LSU Uses Six-Run Sixth To Sweep No. 21 Kentucky in 8-3 Win
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 3 LSU broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth inning to the tune of a six-run inning to beat No. 21 Kentucky 8-3 on Sunday afternoon as the Tigers picked up the sweep of the Wildcats on the opening weekend of Southeastern Conference play.
LSU scored a pair in the top of the third and Kentucky responded with a pair in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game. After the Wildcats left the bases loaded on a spectacular double play by All-American Taylor Pleasants in the fifth, the Tigers sent 11 to the plate in the sixth and put up half a dozen to give the Tigers more than enough cushion to close out the game.
LSU with Sunday’s result moves to 22-0 on the season as the lone remaining unbeaten team and is now 3-0 in Southeastern Conference play. The Wildcats fall to 14-7 and are 0-3 in SEC play, as UK was swept for the first time in an SEC opening weekend series since 2018 to No. 2 Florida in Gainesville.
Kentucky will play its next game at Lipscomb on Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET in a midweek contest in Nashville.
Freshman pitcher Sydney Langdon started her first-career SEC game Sunday afternoon, pitching the opening three innings of the game with two runs scored against her on just six hits, and recorded two strikeouts in the game. Alexia Lacatena threw the final 1.2 innings of the game, allowing just one run on three hits for the Wildcats.
Peyton Plotts had two hits in Sunday’s game, joining Taylor Ebbs as the two Wildcats with multi-hit games, as UK notched a series-high nine hits in the game. LSU had 12 hits in the game and six of them came in the sixth inning alone.
Key Play
Taylor Pleasants’ denying Grace Lorsung of the go-ahead RBI in the bottom of the fifth inning with a bases loaded stab at short and throw to first up the middle of the alley was the key play in the game that ended the Kentucky threat.
Key Player
Kentucky’s key player was Peyton Plotts, who recorded her first-career start Sunday and went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
Key Stat
- Kentucky went 7-for-36 on the weekend with runners in scoring position, as the Wildcats did a nice job of creating base runners, but just couldn’t find the critical hit to score the runs.
Run Recap
Back-to-back RBI singles in the top of the third inning gave LSU a 2-0 lead, as the Tigers got three hits in the frame, but Langdon got a flyout to LF to end the inning with only a pair of runs scoring. LSU 2, UK 0
In the bottom of the fourth, Taylor Ebbs hit a game-tying RBI double to right center to score a pair of runs and knot the game at two. UK 2, LSU 2
In the sixth inning, LSU sent 11 batters to the plate, had six hits, three walks and scored half a dozen runs to put the game out of reach. LSU 8, UK 2
Karissa Hamilton launched a solo HR in the bottom of the sixth inning. FINAL – LSU 8, Kentucky 3
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