STARKVILLE, Miss. – LSU is clinging to a 4-3 lead against Mississippi State after six innings at Dudy Noble Field, thanks to clutch hitting in two at-bats by shortstop Austin Nola and a strong effort on the mound by freshman Ryan Eades.

After a home run drew the Bulldogs within a run, the Tigers stretched the lead back to 4-2 in the fifth when Mikie Mahtook legged out an infield chopper with one out, got to second base on a wild pitch and sprinted around on Nola’s bloop single to right field, his third RBI of the day.

But LSU stranded two runners in that inning and has left two on base in four of six frames, 10 for the game, despite 11 hits.

State climbed back into the game in the fourth when Nick Vickerson smashed a 3-and-1 pitch from Eades into the left-field cheering section with Jaron Shepherd aboard to close the gap to 3-2.

The Bulldogs inched closer in the fifth when C.T. Bradford led off with a double, Cody Freeman lined a single to left field to put runners on the corners and Jarrod Parks lofted a fly ball to right field for a sacrifice fly.

Eades wiggled out of further trouble when Shepherd hit a laser to Nola on a hit-and-run for a 6-3 line-drive double play.
 

STARKVILLE, Miss. – LSU grabs an early lead for the third day in a row, 3-0 over Mississippi State after three innings.

The Tigers scored all three runs in the third inning to chase Bulldogs’ starter Chris Stratton in favor of lock-down closer Caleb Reed after Stratton hit JaCoby Jones with a pitch and Raph Rhymes punched a pretty hit-and-run single to put runners on the corners.

In his first action of the weekend, Reed struck out Mason Katz on three pitches for the first out but then walked Mikie Mahtook to load the bases. Austin Nola took two balls before rolling a ground-ball hit just out of the reach of shortstop Jonathan Ogden to plate a pair of runs.

Left-hand hitting Mike Lowery, a surprise starter in left field, shanked the first pitch he got from Reed into left field to score Mahtook. Nola was thrown out on a botched double steal and Tyler Hanover fanned to end the uprising.

Tigers freshman Ryan Eades has held State scoreless through three frames and just logged his first perfect inning. The Bulldogs’ only threat cam with two outs in the second when Trey Johnson dumped a single in front of Lowery in left field and Ogden jolted an 0-and-2 Eades’ offering to left-center field for a double.

Eades got nine-hole hitter Wes Thigpen on a fly ball to center to choke off the threat.
 

LSU/

Mike Lowery

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Lineups are posted very early today and there’s a major change for LSU in the regular-season finale against Mississippi State, with both teams still fighting for something.

Trey Watkins is out of the Tigers’ lineup after a base-running mistake and a half-hearted attempt at a bloop single contributed to a 6-5 loss Friday night that knocked LSU out of the SEC Tournament for the second time since 1985.

In his place, junior Mike Lowery gets his first career start in left field and JaCoby Jones will move from the nine-hole to the leadoff spot.

Lowery gives the Tigers a left-handed bat in the middle of the batting order, but you have to wonder if he won’t be a liability in the outfield.

Ty Ross gets the start behind the plate, leaving Grant Dozar and another left-handed stick on the bench against State right-hander Chris Stratton.

LSU batting order
1. JaCoby Jones 2B (.340, 34 R, 11 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 32 RBIs, 12-20 SB)
2. Raph Rhymes DH (.354, 41 R, 18 2B, 2 HR, 40 RBIs, 8-10  SB)
3. Mason Katz 1B (.335, 40 R, 21 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 53 RBIs)
4. Mikie Mahtook CF (.383, 59 R, 12 2B, 5 3B, 14 HR, 56 RBIs, 29-38 SB)
5. Austin Nola SS (.288, 40 R, 13 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 39 RBIs)
6. Mike Lowery LF (.407, 4 R, 2 2B, 5 RBIS)
7. Tyler Hanover 3B (.317, 41 R, 5 2B, 25 RBIs, 14 sac.)
8. Alex Edward RF (.288, 22 R, 7 2B. 1 3B, 2 HR, 27 RBIs)
9. Ty Ross C (.229, 24 R, 5 2B, 1 HR, 20 RBIs)
RH Ryan Eades (3-1, 4.86 ERA, 37 IP, 29 SO/17 BB, .290 opponent BA)

