BATON ROUGE, La. – Top-ranked LSU (17-1, 1-0) captured its first game of SEC play this season, defeating Ole Miss (9-8, 0-1) Friday night by a score of 6-4 at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
The Tigers extended their win streak to 14 games, which marks the longest win streak since 2013 when LSU won 15 straight from late March to mid-April.
The teams will meet in Game 2 of the series Saturday at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on the SEC Network, and it will be broadcast live on LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates. Fans can also go to LSUsports.net for live audio of the game through the GeauxZone.
Sophomore left-hander Jared Poche’ earned his fifth win in five decisions. He allowed two runs on six hits, walked three and struck out five in five innings of work, firing 98 pitches.
“Jared is a very tenacious competitor and he gave us another outstanding effort,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Ole Miss forced him to throw a lot of pitches early in the game, and his tank was starting to run low by the sixth inning, but he still made some big pitches in key situations. Our bullpen and defense were excellent tonight, and our hitters really swung the bats well with 10 hits and several hard outs.”
Junior left-hander Christian Trent (3-1) suffered the first loss of his Ole Miss career after firing seven innings for the Rebels. He surrendered six runs – four earned – on nine hits and struck out three during his outing.
Senior third baseman Conner Hale led the Tigers at the plate, going 3-for-3 with one double, two RBI and two runs scored.
After walking the first batter of the game, Poche’ retired the next eight before giving up an infield single to Ole Miss left fielder Kyle Watson. The game was scoreless through the 2.5 innings.
In the bottom of the third, junior centerfielder Andrew Stevenson hit an infield chopper to the right side, and senior second baseman Jared Foster followed with a bloop single to shallow right field. Stevenson stole his sixth bag of the year and scored after sophomore first baseman Danny Zardon grounded into a double play. Heading into the fourth, the Tigers led 1-0.
Junior right fielder Mark Laird led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left field. He advanced to second base on a wild pitch by Trent, and junior shortstop Alex Bregman reached first on an error by Ole Miss shortstop Errol Robinson. With runners in scoring position and one out, Hale hit a two-RBI double to right field, and he later scored from second on a Stevenson single.
Ole Miss answered with two runs in the top of the fifth. Second baseman Tate Blackman hit a one-out single to center field, and right fielder Cameron Dishon followed with a double to right field. With runners in scoring position, Watson singled through the left side to plate two runs. Heading into the bottom of the fifth, LSU held a two-run lead over the Rebels.
The Tigers tacked on two runs in the bottom of the sixth, the first coming from a solo shot by Bregman over the left-center wall, his fourth dinger of the season. Hale and senior catcher Kade Scivicque reached on back-to-back singles, and Hale scored from third on a wild pitch from Trent. After six innings, LSU led 6-2.
Watson hit an infield single to lead off the top of the seventh. With one out, Woodman hit a home run to right-center to cut the Tigers’ lead to two runs.
Freshman closer Jesse Stallings earned his NCAA-leading eighth save of the year, striking out two in the top of the ninth inning. Stallings, right-hander Collin Strall and lefty Zac Person combined to limit Ole Miss to no runs on no hits over the final 2.2 innings with one walk and five strikeouts.