Southeast Missouri (10-10) at Saint Louis (5-12)
Game Information
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2021
First Pitch: 3 p.m., CT
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Facility: Billiken Sports Center
Series History: SEMO leads, 72-28
Last Meeting: SEMO 3, SLU 1 (May 1, 2019 | St. Louis, Mo.)
Head Coaches: Mark Redburn (373-389 overall; 159-140 at SEMO; 70-56 OVC). Christy Connoyer (287-287 overall; 256-257 at SLU).
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: SLUBillikens.com
Twitter: @SEMOsoftball
Redhawks Head to Saint Louis
Southeast Missouri (10-10) travels to Saint Louis (5-12) for its second midweek matchup of the season Wednesday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m., CT at the Billiken Sports Center.
Follow the Redhawks
Fans can watch Wednesday's game live on ESPN+. Live stats will be available online at SLUBillikens.com. Twitter updates provided @SEMOsoftball.
Series History
Wednesday marks the 101st meeting between Southeast Missouri and Saint Louis. SEMO leads the all-time series, 72-28, and has won each of its last four games against the Billikens. The Redhawks and Billkens play a home-and-home series this season with the other contest scheduled for Apr. 14 in Cape Girardeau.
Red-Hot Redhawks
The Redhawks are on a three-game winning streak and have heated up to win seven of their last eight contests. Southeast Missouri is coming off its second-straight series sweep after taking three games on the road at Belmont (Mar. 20-21). SEMO is currently first in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with an overall record of 10-10 and 8-1 in league play. The Redhawks have won seven in a row against league foes and are on the longest winning streak in conference games. SEMO's 8-1 OVC start is its best with Mark Redburn at the helm.
Good Month
Southeast Missouri is 8-2 in March with five games remaining this month. SEMO's best March record under Head Coach Mark Redburn stands at 16-2 in 2019. In the last four years, the Redhawks went a combined 39-14 in March.
Dreiling on Eight-Game Hitting Streak
Freshman Katie Dreiling extended her hitting streak to eight games when she hit .643 with three runs scored, a double, two home runs and three RBI last week. Dreiling registered multiple-hits in three of her four starts. She went 6-for-7 with three runs scored, a double, two home runs and three RBI in Southeast Missouri's doubleheader sweep of Belmont (Mar. 20). Dreiling homered in each of her first two at-bats in game two of the twin bill. She also turned in a 1.143 slugging percentage and .643 on-base percentage for the week. Dreiling increased her batting average by 99 points, from .333 to a team-high .432 over her big four-game stretch.
Rook Wins OVC Pitcher of the Week
Junior Rachel Rook was unanimously voted Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 22. A native of Republic, Missouri, Rook went 2-0 with a complete game shutout and recorded 24 strikeouts in 13 scoreless innings over three appearances and two starts last week. She held opponents to a staggering .049 batting average. Rook recorded a season-high 13 strikeouts and allowed her only two hits in a seven-inning shutout against Belmont (Mar. 20). A day later, she threw four no-hit innings with six strikeouts to lead SEMO to its second-straight series sweep. Rook leads the league with seven wins and ranks second with 67 strikeouts. The OVC Pitcher of the Week honor is the third of her career.
Anderson Eyes Total Bases Record
Rachel Anderson, who already broke Southeast Missouri's career records in hits (249), walks (96) and RBI (139) this season, needs just four more total bases to claim a new program record in that category. Anderson has a total of 420 total bases and ranks behind Michelle Summers who accumulated 423 from 2005-08.
One More is 250
One hit against Saint Louis will mark the 250th career hit for Rachel Anderson. Anderson is Southeast Missouri's all-time career hits leader with 249.
Extra Base Hits
The Redhawks notched a total of 16 extra base hits in four games last week. Southeast Missouri hit 12 doubles, a triple and three home runs. It was the most extra base hits SEMO accumulated in a four-game stretch since it had 22 (14 doubles, 1 triple, 7 home runs) between its doubleheaders with Eastern Kentucky and SIU Edwardsville in 2019.
About Saint Louis
Saint Louis enters the week at 5-12 overall and has dropped four-straight games. The Billikens lost all of those matchups at home with a 5-4 setback to Missouri State before they were swept in three games by Iowa State. Sadie Wise is one of three players hitting over .300 for SLU. Wise tops the Billikens hitting .333 with a team-high 19 hits, six doubles and 12 RBI. Kat Lane (.316), Kayla Swiderski (.314) and Alyssa Chavez (.309) are SLU's other players hitting over .300.
