The Salukis last win over Mississippi State, and its last win in Starkville, came last season when SIU downed the then No. 22/24 ranked Bulldogs, 6-5 in eight innings at the The Snowman: Alex Wilcox Memorial Tournament.
Southern has won the last two meetings between the two schools.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets

• Georgia Tech is off to a 5-0 start and has outscored its opponents, 37-9, during that stretch.

The Yellow Jackets went 20-26 a year ago.
Georgia Tech ranks 14th nationally with a .385 team batting average and also ranks top-10 nationally in walks, doubles and on-base percentage.
The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish seventh out of 13 teams in the ACC's annual preseason poll.
Tricia Awald and Emma Kauf each earned spots on the Preseason All-ACC team. Awald currently ranks ninth nationally with a .667 batting average while Kauf is hitting .526 with the fourth-most hits (10) in the nation.

All-time vs. Georgia Tech

SIU leads the all-time series, 4-1 over Georgia Tech.
The Salukis have won three-straight over the Yellow Jackets, which includes the most recent meeting: a 5-1 win over No. 15 Georgia Tech at the NFCA Leadoff Classic on Feb. 25, 2005. Maria Damico hit two homers in the win, while Cassidy Scoggins threw a five-hitter.

Last win over an ACC opponent

The Salukis hold a 15-22 all-time record against current ACC foes.
SIU last faced an ACC opponent in 2019 when the Salukis took on the Louisville Cardinals at the Evanston Regional.
Southern's last win over an ACC program came on Feb. 25, 2007 - a 4-1 win over Florida State behind a three-hitter from Ashley Hamby to close out the NFCA Leadoff Classic. Southern went 4-1 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in 2007 with 3-2 wins over ACC foe North Carolina and Auburn.

Scouting the Bears

Central Arkansas went 1-4 to open the 2022 season.
The Bears lone win came over No. 14 LSU, which was the highest ranked win for Central Arkansas in program history.
Central Arkansas went 37-19 a year ago and fell in the Southland Conference title game to McNeese in its final season in the Southland. The Bears moved to the ASUN at the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
The Bears were picked to finish third in the ASUN Coaches' Preseason Poll while Mary Kate Brown and Jenna Wildeman earned spots on the Preseason All-ASUN team.

All-time vs. Bears/ASUN

This will mark the first-ever meeting between Central Arkansas and Southern Illinois.
Southern is 10-9 all-time against current ASUN schools.
The Salukis last faced an ASUN opponent on Feb. 24, 2018- a 1-0 loss to Florida Gulf Coast.
SIU's last win over a current ASUN school came in Starkville- a 5-3 win over North Florida at the Mississippi State Spring Tournament on Feb. 24, 2017.

Eberle's no-no

Madi Eberle tossed the 33rd no-hitter in program history in SIU's 8-0 run-rule win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 13.
14 of SIU's 33 all-time no-hitters have come in five inning wins.
Eberle needed just 58 pitches to blank the Mastadons. She struck out four and walked two.
Eberle is one of eight players nationally to have tossed a no-hitter so far this season. 7 of the 8 no-hitters thus far this season are of the five inning variety.

Playing our brand of softball

The Salukis are again ranked in the top-20 nationally in both fielding percentage and double plays turned.
Southern finished the 2021 season ranked top-25 nationally in both categories, which included 15th in double plays and 24th in fielding percentage.
The Salukis have finished top-25 nationally in fielding percentage in four of the last five seasons.
SIU currently ranks 15th in double plays per game (.75) and 18th in fielding percentage (.990).

Home Run in first career game

Addi Baker hit a solo home run in her first collegiate game in SIU's win over the College of Charleston on Feb. 11.
Baker became just the fourth Saluki freshman since 1980, and first since 2003, to homer in their first collegiate game.
Baker is joined by Katie Louis (2003), Maria Damico (2002) and Julie Meier (1998) as the only Saluki freshmen to go yard in their first collegiate game.
The North Manchester, Ind. native went deep in her second career plate appearance- only Meier did so in faster fashion, as she homered in her first collegiate at-bat in SIU's extra-inning win over Tennessee on Feb. 20, 1998. Louis homered in her second career at-bat while Damico did so in her fourth career AB.

