BATON ROUGE — LSU senior Leslie Klein was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, it was announced by the league office on Monday.
The Sunrise, Fla., native led the Tigers to a perfect 4-0 record on the week, including an SEC series sweep of nationally ranked Florida. LSU is now a game behind Alabama in the overall conference standings as the Tigers prepare to face the Crimson Tide this weekend after a mid-week trip to take on Centenary in Shreveport.
Klein led the team with a .545 batting average with a 1.091 slugging percentage after going 6-for-11 at the plate. She recorded three doubles, four RBIs and a home run, while scoring three runs and stealing a pair of bases. With her first double against the Gators, she broke the LSU career doubles record and has moved into a tie for seventh in career doubles in SEC history.
In the series finale with Florida, she broke up a no-hitter by Stacey Nelson in the bottom of the fourth inning with a lead off solo home run that proved to be the game winner. It was the 27th home run of her career, which put her in a tie for second in career home runs in school history.
Against Texas-San Antonio in a mid-week contest, she was responsible for knocking in LSU’s first two runs in the 3-0 victory. It marked her team-best 10th multiple-RBI game of the year and the school record 45th multiple-RBI game of her career. With a pair of hits in each of the first two games against Florida, the two-time All-American recorded her 13th and 14th multiple-hit games of the year, almost half of the Tigers’ 32 games this season.
For the season, Klein ranks second on the team with a .443 batting average and leads the team with a .763 slugging percentage. In addition, she leads the SEC with 13 doubles and ranks second on the team with 15 stolen bases.
LSU returns to action on Wednesday as LSU takes on in-state rival Centenary in Shreveport at 5:30 p.m. Earlier in the season, the Tigers knocked off Centenary, 9-0, in five innings in the Easton Tiger Classic.
LSU returns to conference play next weekend against nationally ranked Alabama at home. The Tigers will host the second-ranked Crimson Tide in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday and concluding with a single game on Sunday.
LSU will host “Bark in the Park” and dog owners are encouraged to bring their family friendly pets to the park on a leash all weekend. The first 100 dogs will receive free LSU “Geaux Dog Geaux” collars and an extreme canine stunt dog act will perform on Saturday between the two games of the doubleheader.