BATON ROUGE, La. -- Southern Miss scored two runs in the top of the seventh, but it was not enough as the Lady Eagles fell, 5-3, to nationally ranked LSU, Wednesday, at the LSU Tiger Field on the Baton Rouge campus.
The Lady Eagles (24-22) finished with three runs on 11 hits and made one error, but left 10 runners on base in the game. LSU, No. 2 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 6 in the USA Today/NFCA poll, finished with five runs on seven hits and made three errors.
Southern Miss got off to a lightning-quick start with Jessica Huerta's one-out solo home run in the top of the first inning. Huerta came up and nailed the first pitch off LSU starter Emily Turner, launching it to center field and giving the Lady Eagles the 1-0 lead.
Freshman starter Jessica Saunier and the Southern Miss defense stood strong over the first three innings of the game. Saunier gave up just two hits in the span -- a bunt single and an infield single by LaDonia Hughes.
The Lady Eagles threatened to increase their lead in the top of the fourth, putting two runners on via a a single and an error with no outs. But Turner and the LSU defense stiffened, retiring the next three batters to squelch the threat and keep the 1-run deficit intact.
The Lady Tigers evened the score with a single run in the fourth inning, taking advantage of Leigh Ann Danos' RBI-single through the right side to score Leslie Hill from second.
That score remained until the bottom of the fifth, when LSU rallied to score four runs on four hits with one Southern Miss error, taking the 5-1 lead. In the inning, Lauren Delahoussaye drove in two runs with a two-out single through the left side.
The Lady Eagles then tacked on their final two runs with consecutive RBI doubles by Auriel Jenkins and Ashley Davis in the top of the seventh.
Saunier (2-6) took the loss after throwing 4.2 innings and giving up five runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Danielle Wymer pitched 1.1 innings, not allowing a hit and striking out one.
Turner (16-3) picked up the win for the Lady Tigers, giving up three runs, one earned, on 11 hits in 6.2 innings. Kristin Schmidt earned the save, facing one batter with one strikeout.
Jenkins paced Southern Miss with three hits, while Sarah Boyd and Heather Bell each had two. Hughes led LSU with two hits.
Southern Miss returns home for a three-game league series against defending C-USA champion DePaul. Saturday's doubleheader is set to begin at 1 p.m., while Sunday's single game also will start at 1 p.m.
