May 18, 2007

The No. 3 LSU Tigers narrowly avoided an upset today, edging the Fresno State Bulldogs in nine innings in the third game of the Fresno Regional. Rachel Mitchell blasted a solo homerun over the left field wall in the top of the ninth, and the Tigers held on for a 1-0 win.

LSU put runners on in seven of the first eight innings, but Bulldog pitcher Robin Mackin pitched herself out of multiple jams to keep the Tigers off the board. In the top of the ninth, however, Mitchell finally took a Mackin pitch deep with one out and won the game for LSU.

Mackin struck out 10 in the loss, while Emily Turner pitched a two-hit shutout for LSU and earned her 22nd win of the season.

Fresno State will play the winner of the Stanford-Cal State Northridge game in an elimination game tonight at 6 p.m. LSU will play the winner of that game tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. live on ESPN2.