BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — LSU continued to steamroll its way to another Southeastern Conference tournament championship, scoring six runs before Ole Miss could record an out as the Tigers cruised past the Rebels, 13-2, in a winner’s bracket contest Thursday night at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
For the second straight game, the Tigers needed only seven innings to complete the victory, as the contest was called by the tournament’s 10-run rule.
LSU (39-18-1) won its 15th consecutive post-season game dating back to last year’s SEC Tournament, and now will take Friday off before facing the winner of Friday’s 3 p.m. elimination game between Florida (34-24) and Ole Miss (37-20-1).
Ryan Theriot started LSU’s opening salvo with a single on a full count, then Wally Pontiff drew a four-pitch walk. Mike Fontenot launched a three-run homer to right field, his second of the tournament.
Bryan Moore followed Fontenot with a single, and Todd Linden’s double off the right field fence set the table for Zeph Zinsman, who launched the Tigers’ second three-run homer of the frame over both walls in right-center, more than 420 feet away.
The six-run outburst in the first inning was LSU’s largest opening uprising of the season, tying the six-run first it enjoyed at South Carolina on April 7.
LSU freshman Lane Mestepey now had all the support he would need, as he allowed no earned runs and just three hits over six innings to improve to 10-3 on the year.
LSU took advantage of an Ole Miss error to score two more runs in the fifth on Matt Heath’s two-run single.
Ole Miss finally got on the board in the sixth with the help of Fontenot’s error, which allowed Matt Tolbert to score, but the Tigers ended the game with a five-run uprising in the seventh, highlighted by an RBI double from Moore and a two-run double by David Raymer.
The lone embarrassing moment for the Tigers came in the sixth inning, as Wally Pontiff lined a hard shot to third that was stabbed by Rebel third baseman Lance Jones. Jones stepped on third to force Raymer and fired to Josh Christian at first to nail Theriot and complete a triple play, the first recorded triple play against LSU in its 108-year baseball history.