Mississippi State batting order
1. C.T. Bradford CF (.292, 31 R, 10 2B, 1 3B, 29 RBIs)
2. Cody Freeman DH (.290, 29 R, 9 2B, 2 HR, 26 RBIs)
3. Jarrod Parks 3B (.385, 46 R, 12 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 35 RBIs)
4. Jaron Shepherd RF (.305, 26 R, 7 2B, 4 HR, 24 RBIs, 10-13 SB)
5. Nick Vickerson 2B (.306, 48 R, 13 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 22 RBIs, 25-28 SB)
6. Ryan Collins 1B (.271, 30 R, 7 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 31 RBIs, 10-14 SB)
7. Trey Johnson LF (.242, 11 R, 6 2B, 9 RBIs)
8. Jonathan Ogden SS (.267, 35 R, 9 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 35 RBIs)
9. Wes Thigpen C (.258, 13 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 25 RBIs)
RH Chris Stratton (5-6, 5.17 ERA, 71 1/3 IP, 71 SO/26 BB, .277 opponent BA)

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One of the nerdy sportswriter things I allow myself is to have a custom-made scorebook for LSU’s baseball season each year.

I have the manufacturer put enough pages for 75 games in case the Tigers have the kind of season they did in 2009 – one that stretches all the way to Omaha and into late June.

Well, as I was getting my score sheet ready for today’s regular-season finale and scrawled the number 56 on the first page to identify the game number, it hit me. This scorebook is going to have an awful lot of empty pages.

Granted, LSU might still get a back-door invitation to the NCAA tournament, particularly if the Tigers can find a way to get off the mat and win today’s series finale against Mississippi State to win their first SEC road series of the season.

So at least a few of those pages might be put to good use anyway. We’ll see.

Regardless, these Tigers ought to take Dudy Noble Field with plenty of motivation if they have any pride at all, which I think is true.

First and foremost, of course, is what I wrote above. A victory today gives LSU the series victory, which would be four in 10 in the SEC this season and three of the last four. The Tigers could finish the season with 12 wins in their last 15 games, 9 of 12 in the SEC.

Those numbers and a still high RPI could and probably should add up to an NCAA berth.

But the Tigers need to dig a little deeper for pride as well when you consider what’s at stake for State today.

The old cliché about revenge best served cold? Forget that.

LSU needs to strike while its pain from Friday’s loss is searing hot and return the favor today.

The Bulldogs would clinch an SEC tournament berth and can claim a share of the West Division crown with a victory today. A loss ends the division title hopes and could also leave MSU home next week.

That’s potentially as good as it gets if you’re an LSU player. Factor in that clipping the Bulldogs’ wings today should also give the Tigers a head-to-head edge if both teams are left out of the SEC tournament and being considered for an NCAA bid.

Yeah, there’s plenty left for LSU to play for and plenty of pages left in my scorebook left to fill up if the Tigers play with the energy and pride they need to.

LSU/

Matty Ott

STARKVILLE, Miss. – In a Southeastern Conference season chock full of what-ifs, none may wind up stinging more than the one that LSU suffered Friday to puncture at least one set of postseason hopes.

The Tigers squandered an early-five run lead as closer Matty Ott gave up two Mississippi State runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to allow the Bulldogs to finish off 6-5 comeback victory at Dudy Noble Field.

Right fielder Jaron Shepherd scorched a 1-and-2 Ott pitch off second baseman JaCoby Jones’ glove with the bases loaded and the LSU infield pulled in for the game-winning run.

Friday’s loss halts the Tigers’ hopes for an SEC Tournament berth and ends their three-year reign as the event’s champion.

Now, with a strong season resume and a healthy RPI intact, LSU (34-20, 12-17) has to take aim at winning the series from the Bulldogs Saturday to bolster hopes for an NCAA tournament invitation.

“There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves,” Tigers coach Paul Mainieri said outside a glum dugout. “We have one game left. Obviously we’re not going to the SEC tournament now and we’ll have to come to grips with that and put our hopes on an NCAA bid. Whether or not one more win makes a difference or not, I have no idea. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“They’re going to give 30 automatic bids and then pick the next 34 beat teams and I have to believe we’re one of those teams. We’ve lost a lot of heartbreakers in the SEC, the toughest league in America.”

The latest one certainly hurts as much, if not more, than any of the previous six.

With a 5-4 lead in the ninth inning, Ott trotted out after he notched a quick 1-2-3 eighth inning to face the bottom of the Bulldogs’ batting order.

Jones made a dazzling play to smother a grounder on a ball to his left and threw out Trey Johnson for the first out. Ott got ahead of nine-hole hitter Jonathan Ogden 1-and-2, bit the senior shortstop poked a single to left field to begin the Tigers’ demise.

With pinch-runner Sam Frost on first base, Ott walked C.T. Bradford and fell behind Cody Freeman before surrendering a single to center field that sent Frost scurrying around with the tying run.

Worse yet, center fielder Mikie Mahtook made an uncharacteristic error when he couldn’t scoop the ball up cleanly, allowing both runners to advance a base.

