Fresh off a series victory against South Carolina, the LSU softball team hits the ground running for a Wednesday midweek game at Southeastern Louisiana at 6 p.m. Wednesday at North Oak Park in Hammond.
The game is the last of 10 straight on the road for the Tigers.
LSU (22-2) moved up two spots to No. 12 in USA Today/NFCA top 25 poll and is the fourth-highest ranked team from the Southeastern Conference. The teams ranked ahead of LSU are No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Florida and No. 9 Arkansas. LSU takes on the Vols in a series this weekend.
LSU’s team batting average (.345) is third in the SEC and the team ERA (1.76) is fourth.
Southeastern (20-5) has won 10 of its past 13 games against a tough schedule, which includes two games against No. 16 Alabama, one against No. 1 Oklahoma and another against Mississippi State.
Southeastern is led by catcher Bailey Krolczyk, who is batting .400 with four homers and 14 RBIs and seven stolen bases. Center fielder and leadoff hitter Cam Goodman is batting .375 with an on-base percentage of .467 and 13 steals in 19 attempts.
First baseman Lexi Johnson is batting .338 with team bests of five home runs and 26 RBIs. The Lions have 24 home runs in 25 games.
Pitchers KK Ladner (5-1, 1.00 ERA) and Cera Blanchard (9-2, 2.06) lead the Lions in the circle.
After beating South Carolina 9-1 Saturday, the Tigers split a doubleheader with the Gamecocks on Monday. LSU lost the opener 4-2 and won the nightcap 5-1.
Raeleen Gutierrez knocked in three runs, including the go-ahead RBI in the third game. Gutierrez also keyed a three-run seventh inning to put the game away with a two-run single after Georgia Clark hit a sacrifice fly. McKenzie Redoutey keyed the first-game victory with a three-run homer, her fifth.
Ali Kilponen (8-0, 1.44 ERA) pitched complete-game victories in each of the wins, tossing a four-hitter with nine strikeouts on Monday. She won the opener with a three-hitter and seven strikeouts with one walk. Kilponen has 60 strikeouts in 58⅓ innings.
Kilponen has seven complete games with three shutouts and three saves.
Danieca Coffey leads LSU with a .450 batting average and center fielder Ciara Briggs is next at .407. Shortstop Taylor Pleasants is batting.368 with team bests of eight home runs and 34 RBIs (second in the SEC).
Vols opener moved back
The first game of the Tennessee series Friday was moved back to a 7 p.m. start to avoid conflict with the LSU women’s basketball NCAA tournament game against Hawaii at 4:30 p.m. in the PMAC. LSU plays Tennessee again at 5 p.m. Saturday and concludes the series at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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