CHICAGO (April 18, 2019) – The Loyola Chicago softball team is back to Missouri Valley Conference play, and briefly returns home for a three game series with the red hot Southern Illinois Salukis. To accommodate for the holiday weekend, the teams will begin the set with one game on Friday (April 19) and finish up with a doubleheader the next day. First pitch for the Friday contest is thrown at 2 p.m., while the Saturday matinee doubleheader gets started at 11 a.m.
 
Last Time Out: Allyson Ivey tallied her 44th and 45th RBIs of the season to set a new program record in a doubleheader loss to Northern Illinois. The runs driven in surpassed Becky Marx's record of 44 set back in 2004. The five-hit, two-RBI doubleheader performance elevated Ivey's batting average to .446 on the season. With 11 regular season games left, Erica Nagel's program record of .453 back in 2016 is within reach for Loyola's current first baseman.
 
A Look at the Salukis: Southern Illinois, picked to finish second in the MVC, has collected victories in 11 of its first 15 conference games in 2019. The team is fresh off a 9-3 victory over Southeast Missouri State where Brianna Jones passed Amy Harre to become SIU's all-time career wins leader. The righty is having a nice season, holding an 18-6 record with a 1.90 ERA in 136.0 innings pitched. At the plate, Jenny Jansen leads the charge with a .371/.427/.586 slash line, and is tied for the team lead with 68 total bases. The victory over SEMO propelled SIU to 23-4 on the season when scoring first, and is now 15-0 when scoring six or more runs in a ball game.
 
Series Stuff: Historically, the Salukis hold the upper hand in the head-to-head series with a 13-4 lead. The last time the two programs battled at Loyola Softball Park, the Ramblers took two of three in that series. Shannon McGee had three hits in the middle game of that three game series back in 2017, and laced an RBI-single to the opposite field that would tie the score in what would end up being a one-run ballgame. In her career against Southern Illinois, Kiley Jones holds a 2.10 ERA over the course of five appearances.
 
Up Next: The Ramblers go on a four-game road stretch that beings in Valparaiso, Indiana. The one game with the Crusaders is set for 3 p.m. on April 24.
 
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