Quick Start By Tigers Helps Finish Off Series Sweep Of Bulldogs
May 25, 2016 | Softball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
BATON ROUGE, La. ?€" LSU belted two home runs in the midst of a four-run first inning that set the tone from the start as the 11th-ranked Tigers completed a three-game series sweep of visiting Mississippi State with a 7-1 win over the Bulldogs Thursday afternoon at Tiger Park.
Sammie Jo Bailey became the first player in more than a year to homer in a pinch-hit at-bat, providing the only run production for the Bulldogs (30-22, 4-16 SEC) with a solo blast in the fourth. Leslie Klein homered and drove in a pair of runs on a 2-for-3 outing at the plate that capped off a monstrous series for the LSU (44-7, 17-4) centerfielder.
MSU starter Ragan Blake (16-13) turned in one of the shortest outings of her career, allowing four earned runs on three hits and a walk in saddling her 10th-straight loss for the Maroon and White. Reigning USA Softball Player of the Week Emily Turner (20-3) struck out five and surrendered just a pair of hits and one earned run in four innings of work to pick up the victory for the Bayou Bengals.
The loss marked the 14th consecutive setback for the Bulldogs who last tasted victory at Southern Miss on March 30 and are now 0-14 in the month of April. The setback also marked the 15th-consecutive loss in league play for MState.
Ragan really struggled coming out today, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. She was never really in sync from the get-go and they took advantage of that. I thought Sara came in and had that one bad inning where she walked the first two batters and dug ourselves a little bit of a hole that we couldn't dig out of. But, you're not going to beat anybody hitting .150 for the series. We have to give ourselves a chance offensively.
Blake delivered a four-pitch walk to Lauren Castle to begin the bottom of the first and LSU utilized its short game to move the runner into scoring position. Vanessa Soto smacked a deep fly ball to rightfield to advance the runner, but LSU head coach Yvette Girouard waved Castle past third base and the senior scored easily for the 1-0 advantage.
The Tigers were not done, however, following the scoring play with a Klein solo blast, a Stephanie Hill double off the wall in rightfield and an ensuing home run by Quinlan Duhon to take a 4-0 cushion into the second. Blake would get the final out of the inning on a line out by Lauren Delahoussaye to finish off her appearance.
MSU reliever Sara Hickerson walked the first two batters she faced in the bottom of the third and LSU would plate insurance runs off the freebies courtesy of RBI knocks from Klein and Delahoussaye, as well as a sacrifice fly from the bat of Hill. After Bailey's solo job in the fourth, State would get runners to into position with one out or less in each of the sixth and seventh frames but, each time, would go down in order to exit the innings empty-handed.
Mississippi State will begin a seven-game homestand this weekend by hosting fourth-ranked Tennessee (43-6, 14-6) in a three-game series at the MSU Softball Field.
The squads will open up their set with a 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon doubleheader before closing out the series with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday that is slated to be televised on a regional basis by Fox SportsNet South. Admission to all 2006 MSU Softball home games is free.
