Live Stats | Live Audio ($) | Video Stream THIBODAUX, La. – Winners of 10 of its last 13 games, the Nicholls State University softball team will be looking to notch a win against one of the hottest teams in the nation as the Colonels head to Baton Rouge for a Tuesday night tilt against No. 3 LSU at Tiger Park.
The game will be streamed live on SEC Network+ and a premium audio broadcast provided by LSU will be available as well. Live stats, along with video and audio links, can be accessed by visiting geauxcolonels.com.
Behind another stellar weekend from junior
Hannah Haydel in the circle, Nicholls claimed its second consecutive Southland Conference series by winning two of three at Sam Houston State. In five appearances in conference play, Haydel is 4-1 with a 0.49 earned run average in 28-plus innings pitched. With a 9-3 record on the year, she has a 1.58 ERA and has held opponents to a .191 average.
At the plate,
Brooke Morris tallied five hits over the weekend including a pair of two-hit games, giving the sophomore a team-high 11 multi-hit games on the year. With her current six-game hitting streak, Morris is third on the team in batting average at .392. Fellow sophomore
Haley Stevenson has been one of the best hitters in the SLC this season, ranking second with a .437 batting average. Nicholls has a total of five players who are batting .300 or better, including
Alexis Huss, who ranks 10th in the league at .392, and freshman leadoff hitter
Payton Gremillion (.345).
As a team, Nicholls leads the Southland in batting with a .315 average. The Colonels have pounded out double figures in hits in seven games this season and have a 13-2 mark when recording eight or more hits in a game.
The pitching staff has a collective 2.62 ERA, which is second best in the Southland. Along with Haydel, sophomores
Taylor Hastings and
Jackie Johnson have received the bulk of the innings on the season. Hastings is 3-0 with a 2.80 ERA in nine appearances while Johnson is 4-5 with a 3.03 in 62.1 innings of work. Johnson leads the team with 51 strikeouts, followed by Haydel with 50.
After winning their first 25 games, the LSU Tigers saw their winning streak snapped on Friday at No. 1 Florida. But LSU outslugged the previously unbeaten Gators in the next two games to win the series with 14-10 and 10-3 victories.
LSU posts a .374 batting average, led by Bianka Bell's .545 mark. Bell has been putting up national player of the year type numbers for the Tigers as she already has 11 doubles, nine home runs and 41 RBIs. A.J. Andrews is at even .500 at the plate, with Bailey Landry close behind at .494. Sahvannah Jaquish heads the Tigers with 11 homers and 45 RBIs.
The LSU pitching staff has been just as impressive, with all four Tiger hurlers posting sub-2.00 ERAs. The staff has combined for a 1.36 ERA, 12 shutouts and 207 strikeouts. Allie Walljasper leads the quartet with an 8-0 record and a 1.09 ERA, followed by Carley Hoover (7-1, 1.66), Baylee Corbello (6-0, 1.21) and Kelsee Selman (6-0, 1.47).
Following Tuesday's game, Nicholls will return home to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a three-game series this weekend. The first game is scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m.
