STARKVILLE, Miss. — Shortstop Michael Hollander‘s two-out RBI double in the top of the ninth inning Saturday broke a 5-5 tie and lifted the Tigers to a 6-5 victory over No. 15 Mississippi State at Dudy Noble Field.
LSU evened the SEC series at one game apiece as the Tigers improved to 22-18-1 overall and 7-9-1 in league play. Mississippi State, which defeated LSU 12-3 on Friday night, dropped to 25-9 and 9-6.
The teams meet in the series finale at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The game can be heard on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network and in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net.
Mississippi State reliever Ricky Bowen retired the first two LSU hitters in the top of the ninth inning with the scored knotted at 5-5, but third baseman Chris Jackson kept the inning alive with a single.
Hollander then punched a double just inside the right-field line to score Jackson from first base and give LSU a 6-5 lead.
Right-hander Jared Bradford took the mound for LSU in the bottom of the ninth and retired the first two Bulldog batters. However, first baseman Mitch Moreland and shortstop Brandon Turner lined consecutive singles to place the tying run and second base and the winning run at first.
Bradford, however, recorded the final out when designated hitter Jeff Flagg chopped a grounder to shortstop, where Hollander flipped the ball to second baseman Nicholas Pontiff to end the game.
“I’m so proud of our guys for rebounding with a tremendous game after a tough loss last night,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “It was a great team win; we had important contributions from so many players that allowed us to earn this victory. Mississippi State has a great team ? they are as impressive as any club we’ve seen this season ? so we had to give the maximum effort in order to beat them. It was an excellent college baseball game; neither team made an error, and there were several big plays that gave us the opportunity to win.”
Bradford earned his fifth save of the season, preserving the victory for T.J. Forrest (2-2). Forrest, who entered the game in the sixth inning, fired three scoreless frames and allowed just one hit with two strikeouts.
Bowen (3-1), who entered the game in the eighth inning in relief of MSU starter Justin Pigott, was charged with the loss as he surrendered on run on two hits in 1.2 innings with one walk and one strikeout.
LSU took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Hollander launched a solo homer, his fifth dinger of the season.
Mississippi State later struck for three runs in the third against LSU starter Ryan Byrd. Catcher Edward Easley lined a two-run double, and Turner contributed an RBI single to give the Bulldogs a two-run advantage.
LSU narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the fifth when rightfielder Jason Lewis singled and scored on Pontiff’s two-out double into left-centerfield.
Lewis, making just his ninth start of the season, was 3-for-3 on the day with two doubles and two runs scored.
The Bulldogs extended their lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Turner slapped a two-run single off of Byrd, scoring leftfielder Joseph McCaskill and Easley to give MSU a 5-2 lead.
LSU responded with three runs in the top of the sixth against Pigott to tie the contest. After first baseman Sean Ochinko struck out, centerfielder Jared Mitchell was hit by a pitch. Mitchell advanced to third on Lewis’ double, and he scored when Pigott fired a wild pitch.
Pontiff then unloaded a two-run homer to left field, scoring Lewis and tying the game at 5-5. The home run was the first this season for Pontiff and the second of his LSU career. Pontiff was 2-for-4 at the plate with one homer, one double, three RBI and one run.
Pigott recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in 7.1 innings. The left-hander allowed five runs on seven hits with three walks.
Byrd was charged with five runs on eight hits in five innings with two walks and no strikeouts.
LSU freshman designated hitter Blake Dean saw his hitting streak end at 20 games Saturday. Dean, who was 0-for-4 at the plate, recorded the longest streak by an LSU player since Cedrick Harris posted a 21-game streak in 2000.
LSU 6, Mississippi State 5 (Apr 21, 2007 at Starkville, Miss.)
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LSU…………………. 100 103 001 – 6 9 0 (22-18-1, 7-9-1 SEC)
Mississippi State… 003 020 000 – 5 11 0 (25-9, 9-6 SEC)
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Pitchers: LSU – Ryan Byrd; T.J. Forrest(6); Jared Bradford(9). Mississippi State – Justin Pigott; Ricky Bowen(8).
Win-T.J. Forrest(2-2) Save-Jared Bradford(5) Loss-Ricky Bowen(3-1) T-3:05 A-8006
HR LSU – Michael Hollander (5); Nicholas Pontiff (1).