BATON ROUGE — Right fielder Jon Zeringue and left fielder Ryan Patterson combined to go 6-for-8 with eight RBI, while freshman left-hander Clay Dirks turned in another masterful performance on the mound as top-ranked LSU defeated No. 24 Mississippi State, 11-6, Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
LSU (No. 1 Collegiate Baseball, No. 3 Baseball America and ESPN/Sports Weekly) evened the three-game series at one game apiece and improved to 20-4 overall, 3-2 SEC. MSU (No. 24 Collegiate Baseball, No. 25 ESPN/Sports Weekly) dropped to 14-7 overall, 2-3 in league play. The Bulldogs captured a 7-3 victory over LSU on Friday night.
The rubber match for the three-game set is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday. Senior right-hander Nate Bumstead (3-0, 4.70) will take to the mound for the Tigers against MSU senior righty Alan Johnson (0-0, 2.65).
Dirks (5-0), a native of Hernando, Miss., went eight strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits, while striking out seven and walking one.
“Every time I go out there, I get stronger,” said Dirks. “(LSU pitching coach) Brady (Wiederhold) and I were on the same page again, just like against Tulane (on March 2). I got a lot of quick outs and ground balls.”
MSU starter Jeff Lacher (2-3) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings of work.
Zeringue ignited a two-run third inning for the Tigers. The junior right fielder singled to leadoff the frame and then stole second. Lacher retired the next two batters, but J.C. Holt was hit by a 2-1 pitch, leaving it up to Patterson to deliver a timely hit with a runner in scoring position.
Patterson smashed a double that caromed off of the left-center field wall, scoring Holt from first and Zeringue from second. The Tigers led 2-0, while Patterson extended his hitting streak to eight games. The Rowlett, Texas native finished a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with three RBI.
The Bulldogs countered with a two-out run of their own in the top of the fourth. Steve Gendron led off the frame, singling sharply through the middle. After Dirks set down Craig Tatum and Brad Corley, Brad Jones doubled into the left-field corner, scoring Gendron.
The Tigers broke the game open in the fourth and fifth innings, pushing across eight runs to take a 10-1 lead. Blake Gill, Matt Liuzza and Clay Harris collected three straight singles in the fourth, loading the bases for Zeringue.
Zeringue, hitting .333 with runners in scoring position, ripped a single off of third baseman Tyler Scarbrough’s glove to plate Liuzza and Gill. Matt Horwath added a two-run double to make it a 6-1 advantage.”It took us awhile, but we finally got the bats going,” said LSU head coach Smoke Laval. “We were better than them today, just like they were better than us last night.” Patterson led off the fifth inning with a solo homer, his fourth of the year. Five batters later, Zeringue blasted his team-high seventh homer of the year, a three-run shot just over the left field wall, giving the Tigers a 10-1 lead.
“Everybody had the mindset that they weren’t going to beat us today,” said Zeringue, who finished the day 3-for-3 with five RBI. “Games like last night are going to happen. You just have to come out and send a message the next day that you are going to win.”
Nick Stavinoha’s solo-homer in the sixth gave LSU a 10-run cushion at 11-1.
With the game seemingly out of reach, the Bulldogs mounted a four-run ninth inning rally, before Collin Smith, who started the inning in relief of Dirks, got Casey Hamilton to ground out to second base to end the contest.
MSU — 000 100 014 – 1 3 1
LSU — 002 441 00X – 11 13 2
WP– Dirks (5-0)
LP — Lacher (2-3)
E — Scarbrough (4); Harris, C. (3), Horwath (4); DP — MSU 2; LOB — MSU 10, LSU 4.
2B — Tatum (5), Jones (3), Grisham (1); Patterson (10), Naccarata (2), Horwath (4); 3B — Corley (2); HR — Patterson (4), Stavinoha (4), Zeringue (7);
SB — Jones (1); Stavinoha (2), Zeringue (1)
Time — 2:32 Att. — 8,289 (paid); 5,860 (actual)