BATON ROUGE — The fifth-ranked LSU softball team will face New Mexico State in the final mid-week match-up of the season on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Tiger Park.
“New Mexico State is a good, quality opponent,” said head coach Yvette Girouard. “This is a new face to Tiger Park and a chance to play someone different outside of the conference. This game is also the countdown to the final games in Tiger Park and may be the last chance to see these seniors in action.”
The Tigers will meet the Aggies for the first time in school history. The Aggies come to Tiger Park with an overall record of 20-39. LSU enters the contest boasting a record of 43-8 overall and 21-1 in Tiger Park. The Tigers have outscored opponents 131-8 at home this season. Junior pitcher Britni Sneed has not allowed a single run to be scored in her 82.1 innings of work in the circle.
LSU’s pitching staff is ranked fifth in the nation statistically, with an ERA of 0.79 overall. Sneed anchors the staff with an ERA of 0.73 and is ranked 15th individually in the nation. Senior Ashley Lewis follows close behind Sneed with an ERA of 0.83 and a No. 22 ranking.
On Tuesday against Southeastern, Sneed broke the school record for most strikeouts in a single season with 279 K’s. She set the previous record of 278 during her 2000 sophomore season. Sneed is ranked 11th nationally for most strikeouts per seven innings. She also leads the Tigers with a record of 26-5 and comes in at No. 6 nationally for most victories.
Freshman Julie Wiese hit her 10th home run of the season against Southeastern Louisiana. She is now three blasts away from breaking former-All-American Tara Asbill’s single-season record of 12 home runs set in 2000. 10 home runs is the most by any freshman at LSU.
Senior Stephanie Hastings continues to lead the Tigers with a batting average of .369. The team’s total of .298 is 13th nationally. Trena Peel has the longest current hitting streak on the team after Christy Connor had her 11-game streak snapped on Tuesday. Peel has had hits in the last five games for the Tigers and is third on the team hitting .317.
LSU returns to Southeastern Conference action against Ole Miss on Saturday and Sunday for the final regular-season home games in Tiger Park. Saturday’s start time has been moved up to 11 a.m. to encourage tailgaters to attend before heading over to the Spring Game. LSU softball parents will be honored between games on Saturday, and the Tigers will honor five seniors before Sunday’s noon start.