BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU softball team returns to action on Tuesday evening hosting the ULM Warhawks at 6 p.m. and streamed live online on SEC Network+ and available through WatchESPN.
Fans are asked to turn up for the first Tuesday midweek game of the year against ULM, as patrons will be given a punch card to use at the remaining non-conference midweek games of the season to receive an LSU softball visor at the end of the year with a fully punched card.
LSU puts a close to the month of February and begins to turn its focus to March beginning with the Warhawks, as the Tigers are currently in the second week of its 16-game home stand in Baton Rouge. The team ended the month going 13-2, owning a 9-1 mark in home games so far this season.
The Tigers have won nine-straight after completing a 4-0 weekend after hosting the Purple and Gold Challenge, earning a pair of wins over Illinois State and Texas Tech. The squad earned run-rule victories over the Redbirds in each of the two meetings, while earning its first comeback and extra inning affair against the Red Raiders before cruising to the victory in the final game of the weekend Sunday.
Offensively, LSU is hitting .348 as a team going into the contest and was helped over the weekend by averaging a .353 clip at the plate. The Tigers outhit both opponents 36-15, including having 13 hits in the opener against Illinois State, while outscoring the visitors by a combined score of 27-8. LSU powered seven home runs and had 12 total hits for extra bases in the games.
Leading the pack with a .538 average was junior Constance Quinn, who went 4-for-4 against Illinois State in one contest and had her hitting streak capped at 10 games which is a new career long. She had seven total hits in the four games, as she is currently hitting .515 for the season.
Of the seven home runs LSU hit, three belonged to Sahvanna Jaquish, hitting one in each of the last three games. The California product drove in 10 in the four games, including having the game-tying home run against TTU and is now tied with Kellsi Kloss for the team lead with four. Kloss belted two three-run home runs in the tournament opener, driving in six as she and Jaquish are the only two players on the team with multiple games of four RBIs or greater.
In the circle, the quartet of LSU pitchers held on to a gleaming ERA of 0.56, as on the year the group has a staff earned run average of 1.15 which is fifth nationally. Of the eight runs that crossed the plate this weekend, only two were earned runs, striking out 33 and walking just four.
The finale Sunday capped a weekend of standout performances as right-handed pitcher Carley Hoover struck out a career-high 15 batters in the 5-3 win over Texas Tech, coming two shy of matching the school record of 17 for the most in a seven-inning game. Hoover is 5-0 on the year and has struck out 48 batters in 29 innings.
Hoover and freshman Sydney Smith allowed the fewest hits on the weekend with three each, as Smith earned the win in her only start of the weekend by holding ISU to a .158 batting average. Junior Baylee Corbello allowed just one run, the lowest of the group, as she is now 3-0 on the season.
Although her streak of walk-less innings ended at 24 during the midweek game, the sophomore Allie Walljasper picked up right where she left off as she not only pitched the most innings of anyone on the staff at eight on Saturday, but did so without issuing a walk as she has just two on the year and leads the group with a 0.42 ERA.
Tuesday’s tilt will be the 10th all-time meeting between the two sides, with LSU holding a 9-0 advantage in the series’ history. It’ll be the eighth meeting in Baton Rouge, as LSU won last year’s meeting 7-3 back in March.
The Warhawks enter the contest with an 11-4 overall record, earning some big wins with five victories this season scoring 10-plus runs. ULM is hitting .358 at the plate with a 2.54 ERA as a pitching staff.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusb on Instagram.