Ole Miss Softball Takes on No. 15 LSU in Baton Rouge

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss softball is heading to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on the No. 15 ranked LSU Tigers in an SEC weekend series tilt. The first pitch of the series is set for Thursday night at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.

Ole Miss (21-11, 5-4 SEC) is coming off a series victory over No. 17 Georgia last weekend in Oxford. The Rebels took game one and came back on Sunday to clinch the series.

The Rebels’ catcher Autumn Gillespie delivered the game-winning hit on Friday against the Bulldogs with a walk-off two-run home run in the seventh.

In the circle, Anna Borgen led the way in the game three victory, nearly doubling her previous career-high with 11 strikeouts in a 3-2 Rebel win.

The series knockoff win over Georgia was just the third-ever and the second straight as the Bulldogs came to Oxford.

Coach Jamie Trachsel club has only lost one weekend series this season, to the Arkansas Razorbacks.

LSU (18-11, 4-5 SEC) enters Easter weekend after being swept in Gainesville by the fifth-ranked Gators. The Tigers have taken its other two series with Tennessee and Texas A&M. Most of the Tigers’ success has come at home this season. They boast a 12-5 record in Baton Rouge. LSU was able to get back in the win column, earning a 7-5 midweek win over ULM Tuesday night.

The top of the LSU order has done the majority of the damage for LSU this season. Senior leadoff hitter, Aliyah Andrews paces the team with a .340 batting average and 33 hits. When Andrews gets on base she has also been a threat to steal. The speedy outfielder is 16-of-17 on the year and has come around to score 26 runs. She is followed by Taylor Pleasants who has a .427 on-base percentage, 29 hits and 25 RBIs. Doyle has almost exclusively hit in the three-hole this season. She leads the Tigers with seven home runs and 27 runs batted in.

A tandem of Tigers leads LSU in the circle. Ali Kilponen owns the top ERA on the team with a 1.88 mark through 52.0 innings of work. Along the way, the right-hander has stuck out 55 batters while holding them to a .211 batting average. Shelbi Sunseri has been one of the other go-to arms on the rubber. She’s tossed 58.2 innings and has a 2.15 ERA.

The Rebels go into Tiger Park looking for their first series win in Baton Rouge since 2008 and just the third all-time against the Tigers. Despite LSU’s overall domination in the series, the Rebels have won five of the last eight meetings.

Game times set for this SEC clash are set for Thursday, Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. All games can be seen on SEC Network+.