Coming off three straight SEC series wins, the MSU softball Bulldogs (26-17, 9-8) are looking to continue their home-field success against the No. 6 LSU Tigers (39-6, 14-3) in a doubleheader Saturday.”We’ve got LSU coming in as the No. 6 team in the nation,” fifth-year MSU head coach Jay Miller said, “so it’s an opportunity to knock off someone who is not only ahead of us in the conference race, but who’s also ranked very high nationally.”
The Bulldogs are currently 14-3 at home this season, and each of their last three SEC series wins (Auburn, South Carolina and Ole Miss) have been chalked up in Starkville.
LSU currently leads in the all-time series against MSU, by a 33-5 margin.
The Tigers have won the last four contests between the two schools and have also won 15 of the 19 meetings between them in Starkville.
The Bulldogs were swept by the Tigers last season, losing by scores of 5-0, 4-0 and 7-1 in Baton Rouge.
Freshman infielder and two-time SEC Freshman of the Week Chelsea Bramlett leads the Bulldogs offensively, currently batting .421.
She also leads the entire SEC with 39 stolen bases on 41 attempts.
MSU will rely on the arm of senior starting pitcher Kelli Miller (11-7), who has contrived a 1.67 ERA in nearly 100 innings pitched.
LSU is led offensively by senior outfielder Leslie Klein, who is currently batting .419.
She leads the Tigers with 34 runs scored and 42 runs batted in.
LSU is fortunate enough to wield two pitching aces with sub-2.00 ERAs and over 10 wins each.
Senior Emily Turner and sophomore Dani Hofer boast ERAs of 1.25 and 1.37, respectively, and have combined to amass a record of 30-6 between them.
“We’ll need to have good defense, strong pitching and timely hitting, just like we had last Saturday against Ole Miss,” Miller said. “We have to have these things to win ballgames and that’s against any team.