Mainieri walked Jarrod Parks to load the bases and brought the infield in. Ott worked ahead of Shepherd, who had earlier homered, but the hitter won the battle with a sharp chopper that Jones stabbed at but couldn’t come up with.

“(Ott) had a pretty good sinker,” Shepherd said. “I was trying to stay beneath it. But it got down to two strikes, I really wanted to put something in play and make something happen. That's what happened, and it worked.”

The blown save was Ott’s first since he coughed up a ninth-inning lead in a 5-4 loss to Florida in LSU’s SEC season opener in late March.

The first of those seven harmful one-run setbacks.

“He got the first guy out and had two strikes on the nine-hole hitter and he just stuck his bat out and got a single to left field,” Mainieri said. “Then the walk to the next guy just killed him.”

In the first three innings, the Tigers seized every chance they got to surge on top 5-0.

Mahtook singled to start the second and dashed home on Alex Edward’s two-out double.

Then in the third, LSU batted around and produced four runs – all with two outs – when Austin Nola won a great nine-pitch battle with State starter Nick Routt and pumped a two-run double to center field. Nola came home with the fifth run on a wild pitch.

Shepherd gave the Bulldogs some life when he walloped a solo home run in the bottom of the third, but the Tigers still seemed poised for another potential blowout with their bats producing two hits in each of the next three frames.

But base-running blunders cost LSU, as two runners were gunned down at the plate in the fourth, Edward ran into the third out when he tried to move up on a two-out pitch in the dirt in the fifth and Trey Watkins was gunned down trying to go first to third on Raph Rhymes’ infield single in the sixth.

“We ran ourselves out of a couple of innings and couldn’t get those extra runs we needed,” Mainieri said.

“The first two times when we got thrown out at the plate, we always go on contact with one out. Rhymes just hit a ball right at the shortstop and didn’t come through with a good swing there. (Third-base coach Javi Sanchez) was just being real aggressive on the ball in the corner with two outs. You hate to wait for another hit with two outs. The play where Edward tried to get to second base when we already had a runner in scoring position, that wasn’t very smart there and then Trey trying to go to third base with two outs wasn’t very smart either.”

State reliever Devin Jones made the mistakes ache more by keeping the Tigers off-balance for a 5 1/3-inning stint.

He allowed five this, but also struck out five – the red-hot Mahtook twice. A one-time Friday night starter, Jones had faded out of MSU’s pitching plans in recent weeks.

His re-emergence Friday was a huge difference-maker.

“Their kid came on out of the bullpen and we struggle with that breaking ball and have all year,” Mainieri said. “We’re susceptible to that good right-hand breaking ball and he threw a lot of them and we couldn’t get a lot of good swings against them.”

LSU will send freshman Ryan Eades (3-1) to the mound Saturday with an eye on winning the series. State, which could still win the West Division or miss the SEC tournament with a loss, will counter with senior right-hander Chris Stratton (5-6).

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State has clawed its way back into the game, with LSU base-running gaffes helping the Bulldogs’ cause.

The Tigers are up 5-4 after seven innings and the game is in their bullpen’s hands after a rocky five-inning stint by starter Kurt McCune.

LSU burst in front 5-0, but State scored single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh frames to stay alive. The Tigers’ offense, meanwhile, has gone dormant with no damage in the last four frames.

Not that there haven’t been chances.

In three of those scoreless innings, LSU has collected two hits in each. But two runners were gunned down at the plate in the fourth inning, the second with Mikie Mahtook standing on deck. Scoring chances ended in the fifth and sixth when Alex Edward was caught trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt and Trey Watkins was thrown out trying to reach third base from first on Raph Rhymes’ infield single.

State, meanwhile, hasn’t exactly seized its chances, either.

The Bulldogs scored in the fourth when Ryan Collins led off with a double, Brent Brownlee reached on a swinging bunt single and McCune tossed a wild pitch. But McCune struck out Trey Johnson and Jonathan Ogden to squelch the threat.

In the fifth, JaCoby Jones fielded a ground ball off Jarrod Parks’ bat cleanly and then dropped the ball for LSU’s first error in 46.1 innings. That haunted the Tigers when pinch-hitter Nick Frazier flared a two-out single to left field on an inside pitch.

Kevin Berry took over on the mound in the sixth and got State out without allowing a run. In the seventh, leadoff man C.T. Bradford started the at-bat with a double and Jarrod Parks punched an RBI single to center – his first hit in eight series at-bats – to close the gap to one run.

Nola got the Tigers out of the inning when he scooped up Jaron Shepherd’s tapper to short, jabbed the bag and threw to first in time for the inning-ending double play.
 

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Another quick start for LSU after an ominous first inning as the Tigers take a 5-1 lead over Mississippi State after three innings at Dudy Noble Field.

