Southeast Missouri (7-9) at Southern Illinois (17-2)
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2021
First Pitch: 3 p.m., CT
Location: Carbondale, Ill.
Facility: Charlotte West Stadium (502)
Series: SIU leads, 70-23-1
Head Coaches: Mark Redburn (370-388 overall; 156-139 at SEMO. Kerri Blaylock (725-393-1 overall; 725-393-1 at SIU).
Live Stats: SIUSalukis.com
Missouri State (8-8) vs. Southeast Missouri (7-9)
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2021
First Pitch: 3 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Facility: Southeast Softball Complex (600)
Series: MSU leads, 28-9
Head Coaches: Mark Redburn (370-388 overall; 156-139 at SEMO. Holly Hesse (826-808-2 overall; 826-808-2 at SIU).
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoSoutheast.com
Southeast Missouri faces a pair of Missouri Valley Conference opponents in its first midweek games of the season this week. The Redhawks cross the Mississippi River to face longtime rival Southern Illinois Tuesday and host Missouri State Wednesday. First pitch of both games is 3 p.m., CT.
SEMO is on a four-game winning streak and has posted victories in five of its last six contests. The Redhawks opened Ohio Valley Conference play with back-to-back series wins over Austin Peay (2-1) on Mar. 5-6 and Tennessee Tech (3-0) on Mar. 12-13. SEMO (5-1) is tied for first with Eastern Illinois (5-1) at the top of the OVC standings.
The Redhawks recently completed their first series sweep of the season when it beat Tennessee Tech by scores of 7-0, 4-1 and 8-4 in Cookeville.
Rachel Anderson leads SEMO in batting average (.409), hits (18), on-base percentage (.527) and walks (9) through 16 starts this year.
Kaylee Anderson follows with a .362 batting average and ranks first on the team in runs (13), home runs (6) and RBI (10). First baseman
Ashley Ellis is coming off a nice series against TTU which saw her hit .300 with three home runs, a 1.200 slugging percentage and seven RBI.
Pitching wise,
Paytience Holman tossed a complete game two-hit shutout to claim her first win of the season against the Golden Eagles on Mar. 12.
Marisa Davis added five scoreless no-hit innings and picked up a save in two relief appearances at TTU.
SEMO is tied for second in the OVC in home runs (15) and has been hit by pitch a league-high 14 times.
After winning its last nine games of a shortened 2020 campaign (due to COVID), SIU opened the season with wins in each of its first 16 contests. The Salukis 25-game winning streak, however, ended with a 2-0 loss to former OVC member Samford on Mar. 13.
Bailey Caylor and Maddie Vermejan are hitting .349 and .341, respectively for the Salukis. SIU leads the MVC in earned run average (1.66), innings pitched (135.1), wins (17), fewest earned runs allowed (32), fewest walks allowed (24) and batters struck out looking (26).
Missouri State has dropped four of its last five games and is led by Daphne Plummer. Plummer is hitting .333 with nine runs scored, two RBI and is perfect in stolen bases at 9-of-9. The Bears lead the MVC with five triples.
Veteran Head Coaches Kerri Blaylock (725 wins at SIU) and Holly Hesse (826 wins at Missouri State) have combined for a total of 1,551 victories in their careers. Tuesday marks the 95th meeting between SEMO and SIU and Wednesday will be the 38th matchup involving the Redhawks and Bears.
