BATON ROUGE — Ole Miss scored five runs in the sixth and seventh innings off of LSU starter Justin Meier as the Rebels overcame a 2-0 deficit and pulled away from the Fighting Tigers en route to a 7-2 Southeastern Conference victory on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium in the opener of a three-game series.
LSU (22-11-1, 9-3-1) will try to bounce back on Saturday at 2 p.m. Ole Miss (21-12, 8-5) moved within one and half games of LSU for second place in the SEC West.
Meier, a true freshman who came into Friday’s game fourth in the SEC in ERA at 1.38, was cruising along through the first five innings, giving up only a fourth inning single to Chad Sterbens and striking out six while facing one batter over the minimum.
The Rebels solved Meier quite well in the sixth, as Barry Gunther led off with a double and was followed by a bunt single by Matt Tolbert to bring up leadoff hitter Jon Swearingen, who had grounded out and struck out in his previous two at-bats.
Swearingen proved the third time was the charm, launching Meier’s full-count pitch into the left field seats to put Ole Miss ahead, 3-2.
Meier retired Sterbens on a ground ball, but then gave up a single to Seth Smith, which soon turned into the Rebels’ fourth run on a double down the left field line by Brian Pettway.
Charlie Waite led off the seventh with a double before scoring on a double by Tolbert that drove Meier from the game. Meier, who took his first loss this year and fell to 4-1, struck out seven and walked none in 6 1/3 innings, but yielded five runs on eight hits, both season highs.
LSU (No. 8 Collegiate Baseball, No. 11 Baseball America, No. 13 ESPN/USA Today) had an opportunity to get closer in the bottom of the seventh with runners on the corners and one out, but pinch hitter Quinn Stewart grounded into an inning ending double play.
Pettway then put the game away with his second RBI double off of reliever Jake Tompkins before scoring on a base hit by Stephen Head.
Ole Miss starter T.J. Beam improved to 5-1 by limiting the Tigers to just six hits over six-plus innings. Head, who started the game at first base, relieved Beam in the seventh and pitched three perfect innings to notch his SEC leading eighth save.
LSU scored the game’s first run in the second on Jon Zeringue’s RBI single that plated Clay Harris, who doubled two batters earlier, and in the fourth, the Tigers expanded the lead to 2-0 on Ryan Patterson’s RBI double.
Ole Miss (21-12, 8-5) 000 004 120– 7 11 2
LSU (22-11-1, 9-3-1) 010 100 000– 2 6 0
T.J. Beam, Stephen Head (7) and Charlie Waite; Justin Meier, Jake Tompkins (7) and Matt Liuzza.
WP–Beam, 5-1.
LP–Meier, 4-1.
S–Head (8).
2B–Ole Miss: Barry Gunther (3), Brian Pettway 2 (10), Matt Tolbert (6); LSU: Clay Harris (10), Ryan Patterson (8).
HR–Ole Miss: Jon Swearingen (4).
T–2:43.
A–7,893 (paid); 4,965 (actual).