BATON ROUGE — Ivan Naccarata blasted two home runs and collected seven RBI as LSU pounded Mississippi State, 14-3, to win its Southeastern Conference series with the Bulldogs Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
The seven RBI by Naccarata was the most by an LSU player since Bryan Moore also drove in seven in a non-conference contest at Arizona State on March 3, 2001.
The Tigers (No. 1 Collegiate Baseball, No. 3 Baseball America and ESPN/Sports Weekly) won their fourth consecutive SEC series over two seasons, improving to 21-4 overall, 4-2 in league play. MSU dropped to 14-8 overall, 2-4 in the SEC.
LSU returns to action Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. when the Tigers travel to face New Orleans at Maestri Field. Mississippi State hosts UAB in a non-conference tilt Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.
Nate Bumstead (4-0) picked up his fourth win of the season Sunday, scattering 10 hits and allowing three runs (two earned) in 7.1 innings.
“It’s just a typical Sunday out there — score a lot of runs and play good defense,” said the senior right-hander. “I kind of battled through there today, but I guess Sunday just seems to be our day.”
The Bulldogs took an early 1-0 lead when Brad Jones drove an 0-2 Bumstead fastball the opposite way over the left-field wall for his first homer of the season.
The Tigers responded with a seven-run third-inning outburst, sending 10 batters to the plate against MSU starter Alan Johnson.
J.C. Holt and Ryan Patterson collected back-to-back singles, and Blake Gill lined a single just over the outstretched arms of second baseman Jeffrey Rea, scoring Holt. After Matt Liuzza walked to load the bases, Nick Stavinoha flied out to right field, deep enough to get Patterson home from third.
Jon Zeringue, hitting a torrid .600 on the weekend, dropped the fourth single of the inning into right field to plate Gill.
With LSU leading 4-1, Ivan Naccarata delivered the pivotal hit of the inning, smacking the two-out first pitch from Johnson inside the left-field fair pole for his second homer of the year. The senior third baseman, making his first start of the weekend, capped the seven-run, five-hit barrage with the three-run shot.
“I felt like I was swinging the bat well today,” said the Quebec native. “Confidence-wise, this bodes well for me. You just have to keep going out there everyday.”
Johnson (0-1) was lifted in the fifth after allowing eight runs, all earned, on nine hits in 4.1 innings of work.
LSU put the game out of reach in the seventh and eighth innings, pushing across three runs in each frame.
Naccarata delivered his second homer of the game in the seventh, depositing a 1-1 Brooks Dunn offering over the right-field wall to score Zeringue and Clay Harris.
“You know he (Naccarata) is going to hit,” said LSU head coach Smoke Laval. “It’s just a matter of time. It is a tremendous plus when he gets it going for us. I hope it stays that way.”
Gill’s eighth inning leadoff double sparked another three-run frame, this time off of MSU reliever Todd Doolittle. Gill smashed a 0-1 pitch into the right-center field alley, and Liuzza drove him in on a RBI single. Will Harris’ two-run, pinch-hit single gave LSU a 14-3 advantage.
Gill finished the game with four hits, tying a career-high, while adding two runs and a RBI. The Bradenton, Fla. native also collected four hits against Mercer on Feb. 17, 2002.
Lane Mestepey came on for Bumstead in the eighth, working a scoreless 1.2 innings to close out the game.
MSU — 010 010 100 – 3 11 1
LSU — 007 010 33X – 14 16 3
WP — Bumstead (4-0)
LP — Johnson (0-1)
E — Scarbrough (5); Gill (5) Naccarata 2 (4); DP — LSU 3; LOB — MSU 7, LSU 6
2B — Butts (5); Holt (9), Gill (6); HR — Jones (1); Naccarata 2 (3); SF — Stavinoha (3), Naccarata (2)
Time — 2:20
Att. — 8,040 (paid); 5,487 (actual)