Mississippi State
LSU
LSU Erases 5-2 Bulldog Lead, Evens Series With Ninth-Inning Win
January 01, 1970 | Baseball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Michael Hollander's bloop two-out, ninth-inning double inside the right field foul line scored Chris Jackson Saturday afternoon as Louisiana State (22-18-1, 7-9-1 SEC) rallied to edge No. 15 Mississippi State (25-9, 9-6 SEC) 6-5 before 5,568 sun-drenched fans at Dudy Noble Field.
The win evened the weekend series at a game apiece, setting the stage for a series-deciding game three Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs out-hit the Tigers 11-9 and took a 5-2 lead in the fifth with Brandon Turner's two-run single. But seven of LSU's hits went for extra bases, including a game-opening solo home run by Hollander and a season-first two-run, two-out blast by Nicholas Pontiff that tied the score at 5-5 in the top of the sixth.
But the last of LSU's extra-base hits, the second double of the day by Hollander, landed just beyond the outstretched glove of a diving Andy Rice along the right field foul line, easily scoring Jackson from first base.
We hit the ball pretty hard early in the game against their starter, Ryan Byrd, and had a lot of opportunities to score more runs, said Bulldog head coach Ron Polk. But we just didn't get the timely hits and ended up leaving 10 runners on base.
State put two runners on board in the ninth when Mitch Moreland and Turner came through with singles off closer Jared Bradford, the last of three LSU pitchers in the game. But Bradford got Jeff Flagg to hit into a fielder's choice groundout at shortstop to end the game and earn his fifth save of the season.
We were 9-2 in one-run games coming into today's game, and we had our opportunities to tie or maybe win the game with a gapper in the ninth. Today we just didn't get the clutch hit, added Polk.
T.J. Forrest (2-2) who replaced starter Byrd in the sixth inning, picked up the win with three innings of scoreless relief. Forrest allowed on hit and worked around three walks, two issued in the eighth inning. Byrd was charged with all five runs, scattering eight hits while walking two.
Freshman Ricky Bowen (3-1), who replaced starter Justin Pigott in the eighth, absorbed his first loss, allowed a run on the two two-out hits in the ninth inning.
The Tiger comeback spoiled a solid pitching performance by Pigott, who registered a career-high 10 strikeouts. But five of LSU's six runs scored on extra-base knocks, four of those with two outs.
Brandon Turner drove in three runs with a 3-for-5 plate performance that extended his hitting streak to a team season-longest 15 games.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, State battled into the lead with a three-run third inning surge. Jeffrey Rea doubled, Joseph McCaskill drew a walk and Edward Easley doubled to right to score the first two runs. Easley came home two batters later on Turner's first hit of the day, a single to left. With his hit, the 296th of his MSU career, Rea took sole possession of fourth place among MSU's career hits leaders.
LSU cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth when Jason Lewis singled and raced home on a double by Nicholas Pontiff.
State built the lead out to 5-2 in the fifth, following a McCaskill double, a walk to Easley and a Moreland sacrifice bunt with Turner's two-run single to right.
The Bulldogs put at least one runner on base in each inning, stranding runners at first and third in the eighth.
McCaskill and Goforth had two hits each for State while Easley, who threw out three LSU base-stealers, drove in two runs.
Hollander and Jason Lewis had three hits each and Pontiff and Hollander combined for five runs batted in. Tiger freshman Blake Dean went hitless in four plate appearances to end his SEC-leading 20-game hitting streak.
Senior right-hander Josh Johnson (2-2, 7.02) will take the hill for the Bulldogs in Sunday's series finale. LSU is expected to counter with freshman right-hander Matt Jackson (0-0, 2.74), set to make his third career start and his first in SEC play. The Bulldogs would clinch their fifth SEC series win in six weekends with a win in Sunday's finale.
