April 22, 2016
BATON ROUGE, La. – South Carolina took a 2-1 lead in the third, but No. 14/15 LSU (34-13, 8-11 SEC) scored six unanswered runs to take a 7-2 win on Friday night at Tiger Park.
The Tigers struck first in the second on a bases-loaded groundout by Emily Griggs, scoring Constance Quinn. The Gamecocks (32-14, 5-11 SEC) answered in the third, as junior Kaylea Snaer doubled home freshman Alexis Mack to tie the game at 1-1. On the next play, Snaer South Carolina took the lead as the Tigers threw away a ball after a grounder that would have ended the inning.
LSU tied it again in the third on Bailey Landry’s sacrifice fly, scoring Kellsi Kloss. In the fourth, the Tigers had back-to-back singles hit off of Gamecock pitcher Jessica Elliott, the second by Sahvanna Jaquish giving the Tigers the 3-2 lead. Allie Walljasper followed with another hit, knocking in the fourth Tiger run.
Griggs had another RBI groundout in the fifth, while Jaquish doubled in two in the frame more to cap the scoring at 7-2.
Carley Hoover (13-6) tossed a complete game in the win, giving up two hits and two unearned runs. She walked one, hit three and struck out five. Elliott (16-4) took the loss, allowing four earned runs on five hits and seven walks in 3.1 innings.
Game Changer:
The back-to-back hits that knocked out Elliott gave LSU the lead again.
Key Stat:
The Tigers walked nine times in the victory.
Notables:
• Snaer’s double tied the SEC single-season record of 23, set in 1998 by Tennessee’s Kelli Fitzgerald and tied in 2011 by Megan Wiggins.
• Freshman shortstop Kenzi Maguire had the other Gamecock hit.
• Junior designated player Victoria Williams was hit twice.
• LSU’s Jaquish went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI, while Sandra Simmons went 2-for-3.
• Griggs drove in two.
• Tigers Bianka Bell, Kloss and Amber Serrett all drew two walks each.
Up Next:
The Tigers and Gamecocks match up again on Saturday at 6 p.m. CDT at Tiger Park, with SEC Network + on Watch ESPN streaming the game.
