No. 6 LSU Sweeps Day Two of the Tiger Classic Behind High-Powered Offense

BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 6/7 LSU put together an offensive clinic on day two at the Tiger Classic that featured a .450 batting average behind 27 hits, 18 runs and 17 RBIs in a pair of wins over Boise State and Houston on Friday at Tiger Park.

After securing the regular season sweep against Boise State (9-5) with an 8-5 victory, LSU improved to 11-0 with a 10-3 win over Houston (11-2), turning in a season-high 16 hits in the contest. No LSU Tiger struck out in the nightcap versus Houston.    

“Everybody wants to win every game, so there’s something to that mindset,” said Head Coach Beth Torina. “Honestly, I think our players want to go out and win one pitch at a time with the best team effort they can put forth. If we play like that, hopefully, we end up on the right side of the game.” 

On the day, Ali Newland went 5-for-8 from the plate (.625) to lead the team hits. Newland was one of three LSU Tigers to finish with four RBIs and logged one of the club’s two home runs. 

Taylor Pleasants had a team-high .667 batting average and led a trio of batters with four hits, including Raeleen Gutierrez and Danieca Coffey. Pleasants and Gutierrez matched Newland’s four RBIs, and Coffey had two RBIs, which included a solo home run against Houston. 

Raelin Chaffin (3-0) earned a win and her first career save Friday as she threw 7.0 innings in two appearances that saw the junior hurler strike out a staff-high nine batters and held opposing batters to a .192 average. 

“She’s [Chaffin] thrown with a lot of velocity this year, and she’s done a good job of being prepared and working hard,” said Coach Torina. “What we asked her to do today was tough, and she had no second thoughts about it and went for it.”

Emma Strood (2-0) made her second start of the season and received a win against Boise State, and Sydney Berzon concluded the day with a 0.00 ERA with three strikeouts in three innings of relief. 

Boise State’s pitcher Taylor Caudill was charged the loss in LSU’s first game of the day after striking out two batters and giving up seven runs on seven hits in 3.0 innings, and Houston’s Shelby Smith (6-1) picked up her first loss in 2024 after relinquishing four runs and six hits in 3.0 innings. 

Game One

Pleasants totaled her 55th career multiple RBI game with a game-high three RBIs and was 2-for-3 against the Broncos. Gutierrez followed suit with three RBIs and was 2-for-4 at the dish. Newland also recorded two hits in the game and drove in two runs in the victory, while Coffey matched a career-best three runs and drew two walks.

Strood (1-0) got the start in the circle and picked up the win, striking out two batters while allowing six hits, five runs and three walks in 4.0 innings. Chaffin came in relief for 3.0 innings, sat down three batters, and gave up one hit and no runs for her first career save.   

LSU struck first against Boise State thanks to a two-RBI single by Gutierrez in the first inning. LSU stayed busy in the second inning with Pleasants’ two-RBI single followed by Gutierrez’s second hit to drive in her third ribbie of the game, stretching the lead 5-0.

The Broncos cut into the deficit with a two-run homer to make the score 5-2 in the top of the fourth frame, and although the Tigers added a run in the bottom half-inning off an RBI double from Newland, Boise State hit a three-run dinger in the fifth to pull within one run at 6-5.  

The Fighting Tigers answered again in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring two runs to go ahead 8-5 courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Pleasants and an RBI double from Newland.

The LSU defense wrapped up the game by retiring six of the final seven batters, featuring Chaffin’s third strikeout in the seventh. 

Game Two

Coffey and Newland paved the way offensively with three hits, two runs and two RBIs each against Houston. The duo also hit their second home run of the season in the victory.  

Coffey jump-started the game with a leadoff home run for her second longball of the season. Newland gave the Tigers another run with an RBI double through the right side, putting the home club ahead 2-0 lead after the first stanza.

Chaffin struck out four of the game’s first six batters she faced, including striking out the side in the second. She finished with six strikeouts in 4.0 innings to pick up her third win. 

UH crossed a run at the top of the third, but LSU responded with two at the bottom after Pleasants’ leadoff double and was brought home immediately from Gutierrez’s RBI double. Carson pushed another run across from a sac-fly RBI to make the score 4-1 through three.

The Cougars made it a one-run game at 4-3 due to a couple of runs in the fourth, but Berzon took over in the fifth with a pair of strikeouts and ultimately held UH to just two hits in the final three innings, securing her fourth career save and first of the season.

LSU rattled off five runs on six hits in the fifth to create distance on the scoreboard and balloon the lead to 9-3, and Newland capped the game with a solo shot to left-center in the sixth inning for her second home run of the season.

Up Next

LSU ends the Tiger Classic with another doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 24. The Tigers take on Houston at 4 p.m. CT, followed by a 6:30 p.m. CT game against Austin Peay at Tiger Park.

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