BATON ROUGE — Coming off a Southeastern Conference series win over Tennessee, the No. 8/9 LSU softball team will host in-state rival Nicholls State in a single game on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Tiger Park.
The game will be broadcast on WJNH, Jam’n 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge or on the internet at www.LSUsports.net. Fans are encouraged to come and enjoy the “St. Patty’s at the Park” promotion. There will be Irish-themed contests and giveaways throughout the game.
The Tigers (18-6) are currently ranked No. 8 in the NFCA/USA Today Coaches Poll, while they are ranked No. 9 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll, dropping from a No. 7 ranking in both polls last week. After going 15-42 last season, Nicholls State enters the game with a 9-11 overall record, but has lost its last six games.
“We are welcoming in a much better Nicholls State team,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “They have a pitcher that has racked up a lot of strikeouts and thrown some quality innings for them. This should be a great contest.”
In the circle, the Tigers are led by SEC Pitcher of the Week Kristin Schmidt. The junior from Houston has a 10-5 record on the season with a 0.74 earned run average. She earned pitcher of week honors after recording a 2-1 record with a 0.88 earned run average in the three-game series against Tennessee last weekend.
In three appearances, she allowed just six hits in 16 innings pitched while striking out 14 Lady Vols. Her victory in game one was her fourth consecutive complete-game shutout, after posting three consecutive shutouts in the Purple & Gold Challenge a week ago. After allowing the lone Tennessee in LSU’s 6-1 win the third game of the series, she retired 13 straight batters and 15 of the final 17 batters of the game.
Her one loss on the week came in the two innings she pitched in relief of the second game against Tennessee. She allowed her first run after throwing 33 consecutive scoreless innings on solo home run in the top of the seventh inning that proved to be the decisive run in the 3-2 LSU loss.
Sophomore Tessa Lynam has proven to be a catalyst for the Tigers at the plate since entering the offensive lineup nine games ago. In those nine games, she has recorded a .423 batting average with four doubles, 10 runs scored and 13 RBIs. She leads the SEC in on-base percentage at .516 and ranks third in batting average since recovering from a broken hand suffered in the preseason.
Lynam has also been a significant force for LSU in the circle this season. She has posted eight wins against only one loss with a 1.43 earned run average and 73 strikeouts.
Junior LaDonia Hughes has made her impact since joining the Tigers this season. The outfielder has hit .321 with a team-best 25 hits, 20 runs scored and 10 stolen bases. She ranks in the top 10 in the league in both runs scored and stolen bases.
Four times this year, Hughes has recorded three hits in a game, one shy of the LSU single-game record. She is also getting the job done on the base paths, scoring 20 of the 31 times she has been on base this season.
After facing Nicholls State, LSU will travel to Columbia, S.C., to take on No. 14/15 South Carolina in a three-game series. The series begins on Saturday with a doubleheader at noon and concludes with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network on WJNH, Jam’n 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge or on the internet at www.LSUsports.net. The final game of the South Carolina series will also be televised and can be seen on FoxSports Southwest, Baton Rouge cable channel 37.