Salukis travel to Drake for three-game series

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University softball team heads to Des Moines, Iowa for the first time since 2016 to take on the Drake Bulldogs in a three-game series. The Salukis took three of four last year from the Bulldogs a year ago, which included a 3-0 win over Drake in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals. Southern is coming off a sweep of Loyola in which it outscored the Ramblers, 18-4 for its first MVC series win of the season. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, have lost three of their last four, which included a pair of losses to Evansville to open MVC play. All three games will be streamed on ESPN3.

All-time vs. the Bulldogs

The Salukis lead the all-time series, 60-36 dating back to 1984.
Southern won three of the four games that the two teams played last season, which included a 3-0 win over the Bulldogs to advance to the MVC Tournament semifinals.
SIU's last three-game sweep of Drake came in Carbondale during the 2017 season.
The Bulldogs swept the Salukis at home in 2016, which was also the last time that the two teams met in Des Moines.
Southern holds a 20-10 all-time record at Drake.

Series Sweep

The Salukis swept the Loyola Ramblers last weekend for their first conference series win of the season.
Southern outscored the Ramblers, 18-4 in the sweep and have now won six-straight over the Ramblers.
SIU slugged out 27 hits in the series and nine different Salukis recorded at least one hit.

Next hit is a record

Jenny Jansen tied her career-high with four hits in SIU's 6-2 win over Loyola Sunday to complete the three-game sweep of the Ramblers.
In doing so, Jansen moved into a tie with Jen Feldmeier for the most career hits in program history with 223.
Her 223 career hits are tied with Feldmeier for the 15th-most in MVC history.
She is one of only six players in program history to reach the 200-career hit plateau.

Tied the school record

Elizabeth Warwick crushed a pair of home runs in SIU's 8-1 win over Loyola on March 26.
The Chattanooga, Tenn. native tied the school record for home runs in a single game.
It marked the 44th time that a Saluki has hit two home runs in a game and Southern improved to 43-0 in games in which at least one player hits two home runs.

Hamilton hits in bunches

Rylie Hamilton recorded multiple hits in all three of SIU's wins over Loyola.
The sophomore third baseman has proven that she has a knack for hitting in bunches, as she has now recorded multiple base knocks in 13 of the 25 games in which she has played in this season.
The Cabot, Ark. native currently leads the Valley in hits (36) and batting average (.400).

New RBI Queen

Earlier this season, Jenny Jansen broke Shaye Harre's school record for most career RBI.
The Preseason All-MVC selection became Southern's all-time leader with a three-run single against UNI on March 19.
She currently leads the Valley with 27 RBI on the season.
Jansen, who's 163 career RBI rank her fourth in Valley history, will need a herculean effort to break the conference record for career RBI. She's currently 29 RBIs shy of Illinois State's Jordan de los Reyes MVC record of 191.

On-base machine

Ashley Wood is currently fifth in the Valley in on-base percentage (.464).
Wood's streak of 22-straight games in which she reached base at least once came to an end on March 20. Her 22-game reached base streak is just the 10th streak of 20-plus games or more by a Saluki since 2003.
She has reached base safely at least once in 25 of Southern's 26 games this season and with her .407 lifetime on-base percentage is currently one of 15 players in school history with a .400 or better career on-base percentage.

She's a Workhorse

Sarah Harness currently leads the MVC in innings pitched (101) and is second in the league in strikeouts (90).
Last season, Harness led the Valley in innings pitched (187.1) and finished second in both wins (22) and strikeouts (203).
Harness has led the league in innings pitched and finished second in strikeouts in each of her two previous seasons, which included the COVID-shortened 2020 season in which she led the Valley with 90.2 innings pitched and was second Evansville's Izzy Vetter with 83 strikeouts.
Her 365.1 career innings pitched rank 14th in school history and with 24.2 more innings pitched this season, can crack the top-10.
Harness struck out a career-high 15 batters in SIU's win over Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 25, 2022. It was the most strikeouts in a game by a Saluki since Bri Jones struck out 20 in a 16 inning win over Evansville on April 28, 2018.

30-Plus Bombs

Jenny Jansen crushed her 31st career home run on March 19 against UNI.
Jansen is just the seventh player in program history to reach the 30 career home run milestone and her 31st bomb moved her into a tie with Katelyn Massa for the fifth-most in school history.
Katie Jordan holds the school record for most career home runs with 39.

Finding a way

Sidney Sikes continues to find a way to get on-base for the Salukis, and has reached base safely in 21 of the 26 games she has played in this season.
Sikes has been hit by a pitch in 11 games this season, which included three times in SIU's series sweep of Loyola last weekend.
The senior from Kaufman, Texas currently leads the nation and the Valley in hit by pitches per game (.50/game).
Sikes' 38 career hit by pitches are the third-most in school history.
Sikes has been on a roll as of late. She has reached base safely in six-straight games, which included a career-high three hits in SIU's 8-2 win over Loyola on March 27, 2022.

Back in the swing of things

Bailey Caylor has returned to the form that saw her earn 2021 All-MVC honors as a freshman.
After going just 1-for-11 at the plate in her first six games of the 2022 season, Caylor now has reached base safely in six of her last seven games, which includes a hit in five of her last seven.

Breakout season underway

Aubree DePron is in the midst of a breakout season at the plate.
She's already set or tied career-highs for hits in a season (22), doubles (2), home runs (1), RBI (8), walks (8) and stolen bases (7). Her eight walks through 26 games this season are more than she had in the 60 career games (5) she played in prior to the start of this season.
The Blanchard, Okla. native's career-high nine-game hit streak came to an end in game two of SIU's March 19 doubleheader against UNI.

Swinging a hot bat

Elisabeth Huckleberry has tied her career-best for hits in a game, three, twice already this season.
Huckleberry has reached base safely at least once in 17 of the 21 games she has played in this season.
The sophomore infielder has a RBI in three of her last six games.

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Players Mentioned

Bailey Caylor

Aubree DePron

Rylie Hamilton

Sarah Harness

Elisabeth Huckleberry

Jenny Jansen

Katelyn Massa

Sidney Sikes

Elizabeth Warwick

Ashley Wood

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