BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 2/3 LSU (25-4) will challenge Nicholls (17-14) for the second time this season at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday, March 26, in front of a sold out crowd at Swanner Field, Geo Surfaces Park in Thibodaux, La.
ESPN+ will stream Tuesday’s game, and Patrick Wright will also have the call on 107.3 FM in the Baton Rouge Area and on the LSU Sports Radio Network. LSU and Nicholls will play against each other in Thibodaux for the first time since 2014.
LSU is coming off a 1-2 series loss at No. 15/16 Missouri but ended the series with a 4-3 victory. The Tigers have a .335 batting average with 255 hits and 172 RBIs and enter this week with a 2.41 ERA behind 189 strikeouts.
Outfielders Ali Newland (.380 average) and Ciara Briggs (.337 average) have team-highs of 33 hits. Newland is one of three players with a team-best five home runs on the season and has a team-high 12 multi-hit games, and Briggs ranks No. 10 in the SEC with 27 runs scored.
Infielder Raeleen Gutierrez is batting .366 with 30 hits and leads the team with a .671 slugging percentage behind 14 extra-base hits, including five home runs. Shortstop Taylor Pleasants and outfielder McKenzie Redoutey have .329 batting averages and a team-high 15 walks.
Infielder Karli Petty leads LSU with a .381 batting average, 16 hits and 14 RBIs in 18 games, and third baseman Sierra Daniel and utility pitcher Kelley Lynch have batting averages of .373 and .308, respectively, rounding out the clubs’ top hitters.
Right-handed pitcher Sydney Berzon (10-1) has struck out 88 batters (No. 7 in SEC) in 82.1 innings pitched and has thrown eight complete games in 18 appearances with a shutout and three saves. Pitcher Raelin Chaffin (7-2) has turned away 43 batters in 46.1 innings and has two complete-game shutouts and a save this season. Lynch posts a 4-1 record in 43.2 frames and has 40 strikeouts while holding opposing batters to a staff-low .159 average, which ranks No. 5 in the SEC.
LSU and Nicholls will meet for the 40th time, with the Tigers leading the series 38-1 and are on a 34-game winning streak. The Tigers and the Colonels faced each other in the 2024 season opener on Feb. 8, 2024, at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge, where LSU defeated Nicholls 8-0. In that game, pitcher Sydney Berzon threw her fifth career shutout with eight strikeouts and gave up only two hits and no walks. First baseman Raeleen Gutierrez led the team at the plate with two hits in two at-bats, including the Tigers’ first home run this year.
