BATON ROUGE — A seven-run deficit after three innings of play was too much for the LSU baseball team to overcome on Friday night, as the 12th-ranked Tigers dropped their fifth straight Southeastern Conference game to No. 20 Ole Miss by a score of 14-8 at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (24-12, 5-8) lost their fourth consecutive series opener and are three games back of first place in the Southeastern Conference Western Division. The Rebels (24-10, 7-6) moved to within a game of West leaders Alabama (8-5) and Arkansas (8-5).
Sophomore left-hander Clay Dirks (7-1, 3.16) will look for a crucial win in Game 2 of the series at 2 p.m. Saturday. Ole Miss will counter with junior southpaw Matt Maloney (4-1, 0.99).
Until Friday night, LSU had not lost five straight league games since the 1983 season.
Four LSU pitchers combined to allow a season-high 14 runs on 18 hits, including eight of the extra-base variety.
Right fielder Brian Pettway — the conference’s leading hitter — led the attack, going 4-for-6 with three doubles, two runs and three RBI.
Lane Mestepey (5-5) lost his fourth straight game and was tagged for five runs on six hits in 1.2 innings — the shortest outing of his career. He walked one and did not record a strikeout.
“Mestepey goes out and doesn’t make it out of the second — that is a surprise,” said head coach Smoke Laval. “Even their outs were hard. I tip my hat to Ole Miss. Our guys didn’t shut anybody down.”
Tommy Baumgardner (1-0) earned his first victory of the season in relief of starter Mark Holliman. Baumgardner worked 1.2 innings, limiting LSU to no runs on two hits.
The Tigers managed double-digit hits for the second time in as many SEC games, led by Clay Harris, who was 3-for-5 with a grand slam and five RBI.
“Offensively, we were better, but we need a little more help down at the end of the lineup,” added Laval.
In its 11 previous league games, opponents had taken an early lead on LSU. The Tigers reversed the trend on Friday night, plating two in the first after Mestepey escaped a bases loaded jam in the top half of the frame.
Nick Stavinoha dropped an RBI double in shallow right field, scoring Blake Gill, who reached on a single. Stavinoha’s aggressive base running allowed Clay Harris to collect an RBI when he sent a two-out single into left field.
Having avoided a scare in the first, Mestepey uncharacteristically fell into another jam in the second. LSU’s 2-0 lead was erased after Chris Coghlan’s sacrifice fly and Stephen Head’s RBI single.
With two outs the Rebels refused to leave runners stranded when presented a second opportunity. Pettyway closed the door on Mestepey’s night with his second of three two-run doubles off of the centerfield wall.
Mestepey yielded to freshman Eric English, who immediately surrendered a two-bagger to Jon-Jon Hancock. After two innings of play, Ole Miss erased the deficit and grabbed a 6-2 lead.
English was unable to hold down the hot-hitting Rebels again in the third. A single and a walk ended his day, and Laval called upon Edgar Ramirez to keep Ole Miss at bay.
Ramirez allowed a single right away to Coghlan and a two-run double to Head.
Entering the home half of the third, LSU was faced with a 9-2 deficit — its largest of the year. Clay Harris earned a portion of the momentum back sending a grand slam home run into the night to pull the Tigers within three runs at 9-6.
For Harris, it was his third career slam and third by LSU this season. On Tuesday, Stavinoha launched a grand slam in the Tigers’ 19-2 thrashing of Northwestern State.
LSU had Holliman on the ropes in the fifth after a Stavinoha solo homer closed the gap to 10-7. Following a walk and a single, Holliman left with two outs, but neither Quinn Stewart nor Michael Hollander could manufacture a timely hit against Baumgardner.
Mark Wright’s three-run homer off of Jordan Faircloth in the eighth put the game away for the Rebels.
The Tigers left three stranded in the final three frames as Stephen Head recorded his second save of the season in 2.2 innings of relief.
Ole Miss 14, LSU 8 (Apr 15, 2005 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Ole Miss………… 063 100 040 – 14 18 1 (24-10, 7-6 SEC)
LSU……………… 204 010 010 – 8 12 0 (24-12, 5-8 SEC)
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Pitchers: Ole Miss – M. Holliman; Baumgardner(5); Head(7). LSU – Mestepey; English(2); Ramirez(3); Faircloth(8).
Win-Baumgardner(1-0) Save-Head(2) Loss-Mestepey(5-5) T-3:12 A-7699
HR UM – Mark Wright (7).
HR LSU – Stavinoha (9); Harris, C. (6).
Actual attendance: 4,502
Ramirez faced 2 batters in the 8th.