THIBODAUX, La.  – The Nicholls State University softball team will play two midweek non-conference games this week, hosting Alcorn State Tuesday before heading to Baton Rouge for a rematch against No. 12 LSU on Wednesday. Both games will start at 6 p.m.

Tuesday's home meeting with Alcorn (1-12) can be listened to live on ThiboduaxOnline.com, while the LSU game will be broadcast live on Cox Sports Television (CST). No audio broadcast for the Wednesday's game will be available.

Nicholls (8-13) is coming off a series loss in the conference opener against Lamar, falling two games to one last weekend at home. On Saturday, the Colonels scored nine runs to win game one of the doubleheader before a costly error led to four runs for Lamar in the nightcap, giving the Lady Cardinals a 7-3 victory. LU then rallied from a two-run deficit in the finale en route to a 4-3 win in nine innings.

While the Colonels hit .322 and the pitching staff had a respectable 2.43 in the series, in game one against Lamar, Nicholls was flawless on defense, recording no errors for the fourth time this season. In those games, the Colonels are 3-1 with their only loss coming in a 1-0 decision at LSU. But in the last two contests, two miscues turned into four runs for the visiting Lady Cardinals, which ultimately made the difference in the outcomes.

Senior Leah Andrus continues to anchor the Colonels at the plate, leading the squad with a .308 batting average. Andrus was one of five Colonels to have four hits in the series, with two going for extra bases. Joining Andrus with four hits was Alaina Guidry, Danielle Phillips, Ashley Bertot and Ashton Bennett, who led Nicholls with five RBIs with one coming on a solo home run.

Bennett also earned the victory in the circle, giving her win No. 6 on the year. She started Sunday's game and took the hard-luck loss, pitching all nine innings against LU. For the weekend, she tossed 15 innings, giving up six earned runs on 19 hits with six strikeouts. On the year, she posts a 6-5 record with a team-best 2.19 ERA.

Alcorn State heads to Thibodaux with one win on the season -  a 7-0 shutout over Kentucky State. The Lady Braves have struggled to start the season, hitting .157 as a team while the pitching staff posts an 8.85 ERA. Hannah Vesper leads the team with a .310 batting average and has five doubles on the year.

No. 12 LSU heads into the rematch with Nicholls after going 2-1 last weekend against Mississippi State. The Tigers won the opener in 14 innings, 1-0, and bounced back from a 2-1 loss on Saturday to win Sunday's finale 9-2.

The game will serve as LSU's first game in Tiger Park since the Tigers and Colonels squared off on Feb. 17, with LSU winning 1-0. Bennett tossed a complete game for Nicholls, but her counterpart, Meghan Patterson, held the Colonels to four hits and struck out eight to keep Nicholls off the board.

LSU is led at the plate by Jacee Blades, who is hitting .370 in 23 games played. Allison Falcon trails by only a few points, batting .364 and leads the team with 18 RBIs. As a team, the Tigers have a .295 batting average with 22 home runs.

The pitching staff is headed by All-American Rachele Fico, who has a 12-3 record and a 1.73 ERA Fico has fanned 127 batters in 97 innings while holding the opposition to a .189 batting average. The Colonels could miss Fico though as she started two games over the weekend. Patterson is next in line with a 3-2 record, 1.88 ERA and 34 strikeouts.