Jayhawks Host SIUE for Midweek Match Up

LAWRENCE, Kan. – After an eight-game road stint the Jayhawks return home for a midweek match-up against SIU-Edwardsville. The contest will take place Wednesday, April 22 at 1 p.m., in Arrocha Ballpark at Rock Chalk Park. The game will be broadcast on the Jayhawk Television Network/ESPN3 along with the Jayhawk Radio Network. 
 
FOLLOWING THE JAYHAWKS
Listen to every pitch, home and away, all season long as part of the Jayhawk Radio Network, in partnership with KJHK, the University of Kansas’ student radio station. For the first time ever, all of KU’s contests will be carried live, for free, at KUAthletics.com/radio or by clicking the links on the online schedule. Fans can also get in-game updates via twitter by following @KUsoftball.
 
LEADING OFF FOR KANSAS
• Head coach Megan Smith recorded her 300th career win after the Jayhawks defeated Georgia State, 5-4, on March 22. During the Oklahoma State series, the Jayhawks recorded their 30th win of the year, marking the fifth-straight season that Smith has guided Kansas to the 30-win plateau.
• Senior utility Maddie Stein became the all-time RBI leader in Kansas softball history on March 22 after recording her 141st career RBI with a home run to left field.
• Senior hurler Alicia Pille has been making her mark in the circle all season. Her latest feat was reaching 20 wins in a single season, making her the first Jayhawk to do so since 2001. Only 15 previous Jayhawks have reached the milestone.
• The Jayhawks’ red-hot start to the 2015 campaign put Kansas on the national radar earlier in the season. It marks the first time since the 2011 season that the Jayhawks had been nationally-ranked. KU found themselves in the Top-25 for seven consecutive weeks, reaching as high as No. 22. While the Jayhawks aren’t currently ranked, they are receiving multiple votes in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate polls.
• Seven members of the Jayhawk starting lineup are hitting above .300 in 2015 and contributing to KU’s .337 batting average, which is the second-best team average in the Big 12 Conference. Junior Chaley Brickey is hitting over .400, posting a .418 batting average.
• Kansas has recorded 44 home runs on the season from seven different Jayhawks. Of the 44 homers, nine have been grand slams. Junior infielder Chaley Brickey leads the team with 11 long balls. Freshman Daniella Chavez has hit a team-best three grand slams, which is three shy of tying the national record.
• The Jayhawks have outscored their opponents 273-149 in 41 games, including seven shutouts and a no-hitter. KU scores its most runs during the first and third frames after plating 64 and 43 runs, respectively. Kansas has an 18-4 record when scoring a run in the first inning and has a 24-2 mark when the Jayhawks strike first putting a run on the scoreboard.
 
ABOUT THE JAYHAWKS
Kansas hosts their second midweek game of the season, winning their previous contest with a 5-4 decision over Indiana State (March17). The Jayhawks enter this week with a 33-8 overall record and are 29-3 in non-conference. KU has lost three of its previous four contests and is looking for a victory before hosting conference foe Oklahoma this weekend. 
 
Infielder Chaley Brickey leads the team offense with a .418 batting average, the only Jayhawk batting over .400. Brickey also leads the squad with 11 home runs and has connected for 56 hits at the plate. During her junior campaign, Brickey has registered a .739 slugging percentage and has tagged 98 total bases over the course of the 2015 season.  Sophomore outfielder Lily Behrmann has recorded a team high 38 walks this season, good for a .536 on-base percentage. Behrmann has the 38th-best on-base percentage in the country. Senior utility Maddie Stein has posted a team-best 13 doubles and claimed Kansas’ all-time RBI record after registering five RBIs during the Rock Chalk Challenge (March 20-22).
 
Collectively, Kansas has seven players batting over .300 and has registered a team batting average of .337. The squad has recorded 64 doubles and 44 home runs in 2015, earning a .516 slugging percentage. As a pitching staff, Kansas has tossed a 3.47 ERA in 270.0 innings of work, throwing a combined 236 strikeouts. Senior hurler Alicia Pille leads the staff with a 2.81 ERA, throwing 155 strikeouts on the year. Pille has made an impressive presence in the circle, accounting for 20 victories so far this season.
 
