BATON ROUGE - Freshman left-hander Jordan Rittiner allowed only one earned run in six innings, and centerfielder Leon Landry went 3-for-4 with two triples, as No.1 LSU topped Brown, 9-2, Sunday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.

The Tigers (11-0) will host UL-Monroe in a mid-week contest beginning Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium. LSU will then travel to Shreveport to take on Northwestern State Wednesday at 6 p.m. before returning home to play host to Kansas in a three-game series beginning Friday at 7 p.m.

LSU is 11-0 for the first time since 1997, when the Tigers won their first 19 games of the year. Sunday's win was LSU's 17th straight home victory, dating back to last season.

Rittiner (2-0) threw six innings, including five shutout frames and allowed only one earned run in the second start of his LSU career. Brown starter Rob Wilcox (0-1) was charged with the loss after throwing 5.2 innings and allowing six runs on eight hits.

Landry's three hits paced LSU offensively. The Baker, La., product also had two RBI and scored a run in Sunday's contest. Second baseman Tyler Hanover finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored to supplement the Tigers' offense.

"I don't know if we would have won this game today without Leon Landry," said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. "He had a great day, and he really sparked us when we kind of slept-walked through the first few innings. I was worried that after an emotional win last night (3-2 over Pepperdine) we might be a little sluggish early, but we were finally able to generate some offense and build a lead."

The Bears (1-3) took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning when third baseman Cody Slaughter singled to right-center field, scoring first baseman Pete Greskoff. The next batter, Nick Punal blooped a single into shallow right, scoring Josh Feit.

LSU got on the board in the fourth inning when Blake Dean ripped a double off the wall in right and later scored on an RBI triple by Landry that pulled the Tigers within one at 2-1.

The Tigers tied the game, 2-2, in the fifth when Austin Nola hit a soft ground ball to second allowing Beau Didier to score from third. Didier singled earlier in the inning.

LSU broke the game open in the sixth inning when Landry laced his second triple of the game, scoring Hanover, who singled one batter earlier, to give the Tigers their first lead of the game, 3-2. Landry became the first Tiger to hit two triples in a game since former LSU infielder DJ LeMahieu accomplished the feat on Feb. 22, 2009 against Villanova.

The next batter, Mikie Mahtook, belted his second homer of the season, a two-run shot that extended the Tigers' lead to 5-2. The Tigers increased their lead to 6-2 later in the inning when Nola singled to right, scoring catcher Grant Dozar from second.

In the seventh inning, Dozar crushed a two-out double, scoring Hanover and Mahtook to make the score 8-2 in favor of the Tigers. Pinch hitter Johnny Dishon roped a double to right and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hanover in the eighth to give LSU a 9-2 advantage.

Mitch Mormann, Paul Bertuccini and Matty Ott combined to shutout the Bears in the final three innings while allowing two hits.

"I'm pleased that we're 11-0; you can't do much better than that in 11 games," Mainieri said. "At the same time, we know we have a long way to go before we can feel satisfied. We haven't won anything yet."

SOFTBALL
BATON ROUGE - The No. 16 LSU softball team used a six-run third inning coupled with 4.1 innings of spotless relief from Cody Trahan to dismantle Syracuse 9-2 in the championship game of the Purple & Gold Challenge Sunday at Tiger Park.

LSU (18-4) notched its 13th consecutive victory in addition to a third straight home tournament championship. The Tigers were fueled offensively by Courtney Hollier, who turned in a 2-for-4 performance with a career-best three RBIs. Morgan Russell and Jessica Mouse also combined for a perfect 5-for-5 effort and two RBIs apiece from the bottom of the lineup.

LSU swiped a season-best eight stolen bases highlighted by two steals from Kirsten Shortridge and Ashley Langoni.

"I challenged the team a couple weeks ago and told them we were boring to watch. We needed to win the crowd," head coach Yvette Girouard said. "I told them we were fun to watch after the game today. We were stealing bases and have had absolutely fantastic defense. Ashley [Langoni] will run into any wall and sacrifice her body to catch any fly ball. We're pitching well and throwing people out. This is the most fit team we've had in a long time and it shows on the base paths.

The Tigers manufactured a pair of runs in the second inning after Langoni drew a leadoff walk before advancing to third base on two steals. LSU made the most of three infield singles along with a Russell sacrifice fly to grab a 2-0 advantage.

Syracuse (6-9) collected two runs to even the score at 2-2 in the third inning as Kelly Saco and Lacey Kohl picked up RBIs via a bases loaded walk and hit batter, respectively. With two outs and the bases loaded still loaded, Girouard turned to Trahan out of the bullpen.

Trahan stopped the Orange momentum and got Meghan Boston to fly out to left field on a 1-1 offering to get out of the jam.

"It's a little different with relief. You have to come in with a different mentality," Trahan said. "It's something I haven't done that much here lately. It was good to have that opportunity today, especially with the SEC because we need to be ready for any position."

LSU fired back in the home half of the frame ignited by an Anissa Young one-out walk. A Langoni double moved pinch runner Tiffany Shaw to third base. Hollier platted both runs with a single to left field. Two batters later, Hollier came around to score on Russell RBI-single to make it 5-2.

Mouse put the game out of reach with a two-run homer, her first of the season, off the left field foul pole. After a SU pitching change, Shortridge was issued a four-pitch walk. She stole second and used alert baserunning to score on a wild pitch to go along with an Orange error to cap the six-run frame.

Hollier tacked on a RBI-double in the fourth inning, while Trahan sat down all 13 batters she faced to close out the 9-2 win. She improved to 5-0 on the season and was joined by Hollier, Mitchell, Shortridge and Rachele Fico on the All-Tournament Team. Mitchell claimed Tournament MVP accolades after racking up seven RBIs

"A good time for Cody to be in a groove going into SEC play next weekend," Trahan said. "We don't really know who our No. 1 pitcher is, but boy we have a lot of options. It was good to see her come in, and she slammed the door on Syracuse."

"It's really important to make sure we stay on top of our game. Winning is always good for our confidence," Mitchell said. "It was good that we could come out, get our hacks in and do what we do best. I normally do start off pretty slowly until we start off SEC, but were only one weekend away. I'm not jumping the gun too quickly.

LSU wraps up its 18-game homestand with a mid-week tilt against Nicholls. Wednesday's first pitch is slated for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted live on ESPN Radio 104.5 and 104.9 FM in the Baton Rouge area with Patrick Wright set to call all of the action. Live video and stats also are available in the Geaux Zone on LSUSports.net and live in-game updates via http://www.twitter.com/lsu_softball.