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McKENDREE SEASON STATISTICS

(LEBANON, Ill., April 27)--The McKendree University will be in East Peoria, Ill., this weekend for its first-ever trip to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. The eight-team, double-elimination event begins Friday morning and wraps up with the championship contest set for Sunday at the Eastside Centre. This will be the 12th consecutive year that the Eastside Centre will serve as the host for the GLVC Tournament. 

McKendree punched its ticket as the No. 7 seed in the eight-team field for this year's GLVC Tournament. The Bearcats earned their bid thanks to a 16-14 record against conference opponents. First-year head coach Ashley Fleming can credit McKendree's nine-game improvement in GLVC contests from a year ago in part to one of the most potent offenses in the league. The Bearcats enter the GLVC Tournament with a team batting average of .310, which is third in the conference. McKendree leads the league with 461 base hits and has scored 290 runs, second only to the University of Indianapolis' total of 297. The Bearcats are also second in the GLVC with 86 doubles and have also blasted 42 home runs, good for sixth in the conference. On the base paths, McKendree has swiped 74 bases, which is tied for second in the league with Truman State University. Only the University of Illinois Springfield (77) has stolen more bases in 2016. 

Hanna Branch (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) and Brooke Gajewski (Kronenwetter, Wis./D.C. Everest) both rank among the top hitters in the GLVC. In 165 at-bats, Branch has posted a .406 average, while Gajewski is not far behind at .382. Branch leads all GLVC players with 21 doubles, third in the league with 67 base hits and is tied for third with 44 runs scored. Gajewski is third in the conference with 51 runs batted in. Jamie Doggendorf (Dittmer, Mo./Northwest) has set a new McKendree single-season record with 27 stolen bases entering the GLVC Tournament, which also places her third in the conference in the category. Doggendorf is also second among GLVC players with 45 runs scored. In just 45 at-bats this year, Liz Klussman (Washington, Mo./Washington) has posted a .422 batting average for McKendree.

In the circle, Holly Magre (Festus, Mo./St. Pius X) has emerged to lead the Bearcats' pitching staff. Magre is 14-11 overall in 31 appearances with 23 starts. In 162 innings of work, Magre has struck out 181 batters, good for fourth in the GLVC. She also has collected all three saves credited to the McKendree staff in 2016. Freshman Macy Ingram is 8-9 in her rookie season, fanning 119 batters in 113 innings. 

McKendree will make its GLVC Tournament debut against the No. 2 seed from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The Tritons are ranked No. 6 in the latest American Fastpitch Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II coaches poll thanks to its 48-5 season record and 26-4 mark against GLVC opponents. One of those four losses came at Bearcat Field back on March 19, when McKendree took the second game of a doubleheader from UMSL, 2-0. 

The Tritons boast one of the top pitchers in both the GLVC and NCAA Division II in senior Hannah Perryman. The left-hander is 41-3 this season with a 1.00 ERA in 46 games. Perryman holds the NCAA Division II career records for strikeouts (1,659), perfect games (9) strikeouts per seven innings (12.4). She also ranks in the top 10 all-time with 15 no-hitters, 59 shutouts and 124 victories. In 2016, Perryman became just the third pitcher in NCAA Division II history to strike out 500 batters in a single season, hitting the mark in her last start of the regular season. Perryman enters the GLVC post-season with 501 strikeouts with 43 complete games -- including 22 shutouts -- to her credit. 

The winner of the McKendree/UMSL first-round contest would advance in the winner's bracket of the 2016 GLVC Tournament to face the winner of the University of Southern Indiana/Bellarmine University Friday at 4 p.m. A loss would set up an elimination-round match-up against the USI/Bellarmine loser at 2 p.m.