Kansas has an on-base percentage of .432, which is the 18th-best mark in the country. KU is 24-for-30 in stolen base attempts and has drawn a total of 175 walks, which set a new team single-season record. Kansas pitchers combined to hurl 22 and two-thirds innings of scoreless softball as they tossed three-consecutive shutouts from Feb. 8-14. The Jayhawks nearly threw a fourth-straight shutout, but Weber State scored a run in sixth inning, ending the KU pitchers’ streak an out shy of 23 scoreless innings.
 
SCOUTING SIUE
SIUE enters the midweek matchup winning six of their last seven games. The Cougars have tallied a 35-10 record throughout the 2015 season and are currently in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference winning 16 of their 20 conference games.
 
Senior outfielder Rebecca Gray leads the Cougars offensive efforts with a .391 batting average. Gray also leads the team in stolen bases, safely swiping 13 of her 18 attempts. Junior hurler Haley Champers has proven to be a force both in the circle and at the plate. During her junior campaign, Chambers has recorded 21 extra-base knocks with a team-best 12 doubles and seven home runs. In the circle, the Coatesville, Indiana product boasts a 1.34 ERA while striking out 233 batters in 167.2 innings of work. Chambers has tossed 20 of SIUE’S 35 victories this season.
 
Collectively, the squad is batting .288 with 63 doubles, eight triples and 28 home runs this year. The Cougars have recorded 200 RBIs and have a combined slugging percentage of .427. The pitching staff has thrown a 1.93 ERA, striking out 379 batters in 308.0 innings pitched.
 
KANSAS ON THE NATIONAL RADAR
During the 2015 season, the Jayhawks have been ranked as high as No. 22 nationally and have been in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball collegiate Top-25. KU has held a spot in at least one of the major softball polls for seven of the 10 weeks so far this season. The Jayhawks’ appearance in the polls this season was the first time that Kansas had been nationally ranked since 2011. While the Jayhawks aren’t currently ranked, they are receiving multiple votes in both polls.
 
HOME RUN FUN
The Jayhawks have launched a total of 44 balls over the outfield wall in 2015, which is tied for the second-most home runs among teams in the Big 12 Conference. Seven different Jayhawks have recorded at least one home run this season. Junior infielder Chaley Brickey has hit 11 long balls to lead KU in that statistical category. Kansas has also posted nine grand slams so far this season by six different members of the roster, including a walk-off from senior utility Maddie Stein against Omaha (3/15). Freshman Daniella Chavez leads the squad with three grand slams this season and is four away from setting a new national single-season record. Twice this season, Kansas has recorded five home runs in a game, which is one homer shy of a KU single-game record.
 
STREAKING JAYHAWKS
Along with a hot start to the season, Kansas softball has some streaks that continue to extend with each game in 2015. Senior utility Maddie Stein owns the longest hitting streak of the season at 12-straight games. Junior Briana Evans posted the longest streak for reaching base safely after making it aboard in 25-straight games. Currently, sophomore utility Lily Behrmann has the longest on-base streak after safely reaching in the past 19 games. The Jayhawks opened the year with a 12-game winning streak, which tied for the sixth-longest winning streak in school history. The longest winning streak in Kansas softball history is 20 games, set in 2012.
 
WALK IT OUT
In 41 games this season, Kansas has recorded a combined 175 base on balls, averaging 4.3 per game. The Jayhawks’ 175 walks set a new team single-season record. Previously, the most walks recorded in a season was 173, which was achieved during the 2011 campaign. Sophomore utility Lily Behrmann leads the team with 38 walks, moving her into second in the single-season records. Last season, junior infielder Chaley Brickey drew a team-high 42 walks, setting a new single-season record after surpassing the previous mark of 35 set by Tracy Bunge in 1985. The Jayhawks recorded a game-high seven walks against Oklahoma State on March 30, 2014.
 
UP NEXT
Kansas will return to Big 12 action April 24-26 for a three-game series against Oklahoma in Arrocha Ballpark. The series against the Sooners will begin Friday, April 24 at 5 p.m.
 
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