Bulldogs Battle No. 8 LSU In Midweek Home Series
State, LSU Renew Series In 5 p.m. Wednesday Twinbill, 4 p.m. Single Game On Thursday
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State softball team (23-12, 3-6 SEC) will face its first SEC West opponent of the season as the Bulldogs step into division play to battle No. 8 LSU (23-9, 4-4) in a three-game midweek series at the Mississippi State Softball Field.
The Maroon and White and the Purple and Gold will begin their set with a 5 p.m. Wednesday evening doubleheader and conclude the series on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. Admission to all 2003 Mississippi State softball home games is free of charge.
State will enter the series fresh off its third SEC series loss of the season after dropping games one and three to homestanding Tennessee at Tyson Park in Knoxville this past weekend. LSU will roll into Starkville pining after its first conference series loss since 1998, dropping the bookends of its series at Georgia on Saturday and Sunday.
They're the top-ranked team in the conference, so we're going to have to be at our best this week, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. We've played some ranked teams already and have done very well, but we're going to have to get a little bit better pitching in order to compete with LSU.
Mississippi State and LSU will meet for the 27th time in a series dominated by the Fighting Tigers. LSU holds an overall series lead of 24-2 dating back to four-game season sweep of the Bulldogs in 1982. State has taken one of 13 meetings in Starkville and won for the first time in 11 Baton Rouge meetings last season when the Maroon and White snapped a 17-game skid to the Tigers with an 8-7 extra-inning thriller.
Although carrying a .264 team clip into the series, LSU is potent throughout its entire order, led by sophomore catcher Leigh Ann Danos' .357 clip with 10 extra-base hits and 13 RBI. Junior Sara Fitzgerald paces the LSU run-producing hitters, turning in a staggering 14 extra-base hits and 20 RBI to accompany a .296 batting average.
LSU's strength, historically, has come from its pitching staff and this season's version of the Purple and Gold is no different. Junior righthander Kristin Schmidt, who was dealt a loss by the Bulldogs last season, paces the two-armed staff with a 12-8 clip and a 0.69 ERA. Rightie Tessa Lynam has proven equally as dominant, turning in a 11-1 clip and a 1.48 earned run average. Combined, LSU possesses a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 5 to 1, led by Schmidt's 141 strikeouts and just 33 walks in 131.1 innings of work.
Mississippi State continues to boast itself as one of the top hitting ballclubs in the Southeastern Conference, supported by a .309 team average and a .474 slugging percentage. The Bulldogs pace the conference in triples just after the midway point, collecting 19 three-baggers which have been spread across the board. Junior all-American Iyhia McMichael will lead the team into the midweek series on the strength of a .431 batting clip that accompanies 20 extra-base hits (10 HR, 5 3B) and 34 RBI