BATON ROUGE — Junior left-hander Greg Smith tossed the first complete game of his career on Sunday, hurling a one-run, four-hit masterpiece to propel 12th-ranked LSU to a 5-1 victory over No. 20 Ole Miss at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (26-12, 7-8) won the final two games of the series to move just two games behind first-place Alabama (9-6) in the SEC Western Division. With the loss, the Rebels dropped to 24-12 overall, 7-8 in the league. Florida holds the top spot in the overall SEC race with a 10-5 league record.
The Tigers will next be in action at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a nationally televised showdown (ESPN 2) with No. 1 Tulane at Zephyr Field in Metairie.
Smith’s (5-2) outing was the finest of his career, limiting the hot-hitting Rebel offense to four hits and one run on a homer by Mark Wright in the second. He had previously worked a career-high seven innings in games earlier this season against Houston (Feb. 27) and Arizona State (March 13).
“I just went out there and threw my game as best as I could,” said Smith, who tallied seven strikeouts to no walks. ” It saved the bullpen for us and got us the series win. That was the best I felt in awhile.”
Smith, who threw 96 pitches on the day, fed off of the momentum from LSU