BATON ROUGE — Freshman left fielder Ryan Schimpf drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to give LSU a 4-3 walk-off win over No. 13 Ole Miss before a boisterous crowd on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (20-15-1, 5-7-1 SEC) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Rebels and won the opening game of a home Southeastern Conference series for the first time since May 12 of last season.
Ole Miss fell to 24-12 overall and 7-6 in league play. The Rebels have lost five of their last six games in Alex Box Stadium.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, weather permitting. Ole Miss is scheduled to start sophomore right-hander Lance Lynn (3-2, 2.53), while LSU head coach Paul Mainieri has yet to announce a starter.
Schimpf’s walk came after the LSU bullpen turned in perhaps its best outing of the year in a pressure situation. Freshman Paul Bertuccini and junior Jared Bradford combined to work 2.2 perfect innings of relief and proved to be the difference.
“That wasn’t a cheap win; we earned that win tonight,” said Mainieri. “We swung the bats. We hit the ball hard. We made some great defensive plays. The pitching was outstanding. I thought it was a heck of a team win.”
Bradford (6-2) faced the minimum, working the final two frames without allowing a run or a hit to qualify for his sixth victory. He walked none and struck out one on just 19 pitches.
“It was a big decision to bring him in with a tie game, but I just felt like the kids were playing their hearts out the entire game against a top-ranked team in our ballpark,” said Mainieri. “Our kids were really battling at the plate, and I felt like we could score a run in the next couple of innings.”
Rebel ace reliever Scott Bittle (1-4) absorbed the loss, allowing a run on two hits in 0.2 innings with two walks, including the game-winner to Schimpf.
Bittle retired third baseman Chris Jackson to start the ninth, but centerfielder Jared Mitchell and designated hitter Blake Dean connected on back-to-back singles.
With runners at the corners and one out, Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco elected to intentionally walk first baseman Sean Ochinko, who came to the plate with a career-high three hits.
Schimpf, who had one hit in his last 18 at-bats, took four straight balls from Bittle to earn the game-winning RBI and lift the Tigers to their first walk-off win since a series opener against Arkansas on April 28 last season.
“I was going to jump on anything close to get that run in,” said Schimpf. “I wasn’t looking for the perfect pitch. I was pumped.”
Three LSU batters — Ochinko, Mitchell and second baseman Nicholas Pontiff — collected three hits apiece to lead a 14-hit attack. It marked the fourth straight game the Tigers produced double-digit hits.
Pontiff and Ochinko both set career-highs with their three-hit games. Dean extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which is the longest by an LSU player since 2003 when Ivan Naccarata hit safely in 19 straight games.
Ole Miss starter Will Kline allowed a season-high 12 hits, allowing three runs — two earned — in 7.2 innings of work. Kline walked one and struck out seven.
“Our kids battled him hard,” said Mainieri. “They played the game the way I’d like to see them play. I was very proud of them.”
Meanwhile, LSU starter Charlie Furbush fought through some early-inning trouble to scatter 10 hits and three runs in 6.1 innings of work. The left-hander walked one and struck out two in an 83-pitch outing.
Ole Miss took a 1-0 lead in the first against Furbush. Left fielder Justin Henry singled and took second on a passed ball. Shortstop Zack Cozart was hit by a pitch, and cleanup hitter Cody Overbeck followed with an RBI single up the middle.
Ochinko led off the second with the first of his three hits, and three batters later he came in to tie the game on a Pontiff RBI single that was chopped into left field. It marked the first RBI of the season for the Metairie, La., native.
The teams traded a pair of runs in the third. Ole Miss claimed the lead again on an RBI double by Cozart and a two-out single by second baseman Zach Miller. LSU answered with an RBI groundout from Dean, and a run-scoring single by Ochinko.
Furbush settled down and kept the Tigers within striking distance, working his final 3.1 innings without surrendering a run. He benefited from a diving catch by right fielder Chris McGhee to save a run in the sixth.
Bertuccini came on with one out and the go-ahead run on second base in the seventh. The right-hander induced two pop-ups from Cozart and third baseman Cody Overbeck — the heart of the Rebel order — before yielding to Bradford to start the eighth.
LSU 4, Ole Miss 3 (Apr 13, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Ole Miss………… 102 000 000 – 3 10 0 (24-12, 7-6 SEC)
LSU………………. 012 000 001 – 4 14 2 (20-15-1, 5-7-1 SEC)
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Pitchers: Ole Miss – Will Kline; Scott Bittle(8). LSU – Charlie Furbush; Paul Bertuccini(7); Jared Bradford(8).
Win-Jared Bradford(6-2) Loss-Scott Bittle(1-4) T-2:49 A-7580
Actual attendance: 3,394