April 24, 2016
BATON ROUGE, La. – South Carolina (32-16, 5-13 SEC) falls at No. 14/15 LSU (36-13, 10-11 SEC) on Sunday 2-0 at Tiger Park.
LSU took advantage of a Gamecock error to take the 1-0 lead in the second. With two outs and Sahvanna Jaquish on second after her leadoff double, Constance Quinn singled through the left side. Jaquish stopped at third until she noticed the misplay in left, scoring the first Tiger run.
The Gamecocks came a glove away from tying the game in the third as senior Ansley Ard sent a deep shot to left, but Tiger left fielder Sandra Simmons reached over the wall to make the catch, robbing Ard of her fourth homer of the year. An inning later, Bianka Bell made it a 2-0 LSU advantage with her leadoff homer in the fourth, driving a high inside pitch over the left-field wall.
In the seventh, South Carolina had freshman Kennedy Clark reach on an error and sophomore Krystan White get hit by a pitch to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two down, but LSU freshman Sydney Smith (9-2) got her fourth strikeout of the game to complete the three-hit shutout.
Gamecock junior Nickie Blue (15-12) took the loss, giving up two runs, one earned, on four hits and a walk. She fanned two while throwing a complete game.
Game Changer:
The first of two Gamecock errors brought home the first Tiger run.
Key Stat:
For the second-straight day, Tiger pitching did not issue a walk to the Gamecocks.
Notables:
– Clark had a double in a 1-for-3 day, while seniors Ard and Lauren Masters both had singles.
– Four different Tigers had hits, led by Bell’s homer and Jaquish’s double, both their 10th of the year.
– Gamecock head coach Beverly Smith was ejected in the bottom of the fifth after arguing a call reversal.
Up Next:
South Carolina faces Furman in its final non-conference game in the 2016 regular season on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field.
