BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Mississippi State pitcher Alan Johnson limited LSU to three hits in 7 2/3 innings, but the Fighting Tigers took advantage of four Bulldog errors to come away with a 7-2 victory in a winner’s bracket game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium that ended in the first minutes of Saturday morning.
LSU (39-17-1) is now 2-0 in the tournament for the fourth consecutive year, and the Tigers return to action tonight at 8 p.m. against the winner of the 1 p.m. contest between Mississippi St. and Ole Miss.
Should the Tigers win tonight’s game, they will advance to Sunday’s 4 p.m. championship game. An LSU loss in the late game would force the Tigers into an elimination game on Sunday at a time to be determined.
Ole Miss eliminated Arkansas, 8-7 in 11 innings, in the other bracket two game on Friday. Alabama moved to 2-0 in bracket one with a 7-5 win over archrival Auburn, while South Carolina knocked out Vanderbilt in the day’s first game, 3-2.
Auburn and South Carolina will meet in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the winner facing Alabama at 5 p.m.
Friday’s night session drew a total crowd of 14,427, the largest single-session crowd in SEC Tournament history.
Johnson limited LSU (No. 8 Collegiate Baseball, No. 10 Baseball America, No. 11 ESPN/USA Today) to a season low four hits in a 5-0 shutout on May 3 in Starkville, and after giving up a pair of second inning hits, did not yield another hit until a one-out single in the eighth by Aaron Hill.
Johnson retired the Tigers in order in the first, but walked leadoff batter Blake Gill to start the second, and Gill would then reach second safely when Bulldog second baseman Tom Berkery dropped Matthew Maniscalco’s throw on a force play, also putting Clay Harris on first base.
LSU then scored its first runs off of Johnson this year when Ivan Naccarata split the gap in right-center fielder between MSU outfielders Jeff Butts and Brad Corley to score both runners and give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Johnson hit Ryan Patterson immediately after Naccarata’s double, and two batters later, Naccarata scored on a base hit back through the box by Matt Liuzza. The Bulldogs cut down a potential run, however, when Berkery threw out Patterson at the plate on Bruce Sprowl’s ground ball.
The Bulldogs, whose threat in the first inning was snuffed out when Matthew Brinson grounded into an inning-ending double play, started the third with a double by Jeff Butts and a single by Berkery to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Butts scored the first run for State on a ground ball hit by Matthew Mansicalo, then pulled to within 3-2 two batters later on Steve Gendron’s RBI single.
But the Bulldogs again missed an opportunity to score more runs with Brinson at the plate when the MSU first baseman grounded into his second inning-ending double play.
Berkery, whose 12th inning home run on Thursday lifted State over Ole Miss, opened the door for LSU in the third when he booted Gill’s ground ball with one out. Johnson then hit Hill, and Gill would score on a double steal when Craig Tatum’s thorw to third base went over Gendron’s head into left field.
Gill took third on the error before coming home on Patterson’s sacrifice fly.
MSU (No., 14 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 Collegiate Baseball, No. 20 Baseball America) collected 11 hits off of LSU starter Nate Bumstead, but Bumstead, a second team All-SEC pick, threw 84 of his 131 pitches for strikes in pitching his second complete game to improve to 10-2 on the year.
LSU collected a pair of insurance runs in the eighth, as Hill’s single led to a run when State reliever Brian Owens made an errant pickoff throw trying to retire Gill at first base. Gill later scored on Naccarata’s bloop single just past the dive of Jon Mungle in left field.
Mississippi St. 002 000 000– 2 11 4
LSU 032 000 02x– 7 4 0
Alan Johnson, Brian Owens (8) and Craig Tatum; Nate Bumstead and Matt Liuzza.
WP–Bumstead, 10-2.
LP–Johnson, 5-4.
2B–MSU: Jeff Butts (10); LSU: Ivan Naccarata (12).
T–2:28
A–14,427.
2003 SEC Baseball Tournament
May 22, 2003
Game 1 — #3 Auburn def. #6 Vanderbilt, 3-1
Game 2 — #7 Alabama def. #2 South Carolina, 9-7
Game 3 — #4 Mississippi State def. #5 Ole Miss, 5-4 (12)
Game 4 — #1 LSU def. #8 Arkansas, 5-4
Friday, May 23
Game 5 — #2 South Carolina def. #6 Vanderbilt, 3-2(Vanderbilt eliminated)
Game 6 — #5 Ole Miss def. #8 Arkansas, 8-7 (11) (Arkansas eliminated)
Game 7 — #7 Alabama def. #3 Auburn, 7-5
Game 8 — #1 LSU def. #4 Mississippi State, 7-2
Saturday, May 24
Game 9 — #3 Auburn def. #2 South Carolina, 5-1 (South Carolina eliminated)
Game 10 — #4 Mississippi State def. #5 Ole Miss, 4-1 (Ole Miss eliminated)
Game 11 — #7 Alabama def. #3 Auburn, 13-3 (7) (Auburn eliminated)
Game 12 — #1 LSU vs. #4 Mississippi State, 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 25
Game 13 * — not necessary
Game 14 ** — Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 12, noon
Game 15 *** — #7 Alabama vs. Winner Game 14, 4 p.m.
* – Game 13 will be necessary if the winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11.
** – Game 14 will be necessary if the winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12. If Game 13 is not necessary, Game 14 would start at 9 a.m. Sunday
*** – If both bracket winners are undefeated, there will be no 9 a.m. or noon games on Sunday and the championship game would be Game 13 at 4 p.m.
All Times are Central