BATON ROUGE — The 12-ranked LSU softball team will open Southeastern Conference play at home this weekend as the Tigers host No. 16 Georgia in a three-game series, beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Tiger Park.
The first game of the series will be televised on Cox Sports Television in Baton Rouge on cable channel 37. Saturday’s second game of the series will be broadcast by KLSU, LSU’s student run radio station, on 91.1 FM. Live statistics from all three games will also be available on the official LSU athletics website, LSUsports.net.
Fans wearing gold will get into the game for free and the first 500 fans will receive free drawstring backpack. Pre-game festivities include a “Dunk a Bulldog” take and LSU face tattoos handed out by the Tiger cheerleaders. During the game, fans will have a chance to win gift certificates to Walk’On’s, Coldstone Creamery and more. Following the second game, the team will hold an autograph session.
“It should be a great weekend at Tiger Park,” said LSU head coach Yvette Girouard. “Hopefully there will be great weather and great crowds that come out for this highly competitive SEC series.”
Prior to the start of the first game, acting LSU chancellor Dr. William Jenkins will throw out the first pitch. The countdown to the end of Tiger Park also begins this weekend. Between the fifth and sixth inning of each game, the countdown sign will be changed to signify how many games are remaining at the current Tiger Park.
“We will start the countdown at Tiger Park in the first game against Georgia on Saturday,” said Girouard. “From here on in, after the fifth inning of every home game, you’ll see the sign being changed in right center field marking the countdown of leaving Tiger Park and going to the new park in 2009.”
LSU has won five SEC Championships and eight SEC Western Division titles in the last 11 seasons, the most of any school in the league. Last season, the Tigers won the Western Division and finished just behind Tennessee for the overall conference title. LSU went on to win its fifth SEC Tournament title, defeating South Carolina, Alabama and Florida in the three-day event.
“Georgia cost of the SEC championship last year,” said Girouard. “We had to win two out of three and we won one and lost the SEC by one game. It was the only conference series that we lost the entire year, that last series to Georgia.”
The Tigers concluded the SEC regular season last year at Georgia with a chance to win their league-leading fifth overall championship. Instead, LSU came up short in Athens. After a lopsided 13-5 Tiger loss in the first meeting, the final two games were decided by a total of three runs. LSU won game two, 5-3, coming from behind for the win, before the Bulldogs won game three, 1-0, in nine innings.
“Georgia has, no question, been a thorn in our side through the years,” said Girouard. “We always concentrate on ourselves first and obviously we need to do a lot of things better than we have been doing up to this point.”
Senior Shannon Stein continues to lead the Tigers at the plate for the season. The second baseman is hitting .436 with a team-best six doubles, one home run, 12 RBIs and five stolen bases. Tayl’r Hollis, the Most Valuable Player of the Easton Purple & Gold Challenge last weekend, is hitting.364 on the year with five home runs, four doubles, a triple and 21 RBIs. Rachel Mitchell has scored a team-high 18 runs, with three doubles, two triples and three home runs.
Kristen Schnake leads Georgia at the plate with a .409 average, followed by Megan Wiggins at .324 and Melissa Wood at .309. Wood leads the Bulldogs with four of Georgia’s nine home runs on the season, while Schnake boasts a team-best three triples and Alisa Goler has recorded a team-high 10 doubles.
After only ranking sixth in the SEC in stolen bases last season, the Tigers have improved to third this year and are second in stolen bases per game behind only Alabama. LSU has already stolen 53 bases, only five behind the 58 stolen bases by the entire 2003 squad in 68 total games. Dee Dee Henderson leads the team with a perfect 15-for-15 mark, while Jazz Jackson has stolen 9-of-9. Eleven Tigers have recorded at least one stolen base this season, including five players with five or more steals.
The Bulldogs have been near the top of the stolen base leaders in the SEC for the last several seasons but that trend has not continued into this year. Georgia has recorded 27 stolen bases in 31 attempts, led by a 9-for-10 effort from Schnake and an 8-for-8 mark from Taylor Schlopy. Only five Bulldog players have stolen bases this season, including one player with only one steal.