Dawg Debuts

• Emma Anthony, Emma Austin, Addi Baker, Reagan McGahey, Alexis Rudd and Chloe Scroggins all made their debuts during opening weekend.

Anthony went 1-for-1 with a walk and a RBI in SIU's win over College of Charleston on Feb. 11. Baker, meanwhile, socked her first career home run in the win over Charleston.
Austin recorded a stolen base in the season-opening win over Charleston and later recorded her first career start and at-bat against Troy in the nightcap.
McGahey entered two games as a pinch runner and stole her first career bag in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 12. Rudd recorded her first career at-bat in the win over the Mastadons. Scorggins entered as a courtesy runner in all four of SIU's games last weekend and scored her first career run in the win over Charleston.

Records Watch

Jenny Jansen came into the 2022 season with her sights set on a slew of all-time school records, including most hits and most runs batted in.
Jansen is seven hits shy of becoming just the sixth player in program history to reach the 200-career hit plateau. She is 31 hits shy of breaking Jen Feldmeier's school record of 223 career hits.
She is just 13 RBI shy of breaking Shaye Harre's school record of 155. She currently sits in fourth all-time, needing four RBI to pass Katelyn Massa for third. Jansen, who currently ranks 13th in MVC history in the category can crack the top-10 in conference history with three more runs batted in.
The Warrenton, Mo. native ranks third in school history with 42 career doubles. She need six to move into second all-time, and eight to break Shaye Harre's record of 49, set in 2017.
Jansen's two-run home run against Troy on Feb. 12, the 27th of her career, moved her into a tie with Sydney Jones for seventh on SIU's all-time home run list. With four more home runs she can crack the top-five in school history. Jansen would need a historic power surge to break Katie Jordan's all-time home run record of 39. The Preseason All-MVC selection came into the season needing 14 home runs to break Jordan's all-time mark, which, if accomplished, would tie SIU's single-season home run record.
Jansen needs to score just three more runs to crack the top-10 in school history.

Where she ranks amongst active DI players:

At bats (572): 20th

Runs scored (111): 50th

Hits (193): 21st

Doubles (42): 20th

RBI (143): 14th

Walks (70): 39th

Total Bases (318): 24th

Career Day at the dish

Sidney Sikes went 2-for-2 with two doubles and 2 RBI in SIU's 8-2 win over the College of Charleston.
Sikes set or tied her career bests in hits (2), doubles (2), RBI (2) in the win. It also marked the fourth multi-hit game of her career.
Sikes has reached base safely in all four of SIU's games this season.
The Kaufman, Texas native ranks third nationally in hit by pitches per game (.75) and her two hit by pitches against Troy on Feb. 11 are tied for the third-most in the nation this season.
Sikes' 28 career hit by pitches are the third-most in program history and rank her 23rd among active DI players.

Welcome back

Ashley Wood slashed .400/.500/.500 on opening weekend at the Troy Classic.
Wood, who missed the last 37 games of the 2021 season due to injury, wasted little time getting back to the form that saw her earn 2019 MVC Newcomer of the Year honors.
The Orland Park, Ill. native tallied four hits, three walks, 2 RBI and a run scored over the weekend.
She reached base safely in all four of SIU's games, which included at least one hit in three of four games.
Wood went 1-for-3 with a RBI and a walk in SIU's win over Charleston and followed with a 2-for-3 day at the dish in Southern's run-rule win over Purdue Fort Wayne.

Off to a good start

Tori Schullian got off her 2022 season off to a good start, as she went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and a home run in three games.
Schullian reached base in all three games she appeared in and hit her second career home run in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 12.
The Herrin, Ill. native went 2-for-3 with a home run in the victory over Purdue Fort Wayne- which marked the second career multi-hit game of her career.

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Players Mentioned

Emma Anthony

Emma Austin

Addi Baker

Madi Eberle

Jenny Jansen

Katelyn Massa

Reagan McGahey

Alexis Rudd

Tori Schullian

Chloe Scroggins

Sidney Sikes

Ashley Wood

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