BATON ROUGE — In front of the second largest paid attendance in school history, 8,180, LSU jumped on top of Mississippi State early in the game and, unlike game one of the series, hung on to bash the Bulldogs, 18-15, Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU improved to 32-12 on the season and 13-6 in Southeastern Conference play with the win, while Mississippi State fell to 28-11 overall and 10-7 in conference play.
Tiger starter Brian Tallet went five innings to pick up the victory and improve to a team-leading 9-2 on the season.
LSU and Mississippi State will complete the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Tigers sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first to once again jump on the Bulldogs and take an early 6-0 lead. In game one, LSU led 4-0 after a four-run first inning before giving it up in the top of the second.
Ryan Theriot walked and Mike Fontenot was hit by pitch. Each advanced a base on a wild pitch and Brad Cresse walked to load the bases. Theriot and Fontenot scored LSU’s first two runs on an RBI single by Hawpe. The Tigers’ next batter, Cedrick Harris, singled to left center scoring Cresse from third and sending MSU starter Tanner Brock (5.40 ERA entering the game — 6.63 after his 0.0 IP, 5 ER performance) to the showers.
Righthander Brandon Medders came in relief of Brock and picked up right where the ill-fated starter left off. Medders walked Wally Pontiff and hit Jeremy Witten driving in Hawpe to begin his outing. After getting the next two batters out, Medders then allowed a two-RBI single to Theriot and threw a wild pitch to move Theriot to second. Fontenot and Cresse walked to score Witten before Hawpe struck out looking to end the inning with a 7-0 lead.
Medders found himself in trouble again in the bottom of the second, then found himself on the bench. Cedrick Harris doubled to start the inning and moved to third on a passed ball. After Witten walked — Medders’ fourth walk of the day — Carroll entered in relief with runners on first and third and one out.
Carroll struck out Lipari before allowing a Texas Leaguer to Ray Wright to score both Harris and Witten and give LSU a 9-0 lead.
Mississippi State benefited from an error by Fontenot to score three unearned runs on a two-run homer by Travis Chapman and a solo shot over the center field wall by clean-up hitter Jon Knott, cutting the lead to 9-3.
LSU continued to batter MSU pitching in the bottom of the third, picking up five more runs
With one out, Cresse and Hawpe each walked and Harris singled (his third hit in as many at bats) to load the bases. Cresse scored on Pontiff’s RBI single to right before Hawpe was forced out at home on a fielder’s choice by Witten. Harris scored on a wild pitch to give LSU a 11-3 lead.
Lipari then singled to drive in Witten and Pontiff before Wright doubled home Lipari, increasing the lead to 14-3.
MSU continued to hit the long ball in the top of the fourth, getting another solo shot off of Tallet from Jamie Rock to open the inning and cut the deficit to 14-4. The Bulldogs scored another run on a two-out double by Shane Kelly scoring Matthew Maniscalco who reached on a single.
Up 14-5, the Tigers put another run on the board in the fourth after Fontenot tripled to open the inning and beat out a throw to home on a fielder’s choice by Cresse. The RBI was Cresse’s second of the game and his 78th of the season.
Once again in the fifth, Mississippi State used the homer to gain ground on Tallet and the Tigers. Rock hit his second of the day and sixth of the season to cut the lead to 15-7.
In the bottom of the fifth, righthander Josh Wooten (8.22 ERA entering the game) came in relief of Carroll who pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on six hits and striking out three. His ERA jumped from 6.23 to 11.57 in only his fifth appearance of the season. Wooten allowed only a bunt single to Wright to hold the Tigers scoreless in their half of the inning for the first time.
In the top of the sixth, LSU’s Heath McMurray came in relief of Tallet, who had allowed seven runs (four earned) on eight hits (including four home runs) in five innings pitched. He struck out seven while walking only one.
After an inning of work, McMurray was lifted in favor of Ben Saxon after he hit a batter and walked the second to open the seventh. After getting a groundout from the first batter he faced and an RBI fielder’s choice from the second, Saxon then allowed a two run home run to MSU’s leading percentage hitter, Jason Burkley, cutting the lead to 15-10. It was Burkley’s first homer of the season and the fifth of the game for MSU, a season high.
For the first time since the fourth, LSU put a run on the board in the bottom of the seventh when Witten singled and score on an RBI double by Lipari to give LSU a 16-10 lead.
The Tigers added another pair of runs in the eighth as Fontenot hit his 12th home run of the season, a solo shot to deep center field off of Wooten and Pontiff doubled off of the top of the wall in right field to score Harris who reached base after being hit by a pitch. LSU led 18-10.
LSU was plugged five times by MSU pitching in the game, and, as a team, the Tigers have been hit 73 times this season.
State loaded the bases on Saxon with no outs in the ninth on a single, an error on a potential double play and another single. A single and a double later, MSU cut the lead to 18-13 and sent Saxon to the bench in favor of Trey Hodges with runners on second and third with no outs.
Hodges struck out the first batter he faced and allowed a run on a fielder’s choice to get the second out. However, Chapman doubled home the 15th run for the Bulldogs and brought the tying run on deck. Hodges then mowed down Knott to end the game.