No. 21 MSU Softball Travels To No. 8 LSU To Conclude Six-Game Road Swing
March 25, 2008 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? The 21st-ranked Mississippi State softball teams concludes its six-game road swing Wednesday, taking on eighth-ranked LSU in a Southeastern Conference doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge, La.
Both games of the mid-week doubleheader will be broadcast live on WMSV 91.1 and online at http://www.wmsv.msstate.edu/.
The Bulldogs jumped back into the SEC Western Division race last weekend, sweeping in-state rival Mississippi last weekend in Oxford, Miss., to move to 26-9 overall and 4-5 in conference play.
State stayed at No. 21 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll for the second straight week. MState has been ranked in the poll for six straight weeks, marking the program's longest tenure ever in the poll.
LSU moved up two spots to No. 8 this week after holding the 10th position in both rankings last week.
The Tigers also enter the mid-week match-up following a weekend sweep. The Tigers claimed all three games from Auburn to advance to 27-4 overall and 6-0 in the league.
The Bulldogs were led in Oxford by the hot bat of freshman Courtney Nesbit and senior Hayle Guess. Nesbit earned SEC Freshman of the Week accolades after hitting .600 last week with five RBI. Guess capped a solid week at the plate by notching a career-best four hits in a 4-for-4, three-RBI effort against the Rebels.
Freshman Misty Flesher continued the solid start to her rookie campaign as she picked up two of State's three wins in Oxford. The Lone Grove, Okla., native, who moved to 10-5 on the year, also pitched the full five innings against Southern Mississippi on Tuesday.
Sophomore Chelsea Bramlett continues to pace the Bulldogs at the plate, hitting at a .426 clip with two doubles, three triples, a home run, 17 RBI and 30 runs scored. The Cordova, Tenn., native has stolen 28 bases in 29 attempts on the year, having her consecutive stolen base streak halted at 26 in Oxford on Friday.
Senior Courtney Bures continues her torrid pace at the plate, improving to .377 on the year after extending her hit streak to seven games last weekend. Bures' eight doubles leads the team, while her three home runs and 21 RBI are both second-most on the squad.
Along with Flesher's 10-5 mark in the circle, Kelsey Nurnberg has amassed a 13-4 mark on the campaign. Freshman Elizabeth Woolven is tied for the SEC lead in saves with four on the year, while the MSU pitching staff leads the league in fewest walks allowed with 52 in 235 innings.
Following the two-game SEC set in Baton Rouge, the Bulldogs return home and step out of conference play to host Georgetown and Mississippi Valley State in the 2008 Bully Bash. The two-day tournament, which will be held as part of Mississippi State's annual Super Bulldog Weekend festivities, kicks off at 2 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. on Sunday.
