BATON ROUGE, La. – Facing the nation's sixth-best offense, senior Hannah Haydel limited No. 7 LSU to just four hits, but a pair of early runs by the Tigers was enough as Jessica Taylor's infield single in the seventh was the only hit for the Colonel offense in a 2-0 loss Tuesday night at Tiger Park.
 
With the setback, Nicholls fell to 16-12 on the season while LSU improved to 26-5. Nicholls will return to conference play this weekend at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, with the first of a three-game set scheduled for Friday afternoon.
 
Haydel (8-6) gave up three of her four hits in the first two innings, resulting in a 2-0 lead for the Tigers. Bailey Landry tripled to lead off the game and scored following an error, and she came through with an RBI single in the second for the early lead.
 
Haydel's fourth allowed hit was on a bunt to start the fourth before she went on to retire eight in a row. She issued one of her five walks in the sixth, but forced a foul-out to end the inning.
 
Nicholls had a few chances early against LSU's Sydney Smith (7-1), drawing a walks in the first two frames, and an error in the second put two on with two outs. But Smith got Kayla Prater to ground out to end the inning.
 
The final out of the second sparked a string of 15 consecutive retired batters for Smith, who needed one more out in the game to record her second no-hitter of the season. Down to the last batter, Taylor swung at the first pitch from Smith and the ball dribbled down the third base line and stopped, allowing Taylor to beat the throw to first to break up the no-hitter.
 
Smith would end the game on the next batter as she struck out Kasey Frederick for her fourth punchout of the night.
 
Haydel pitched all six innings for the Colonels, allowing one earned run and struck out two. Landy led LSU with a 2-for-3 night at the plate, while Amber Serrett was 2-for-2.