BATON ROUGE — LSU head coach Yvette Girouard notched her 800th career win as her fifth-ranked Tigers swept Kentucky in a Saturday Southeastern Conference doubleheader at Tiger Park, 12-0 in five innings and 5-2.
“I liked the way we hit the ball today,” said Girouard. “We hit the ball hard. In the second game it took a while, but the ball finally found eyes. Our pitchers did a wonderful job, and Auburne had a great day today in the second game. The key now is to keep winning.”
LSU improves to 41-8 overall and 20-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Kentucky falls to 24-26 overall and 7-14 in the SEC.
The Tigers jumped out with a big lead in the first inning with seven runs on five hits. April Janzen got the inning started with a sliding double to center field. Stephanie Hastings followed with a single to center field to knock in Janzen. Christy Connor singled through the right side to send home Hastings, and Trena Peel knocked home Connor. Catcher Jennifer Schuelke was hit by the pitch from pitcher Morgan Marr with bases loaded to send home Erin Johnson. Douglas stepped to the plate for the second time in the inning and hit a bases loaded triple for the last three runs of the inning.
LSU came back in the second inning to score four more runs on four Tiger hits. Catcher Jennie Reeves singled down the left field line to send home Peel and Connor. Douglas drew a bases loaded walk to notch her fourth RBI of the game. Janzen picked up an RBI of her own when Reeves crossed the plate to make the score 11-0.
Julie Wiese singled in Megann Steege for the final run of the game in the bottom of the third.
Junior pitcher Britni Sneed picked up her 25th win of the season in three innings of work for the Tigers. She only allowed one hit and struck out one.
Sneed is now 25-5 overall and 15-0 in the SEC.
Freshman Sarah Meadors relieved Sneed in the circle in the fourth inning. Meadors allowed only one hit and sat down three.
The Tiger bats were alive with 12 hits off Marr. Connor and Wiese were both
2-for-2 at the plate, and Douglas hit her first triple of the season.
In game two, pitcher Ashley Lewis got the Tigers started with a single up the middle to send Peel across the plate. Schuelke grounded out to the second baseman but picked up an RBI as Wiese scored. Auburne Ziober singled to send Lewis across the plate.
Kentucky threatened in the top of the fourth with a two run home run. Lindsey Angus singled to reach first and Angie Dal Pozzo followed her with a shot over the left field wall to put the Wildcats on the board with two runs.
Hastings added two runs to the Tiger total in the fifth inning with a two out home run over the left field wall, her first of the season.
Lewis went the distance for the Tigers, picking up her 14th win of the season. She allowed six hits and struck out seven. She is now 14-3 overall and 5-3 in SEC play.
Ziober went three-for-three and Lewis went two-for-two in the second game to lead the Tigers to nine hits.
LSU and Kentucky will finish off the three game series with a single game at noon on Sunday. The game will be carried live by the LSU Sports Network on 107.3 FM and over the internet at www.LSUsports.net.