Southern Illinois University
University of Evansville
Salukis travel to Evansville for final Valley road series of 2022 season
04/29/2022 | 1:38:00 | Softball
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All-time vs. the Purple Aces
The Salukis and the Purple Aces will meet for the 97th time Saturday with SIU holding a commanding 70-29 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1986.
SIU has won 10 of the last 11 meetings over Evansville.
The Salukis are 44-11 at home against the Purple Aces which includes a 26-8 record at Charlotte West Stadium.
The Aces' last series win came in 2016, when it won two of the three one-run games between the two squads in Evansville.
Since the MVC went to three-game series in 2001, Southern has only lost four series (2002, 2003, 2013, 2016) to the Aces.
Dont run on Sid
Sidney Sikes has thrown out 15 would-be base stealers this season, which is the most in the MVC.
Not only is it the most in the Valley this season, it ranks her sixth nationally in the category.
Sikes' 15 runners caught stealing are the third-most in a single-season in program history and are the most in a season since Adie Vadeboncouer threw out a single-season program record 18 would-be base stealers during the 2013 season.
Southern has allowed just 26 stolen bases this season, which is the second-fewest in the Valley.
Walk this way
SIU leads the Valley, and ranks ninth nationally, with 181 total walks.
Nine Salukis have already drawn double-digit free passes this season, led by Jenny Jansen's conference-leading 30 walks.
Jenny Jansen drew her 30th walk this season in SIU's series win over Indiana State. In doing so, she joined Katie Jordan (2004-05), Shaye Harre (2016-17) and Jayna Spivey (2013-14) as the only Salukis to record 30-plus walks in back-to-back seasons.
Jansen's 30th walk of the 2022 season also happened to be the 100th walk of her career. She became just the sixth player in program history to reach the century mark in base on balls.
Ashley Wood ranks third in the Valley with 27 walks and Southern has a total of three ranked in the top-five of the conference in walks drawn per game: Jansen (2nd; .73), Wood (3rd; .66) and Elisabeth Huckleberry (4th; .59).
Southern has led the league in walks in seven of interim head coach Jen Sewell's 13 full seasons on staff and SIU has finished top-4 in the category 10 times during that time period.
Double-Digit Hits
SIU has tallied double-digit hits in 15 games this season, which includes a season-high 16 in an 11-3 win over Northern Illinois on Feb. 26.
Southern holds a 12-2-1 record this season in games in which it tallied 10 or more base hits.
Weekly honors
Sarah Harness earned her first MVC Pitcher of the Week honor this season while Emma Austin was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week for the first time in her career.
Harness went 2-0 with a 0.70 earned run average in 20 innings of work last week. The 2022 Preseason All-MVC selection allowed just two earned runs in her four appearances. She surrendered 17 hits, of which just three went for extra bases, and struck out 13.
Austin, meanwhile, slashed .533/.667/.533 in SIU's four games last week. The freshman outfielder tallied a triple, four runs, four RBI and two stolen bases. She tallied at least one hit in all four games, which included three multi-hit games.
For Harness, it marks her eighth MVC Pitcher of the Week honor of her career while Austin was named MVC Newcomer of the Week for the first time.
Still doing new things
Jenny Jansen has reached base in 30-straight games, which is the longest streak of her career and the longest by a Saluki since at least 2003.
The Warrenton, Mo. native, who had a 22-game reached base streak during the 2021 season, joins Alicia Garza and Mallory Duran-Sellers as the only Salukis with multiple 20-game reached base steaks since 2003.
Jansen currently leads the MVC in on-base percentage (.500), RBI (39) and walks (32). She also ranks in the top-10 in batting average (3rd; .374), OPS (6th; 1.065), slugging percentage (10th; .565), hits (2nd; 49) and home runs (7th; 7).
Our workhorse
Sarah Harness currently leads the MVC, and ranks 11th nationally, in innings pitched (173.0). She is also third in the league in strikeouts (142) and fourth in wins (13).
Last season, Harness led the Valley in innings pitched (187.1) and finished second in both wins (22) and strikeouts (203).
Harness 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 to Evansville's Izzy Vetter with 83 strikeouts.
Harness became the 10th pitcher in program history to reach the 400 career innings pitched milestone in the win over Valparaiso on April 11.
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.
Woody's big day
Ashley Wood went 3-for-4 with a double and two home runs in SIU's 12-2 win over Valparaiso on April 11.
The Orland Park, Ill. native became the second Saluki this season to tie the school record for home runs in a game. Elizabeth Warwick also accomplished the feat on March 26 against Loyola.
It marked the 45th time that a Saluki has hit two home runs in a game and Southern improved to 44-0 in games in which at least one player hits two home runs.
Wood, who also hit two home runs against St. Louis as a freshman on March 2, 2019, became just the 12th player in program history to homer twice in multiple games during their career.
The 2019 MVC Freshman of the Year has tied her career-high for hits in a game (3) twice in her last four games. She went 3-for-4 against Bradley on April 16.
Wood ranks in the top-10 of the Valley in on-base percentage (5th: .451), runs scored (8th; 29), hits (10th; 43), doubles (6th; 10) and walks (3rd; 27).
All out for her senior year
Sidney Sikes is leaving everything out on the field in her senior season as a Saluki.
Sikes' has 26 RBI in 41 games this season, which is seven more than she had in her previous 107 career games coming into the 2022 season.
She also has more extra base hits this season (7) than she had in her first three seasons combined (5) and has more hits in 41 games this season (23) as she had in 51 games (21) in 2021.
Sikes' 20-game reached base safely streak came to an end against Missouri State on April 27.
Sikes has reached base safely in 35 of the 41 games she has played in this season.
Sikes was plunked by her 20th pitch this season against Indiana State on April 23, which is the fifth-most in a single-season in school history.
The senior from Kaufman, Texas currently leads the Valley, and the nation, in hit by pitches per game (.53/game).
Sikes' 45 career hit by pitches are the third-most in school history.
Rylie Rakes
Rylie Hamilton currently ranks second in the Valley in hits (50) and is eighth in batting average (.350).
In four of the last six seasons, the player to lead the Valley in batting average also led the league in hits. Macy Johnson (Drake) was the most recent to accomplish the feat in 2021.
Dawn Daenzer was the last Saluki to lead the Valley in batting average when she hit .432 during the 1995 season. Morgan Barchan, meanwhile, is the only Saluki to lead the MVC in hits when she tied for the lead league with 62 base knocks during the 2013 season.
Hamilton has a proven knack for hitting in bunches, as she has a team-high 17 multi-hit games.
Walk it out
Southern has drawn double-digit walks in four games this season.
SIU drew a season-high 13 walks in its win over Drake on April 2. Eight days later in a 10-4 win over Valparaiso, Southern again drew 13 free passes.
Southern's 13 walks in a single game are the most in a game in the MVC this season and are tied for the 11th-most in a NCAA DI game this season.
Not only was it a season-high it was the most walks drawn by the Salukis since at least 2003.
SIU's 13 walks are the most by a Valley school since Missouri State drew 14 against Evansville on April 19, 2019.
Southern is the only program nationally to post three games with 11 or more walks.
Top of the Class
Southern currently leads the Valley in a slew of statistical categories including:
Batting average (.287)
Double plays per game (.41)
On-Base percentage (.399)
Scoring (5.76)
Walks (181)
