Freshman pitcher Baylee Corbello struggled in the pitcher’s circle and LSU failed to get clutch hits throughout Sunday afternoon as it lost its second consecutive game to Auburn, 7-0, at Jane B. Moore Field in Auburn, Ala.
The game gave Auburn (19-3-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) the series victory in what was both teams’ opening SEC series. LSU (17-8, 1-2 SEC) earned a 4-1 victory Friday night, but a 6-4 loss Saturday afternoon and the loss Sunday gave LSU its second losing streak of the season.
Neither coach Beth Torina nor any of the players made themselves available to the media after the game.
LSU trailed for the majority of the game Friday as it failed to get a run across for the first five innings. But a three-hit inning, including back-to-back doubles by freshman outfielder Bailey Landry and junior outfielder A.J. Andrews, gave LSU a three-run lead it never relinquished.
Saturday marked another struggling performance from senior pitcher Ashley Czechner. She was taken out in the fourth inning after allowing six earned runs. The outing nullified a two-home run performance from freshman catcher Sahvanna Jaquish.
On Sunday, Auburn got to Corbello early, with junior outfielder Branndi Melero’s three-run home run in the first inning, her sixth of the year. It was the third home run Corbello has allowed in 2014, and the three runs were the most she has allowed all year.
Things worsened in the second when two hits and three walks extended Auburn’s lead to five and brought Corbello’s day to an end. Prior to Sunday, Corbello had yet to be taken out of a game, going the full seven innings in her first 10 outings.
Auburn sophomore Lexi Davis was the star of the game, pitching a complete-game shutout while allowing eight hits and no walks on 91 pitches. The performance was Davis’s 10th complete game of the season, twice as many as she had in 2013.
LSU generated offense throughout the game but never put everything together to scratch a run across. After the first, LSU recorded a hit in every inning, but a lack in clutch hitting resulted in six runners left on base.
LSU will head back to Tiger Park for its next SEC series as it takes on Florida starting Friday night. The Gators have started the season winning 24 of their first 25 games.