Aggies avoids sweep behind Lexi Smith's dominance, defeat LSU 6-0
The No. 9 Aggie softball team (37-12, 10-8 SEC) avoided a sweep by taking the series finale against No. 15 LSU 6-0 behind the arm of Lexi Smith and a strong offensive day on Sunday afternoon in Baton Rouge.
A&M jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning. Sarah Hudek singled her way on and then swiped second base. A few batters later, Ashley Walters would drive her in with an RBI single to left-center field to give the Aggies the lead.
Hudek added another run for the Aggies in the top of the third by hitting a shot over the center field wall for a home run. Hudek had a productive day at the plate, finishing 2-4 with two runs and an RBI.
Riley Sartain would notch two more runs for the A&M in the top of the sixth, hitting a two-run line-drive home run to right field, scoring herself and Kaitlyn Alderink. Later in the inning, Kelbi Fortenberry hit a double and her teammate Kristen Cuyos plated her with an RBI-double to right-center field.
The Aggies finished off the scoring in the top of the seventh. After Keeli Milligan drew a walk and stole second base, Tori Vidales drove her in with an RBI single up the middle.
Smith (8-2, 1.13 ERA) started in the circle for the Aggies and was untouched — tossing six innings and blanking the Tigers on three hits and five punch-outs. Smith commanded the zone well and was able to work around the four walks she allowed.
Smith ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. After surrendering three walks to load the bases, Smith would get the next batter to fly out to end the inning and pitch around the jam. Smith turned the ball over to Payton McBride, who finished off the game by pitching a scoreless seventh inning.
With a win on Sunday, the Aggies are in fifth place in the conference standings with Auburn just behind them, making this weekend’s series against the Tigers that much more important.
The Aggies return to the diamond April 27 when they play host to Auburn in the first series at the newly constructed Davis Diamond. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on the SEC Network +.