BATON ROUGE — All-American Leslie Klein continued her onslaught on the LSU record book as the senior added two more records on Wednesday as the Tigers run-ruled Southeastern Louisiana, 8-0, in five innings.
With the win, LSU posted its 40th win of the season in just 46 games to move to 40-6 overall, including 14 run-rule victories. The Lady Lions dropped to 23-23 on the year and have yet to defeat the Tigers in nine total meetings. The pair will meet again in two weeks in Hammond at 6 p.m. on April 25.
“This was a great mid-week performance, getting the job down in five innings,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “We were giving some people the opportunity to play. We don’t want players to think they are never coming back in, because they are. That’s the greatest thing about this team because we have so many options and so many good players.”
With a two-RBI triple as part of a six-run second inning, Klein broke both the RBI and total base records. The Sunrise, Fla., native now has 176 career RBIs, surpassing the 174 by Tara Asbill from 1997-2000. In addition, the triple gave her three total bases, to run her career total to 433, also passing Asbill, who had 431. Klein also jumped up to sixth from eighth in career RBIs in Southeastern Conference history.
Shannon Stein ended the game early for LSU on a walk-off two-RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning. For the game, the junior went 3-for-3 with a double, a triple and three RBIs. Kristen Hobbs recorded her team-leading seventh home run of the year in the second as part of a 2-for-3 night with two RBIs, while Tayl’r Hollis and Quinlan Duhon were both 1-for-2 with two runs scored.
“It was a great night by a couple of Tigers,” said Girouard. “Shannon Stein and Tayl’r Hollis are really starting to stroke the ball. Shannon really keeps the infield up and is solid defensively, and she’s been starting to swing the bat really well, so that’s great for our lineup. We put Kristen Hobbs in and she comes through with the big home run.”
Tiffany Garcia started and earned the win to remain undefeated at 6-0 on the season. She allowed just a second-inning single and three walks with two strikeouts in four innings. Cody Trahan came on in the fifth and retired all three batters she faced, including two by strikeout.
In the bottom of the second, the Tigers broke through with six runs, their fifth inning with six or more runs this season, while hitting for the cycle. With one out, Hollis doubled off the wall in deep center field, coming up just shy of a home run. Hobbs then homered over the left field fence to put LSU on the board.
After a walk to Duhon, Stein tripled to right center field to score Duhon. It marked Stein’s first triple of the season. Andrea Smith then knocked in Stein on an RBI single to left field. Rachel Mitchell singled to right field to put runners on first and second for Klein. She tripled off the wall in center field to score both Smith and Mitchell to give the Tigers the 6-0 advantage.
Needing two runs for the win in the fifth, Stein came through once again. Hollis drew a leadoff walk. After a fly ball out to center field by Hobbs, Duhon singled to left field and moved to second on the throw as Hollis advanced to third. Stein then stroked one off the wall in left center field that allowed Hollis and Duhon to score and end the game.
Jessica Wright started and took the loss for the Lady Lions to fall to 2-3 on the year. She allowed four runs on three hits with a walk in an inning and a third. Jenna Yoder came on in relief and allowed two runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning. Kendra Lindsey closed out the game for SLU, giving up two runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout in two and a third.
LSU ran its winning streak over Louisiana teams to 54 consecutive games, dating back to April 2001. The Tigers are now 106-4 all-time in 110 meetings with in-state opponents, with a pair of Louisiana teams left on the schedule.
LSU will now travel to Starkville, Miss., for an SEC doubleheader against Mississippi State on Saturday at 1 p.m. The series, originally scheduled for the mid-week, was pushed back to the weekend and will serve as the Tigers final doubleheader SEC series. LSU will then return home for a mid-week game against cross-town rival Southern on Tuesday at 6 p.m., the last home mid-week game of the year.