AUBURN, Ala. – Rounding out the regular season with one final road trip, Auburn softball (26-19, 6-15 SEC) treks to Baton Rouge, La., for a three game-series at Tiger Park against No. 16/13 LSU (29-17, 11-10 SEC).
"They are a very good team," said head coach Mickey Dean. "They are No. 4 in the RPI, and they've done that playing the toughest schedule as far as strength of schedule. They have good pitching. They each are very different from each other. They have a great combination of speed and power in their lineup. Defensively, they don't beat themselves. They make the routine plays, so it's going to be another challenging series."
The series begins on Friday with a 5:30 p.m. CT first pitch on ESPNU with Pam Ward and Kayla Braud on the call. Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. Sunday's regular-season finale is slated for 1 p.m. CT. Both Saturday and Sunday's contests are available to stream via SEC Network+.
Brit Bowen will be on site at Tiger Park with radio coverage for all three games of the series. Fans can tune in via the Auburn Sports Network.
Auburn concluded its home slate last weekend in a tightly contested series against No. 18 Tennessee at Jane B. Moore Field. All three games were decided by one run.
LEADING OFF
- Rounding out the regular season with one final road trip, Auburn treks to Baton Rouge, La., for a three-game series against No. 18/16 LSU. Auburn is looking for its first win at Baton Rouge since the 2015 season.
- Freshman Makayla Packer is a perfect 14-for-14 in stolen base attempts this season. Her 14 stolen bases are the second most by an Auburn freshman in school history. She is tied with Kim Blair (1997) and Case McCrackin (2019) for 10th in single season history.
- Shelby Lowe was named a finalist for Schutt Sports/NFCA National Freshman of the Year behind one of the most dominating debuts in the circle by an Auburn freshman. She leads the SEC in ERA, strikeout-to-walk ratio and fewest walks allowed per seven innings.
- Maddie Penta is just two strikeouts shy of joining Shelby Lowe with 100 for the season. Auburn has never had two freshmen record at least 100 strikeouts in the same season. Lowe holds the third most strikeouts by an Auburn freshman with 167.
- With a double in Auburn's series finale at Ole Miss, Alyssa Rivera recorded her 200th base hit. She is just the 11th Tiger in program history to ever hit the milestone. She needs just four hits to jump into the top 10 in Auburn career history.
- Head coach Mickey Dean reached a major career milestone as he recorded his 600th Division I career victory in Sunday's series finale against the Rebels. Dean holds a career .714 win percentage and earned his 100th victory as the head coach of the Tigers earlier this season.
- Behind four saves this season, KK Dismukes is tied for sixth with six additional Tigers for the most saves in a single season at Auburn. The last Tiger to record at least four saves in a season was Kaylee Carlson during the 2017 campaign. Dismukes currently ranks fourth in the SEC in saves.
- With just six strikeouts over 115 at-bats, Tyler King ranks as the fourth toughest player in the Southeastern Conference to strike out. King has struck out just three times in conference play and leads the team with a .274 SEC average.
ON DECK
The Tigers turn their attention to the 2021 SEC Softball Tournament hosted by Alabama at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The tournament begins on Tuesday, May 11 with the championship game set for Saturday, May 15. Auburn's seeding, opponent and game time will be determined following this weekend's action.