BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 13/14 LSU broke a scoreless tie and used a four-run sixth to pick up a 4-0 midweek win over the University of South Alabama softball team Tuesday night at Tiger Park.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (25-23) will travel to Conway, S.C. for a three-game league series against Coastal Carolina for its final regular-season road series of the season.  The two clubs will open the series with a doubleheader on Sat., April 28 (12 p.m. [CT] and 2 p.m. [CT]) and then close out the series on Sun., April 29 with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m. (CT) at the CCU Softball Stadium.

Date: 4/24
Place: Tiger Park (Baton Rouge, La.)
Final Score: 13/14 LSU 4, South Alabama 0
Records: LSU 36-11, South Alabama (25-23)

SCORING PLAYS
-6 Inn. — LSU, 3-0 —Shelbi Sunseri home run to left field (3 RBI), scoring Emily Griggs from second and Amanda Doyle from first
-6 Inn. — LSU, 4-0 —Elyse Thornhill scores on a wild pitch and a throwing error by Lyric Cabral.

KEY MOMENT OF THE GAME
-With the game scoreless, Sunseri took a 2-2 pitch from Devin Brown and drove it over the wall in left center for a three-run home run to spark a four-run sixth inning for LSU.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS
-MC Nichols and Katelyn Gruich were the lone two Jag batters to reach base safely as they both walked.
-Andrews was 2-for-4 at the plate, while four other Tigers recorded a hit.
-Along with Andrews, Griggs, Thornhill and Amber Serrett had a double, while Sunseri hit a three-run home run.
-Carley Hoover improved to 16-5 on the season and tossed the no-hitter for the Tigers.  Hoover struck out eight and walked two.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-Brown (16-13) took the loss and had just the one bad inning, allowing four runs on six hits.  She struck out two and walked four.
-Hoover retired the first 14 Jaguar batters that she faced until Cabral reached on a two-out error in the fifth.
-The fourth inning was the first inning in which LSU's leadoff batter did not reach and the first 1-2-3 inning for Brown.
-Brown had retired eight straight prior to Sunseri's three-run home run in the sixth.
-Of LSU's six hits, five were for extra bases.

GAME FACTS
-The Tigers tried to manufacture a run in the bottom of the first as Aliyah Andrews reached on a bunt single to start the inning, then stole her 35th base of the season.  She then moved to third on a ground out, but Brown was able to get a pair of fly outs to end the inning.
-LSU threatened again its next time up after putting runners at first and second after a pair of walks, but Brown was able to retire the final two batters of the inning to work out of the jam.
-Andrews recorded her second hit of the contest with a leadoff bloop double to shallow left to start the Tiger half of the third.  LSU would put runners at the corners with two outs after a walk and a fielder's choice, but Brown was able to get Sunseri to pop out to short to end the inning.
-After being retired in order for the first four-and-two-thirds, South Alabama finally had its first base runner of the game as Cabral reached on a two-out fielding error by LSU second baseman Becca Shulte, but Hoover came right back and recorded her seventh strikeout of the night to end the frame and leave Jag pinch runner Amanda Flynn standing at first.
-In the top of the sixth, the Jaguars had their first runner move into scoring position as Nichols walked and then moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kaleigh Todd, but The Tigers got out of the inning as Serett's throw from short just barely beat out Lowe to the bag at first.
-LSU broke the scoreless tie in the bottom half of the sixth.  Griggs doubled off the wall in right center and Doyle was then intentionally walked to put runners on first and second.  Sunseri then drove a 2-2 pitch deep over the wall in left to put the Tigers up 3-0. Thornhill then followed with a double down the right field line and came around to score (4-0) during Serrett's at-bat on a wild pitch and an errant throw down to third.  The run would become earned on Serrett's double to left center.
-Gruich would draw a two-out walk in the seventh, but pinch runner Taylor Stevens was caught in a run down to end the game.

NOTES
-With her strikeout of LSU's Schulte to lead off the fifth inning, Brown became just the fifth Sun Belt pitcher to eclipse the 900-strikeout mark for her career.
-Todd had her 23-game reached base safely streak ended and Haleigh Lowe also had her seven-game hit steak come to an end.
-The loss also snapped a streak of seven-straight midweek wins for the Jaguars.
-LSU marked the sixth team from the Southeastern Conference that the Jaguars had faced this season.
-Lowe – who made her 100th start in leftfield for South Alabama – was named the Community Coffee Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week earlier in the day.
-The game versus the Tigers also marked the 150th consecutive game in which Foster and Todd have started together at second and shortstop, respectively.
-South Alabama's Brown became the fourth player Jaguar history to be selected to play professionally as she was the 20th overall selection in the fourth round of the Cleveland Comets in the 2018 National Pro Fastpitch College Draft Tuesday night.
-Brown joined former Jaguars Hannah Campbell (3rd overall – 2014 – Akron Racers), Farish Beard (33rd overall – Dallas Charge – 2015) and Emily Messer (31st overall – Akron Racers – 2016) to be selected by the NFP.
-LSU senior pitchers Allie Walljasper (Second overall – First Round – Beijing Shougang Eagles) and Hoover (Ninth Overall – Second Round – Cleveland Comets) were also selected in the NFP Draft on Tuesday.
-The walk issued to Sunseri to start the bottom of the second was the first free pass issued by Brown in her last three starts.
-South Alabama is now 0-9 in games when allowing an opponent to score four or more runs in an inning.
-The no-hitter was the third of Hoover's (LSU) career.
-It was also the first time South Alabama had been no-hit in a game since James Madison's Megan Good did so on March 3, 2017, ending a streak of 66 games in which the Jags had recorded at least one hit.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On the sixth inning: "I didn't thing Dev[in Brown] had her best stuff tonight and I think she would tell you the same thing.  She missed some spots there at the end."
- On the game: "[LSU's Carley] Hoover moved the ball around tonight.  I would have liked to have seen us get on time a little bit more; I thought we struggled with that part of it tonight.  At the end of the day though, we have an opportunity to walk away from the game a better team if we'll just take the lessons given to us in this game and do something with them."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_Jags. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear.  All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub

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