As a team, the Tigers boast a .297 batting average, with five starters boasting averages over .300. LSU has also hit 29 doubles with three triples and 21 home runs. In 20 games, the Tigers are averaging 5.7 runs per game with 113 runs scored. In the field, LSU has recorded only 13 errors and the Tigers boast a fielding percentage of .974.
As a team, Georgia ranks seventh in the SEC with a .285 batting average. The Bulldogs have scored 115 runs and are averaging 4.8 runs per game. Georgia has also posted 34 doubles and seven triples, which both rank second in the conference, while only hitting nine home runs, which is tied for sixth in the league.
Junior Dani Hofer leads LSU in the circle with an 8-2 record, with a 1.40 earned run average and 93 strikeouts in 12 appearances. Freshman Casey Faile leads the Tigers with a 0.93 earned run average, while boasting a 2-0 record. Sophomore Cody Trahan is 5-1 with a 2.50 earned run average, while Tiffany Garcia is 1-1 with a 4.02 earned run average.
Georgia has used five pitchers this season and has three players with more than 10 appearances. Kate Gaskill leads the Bulldogs with an 8-2 record, a 0.85 earned run average and 67 strikeouts. Christie Hamilton, sister of LSU signee Katie Hamilton, is 6-1 on the year with a 2.96 earned run average and 50 strikeouts. Sarah McCloud, who has 14 appearances, is 3-1 on the season with a 3.32 earned run average.
The Tigers rank ninth in the SEC with a 1.91 earned run average. LSU has allowed only 81 hits on the season with opponents batting only .173 against them. However, the long ball has been troublesome for the Tigers as LSU has given up 17 home runs this year. The Tigers have held five opponents scoreless and struck out 173, the second most in the SEC, in 132 innings.
Traditionally near the top of the pitching leaders in the SEC, Georgia is ranked 10th of 11 teams in earned run average entering league play. The Bulldogs have a 2.24 earned run average with six shutouts and 160 strikeouts in just over 162 innings. Opponents are currently hitting .206 against them and Georgia has recorded only seven complete games in 24 outings this year.
LSU leads the all-time series against the Bulldogs, 24-12. In the previous 36 meetings, the Tigers are 9-4 at home, 10-7 in Athens and 5-1 at neutral sites. Girouard is 15-12 all-time against Georgia, with all 27 games coming while she has been with the Tigers.
LSU is 10-2 all-time in SEC openers, including a 5-0 record on the road. The Tigers dropped a 2-1 decision to Ole Miss to open league play last season. The Tigers dropped their only other SEC opener in school history, 4-3, to South Carolina on the road in 2005. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 62-19 in conference openers.
LSU dropped its only SEC opening series in 2005, losing 2-of-3 to the Gamecocks, after winning the previous eight opening series. The Tigers have now combined for a 29-6 record in SEC opening series. The Tigers’ only losses were single games to Auburn in 2000, Florida in 2001, Tennessee in 2003 and Ole Miss in 2007.
LSU remains at home next week to host Troy on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Tigers will then take to the road for their final regular season tournament of the year. LSU will face Fordham, Oklahoma State, Purdue and South Florida in the USF Under Armour Classic in Tampa next weekend.
SERIES FACTS
No. 12 LSU Tigers (16-4, 0-0 SEC) vs. No. 16 Georgia Bulldogs (19-5, 0-0 SEC)
DATE/TIME
Saturday, March 8 ? 1 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, March 9 ? 1 p.m.
STADIUM
Tiger Park in Baton Rouge, La.
RADIO
91.1 FM (KLSU-FM ? LSU’s student run radio station) for Saturday Game Two
INTERNET
Live stats at LSUsports.net
TV
Cox Sports Television ? Saturday Game One
SERIES RECORD
LSU leads 24-12