Mississippi State
41-15-1
#9 LSU
42-17
No. 3 Diamond Dawgs Drop SEC Tournament Matchup With LSU
May 26, 2016 | Baseball
HOOVER, Ala. – Thursday night's marquee matchup in the Southeastern Conference Tournament paired two of the hottest teams in all of college baseball.
Unfortunately for No. 3 Mississippi State, No. 7 LSU remained hotter and pulled off a 6-2 third-round victory at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
MSU (41-15-1) saw a 12-game win streak snapped, while also seeing its season series with LSU (42-17) evened up at two games apiece. LSU has now won 14 of its last 15 games.
Top-seeded MSU will face fourth-seeded Florida (45-12) in an elimination game Friday. That contest will start 30 minutes after the completion of the 3 p.m. Texas A&M-Vanderbilt game. Both games Friday will be televised nationally on the SEC Network.
MSU ace Dakota Hudson (9-4) saw a string of five straight winning starts snapped. Hudson threw five innings, allowing nine hits and four runs (two earned), with six strikeouts and a walk.
LSU built a 4-0 lead with a single score in the third inning, two scores in the fourth inning and another single run in the fifth inning.
MSU actually had a golden opportunity to score first off LSU starter Jared Poche'. However, the Bulldogs left the bases loaded in the first inning and rarely threatened again until the seventh inning.
An RBI-single by Jake Fraley got LSU off and running in the third inning. In the fourth inning, Michael Papierski hit a sacrifice fly and Antoine Duplantis followed that with an RBI-single. An RBI-single by Greg Deichmann stretched the lead to 4-0.
Poche' (7-4) threw 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs (one earned), with three strikeouts and two walks. Parker Bugg completed the contest for his fourth save.
In the MSU seventh inning, Reid Humphreys reached on an error to start the inning. Jacob Robson followed with an RBI-triple. Ryan Gridley hit a ground ball out to bring home another run. After hits by Hunter Stovall and Jack Kruger, Bugg entered and worked the Tigers out of that tight spot.
LSU then put the contest away on a two-out, two-run single by Papierski in the seventh inning.
MSU finished with eight hits. Gridley and Stovall each had multiple hits. Gavin Collins saw his 18-game hitting streak end. Vance Tatum, Daniel Brown and Jacob Billingsley also threw for the Bulldogs.
LSU finished with 12 hits. Duplantis had three hits, while Bryce Jordan and Beau Jordan each added two hits apiece.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Poche' (7-4)
L: Hudson, Dakota (9-4)
S: Bugg (4)
Batting:
3B: Robson, Jacob 1
RBI: Robson, Jacob 1 ; Gridley, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Humphreys, Reid 1 ; Robson, Jacob 1
Batting:
RBI: Duplantis 1 ; Fraley 1 ; Deichmann 1 ; Papierski 3
SH: JordanBeau 1
SF: Papierski 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Reid 1 ; JordanBryce 2 ; JordanBeau 1 ; Deichmann 1 ; Freeman 1
SB: Fraley 1
HBP: JordanBeau 1