Bulldogs starting pitcher came out blazing, striking out the side in the first inning after falling behind leadoff man Trey Watkins 3-and-0.

But Mikie Mahtook cooled him off to start the second inning when he jolted a solid single to center field. Routt struck out Austin Nola looking and retired Tyler Hanover on a shallow fly out to right field. But he fell behind Alex Edward 2-and-0 and Edward pounced on the third pitch and blistered a double to the gap in right-center field to score Mahtook for a 1-0 advantage.

Routt and State unraveled in the third inning and LSU pounced on the opportunity.

JaCoby Jones walked on four pitches to start the frame and Watkins put down a nice bunt down the first-base line. Routt scooped up the ball but his throw to first base veered into Watkins for an error.

The runners stood still as Routt got two outs to bring Mahtook to the plate. Bulldogs coach John Cohen paid Routt a visit, but with a base open, State pitched to Mahtook anyway and made that backfire when he whipped an RBI single to center field.

With Nola at the plate, Routt jumped ahead 0-and-2 before Nola fouled off two pitches. Nola called timeout before the next pitch and it was granted, but Routt delivered a high fastball to the plate and was immediately scolded – and apparently officially warned – by umpire Troy Fullwood.

Cohen sprinted out of the dugout and confronted Fullwood nose-to-nose, teetering on the edge of an ejection. Fullwood didn’t relent and handed Routt the ball as he warned him.

Clearly rattled, Routt threw two balls to Nola, who fouled off another offering and then blasted a two-run double to left-center field for a 4-0 cushion.

Tyler Hanover extended the inning with an infield single before Routt again worked ahead of Edward 0-and-2. But Edward battled back for a walk and on the fourth ball, the pitch was wild to allow Nola to sprint home with fourth unearned run of the at-bat and a 5-0 lead.

State got one run back in the bottom of the third inning when cleanup man Jaron Shepherd unloaded a solo home run to right field off LSU starter Kurt McCune with two outs.

Besides the homer, McCune looked better in the third after two shaky innings. He has walked two and started several hitters 3-and-0, but has weathered the storm for the most part.
 

Provided photo/

Grant Dozar

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Getting close to first pitch or game two between LSU and Mississippi State and lineups are in.

For the Tigers, junior Grant Dozar gets another start at catcher, surprisingly against a left-handed pitcher in State’s Nick Routt. Dozar gave LSU a nice spark last week in two starts against Tennessee, so I’d guess that’s where Paul Mainieri’s motivation lies.

Otherwise, the Tigers lineup is the same with Dozar plugged into Ty Ross’ spot in the eight-hole.

LSU needs to keep winning and Kurt McCune gets the ball for the second game – not a bad option when you consider he’s started 11 series openers this season.

“Kurt McCune has been our Friday night guy all year and having him pitch game two is really good for us,” Mainieri said Thursday. “He’s going to go out and pitch for all he’s worth.”

A couple of random leftover notes from Thursday’s 17-1 Tigers’ romp.

-- MSU third baseman Jarrod Parks was 0-for-4 in the loss, only the eighth time in 52 starts this season he has failed to get a hit.

-- Thursday was the ninth time this season State scored one or no runs in a game, the eight time against an SEC foe.

-- Over his last four starters, LSU freshman Kevin Gausman has logged 30.2 innings, allowed 16 hits with a 1.17 ERA, has struck out 32 batters and walked only five.

-- Strange but true: Not only was the Dudy Noble PS system blaring Garth Brooks’ “Baton Rouge” when I walked into the stadium, the song was playing while the Bulldogs took batting practice.

LSU batting order
1. Trey Watkins LF (.224, 44 R, 6 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 24 RBIs, 16-19 SB)
2. Raph Rhymes DH (.356, 41 R, 18 2B, 2 HR, 40 RBIs, 8-10  SB)
3. Mason Katz 1B (.339, 40 R, 20 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 53 RBIs)
4. Mikie Mahtook CF (.381, 57 R, 12 2B, 4 3B, 14 HR, 55 RBIs, 28-37 SB)
5. Austin Nola SS (.285, 39 R, 12 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 37 RBIs)
6. Tyler Hanover 3B (.312, 41 R, 5 2B, 24 RBIs, 14 sac.)
7. Alex Edward RF (.287, 22 R, 6 2B. 1 3B, 2 HR, 26 RBIs)
8. Grant Dozar C (.261, 14 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBIs)
9. JaCoby Jones 2B (.340, 33 R, 10 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 32 RBIs, 12-20 SB)
RH Kurt McCune (7-3, 3.30 ERA, 84 2/3 IP, 61 SO/22 BB, .216 opponent BA)

Mississippi State batting order
1. C.T. Bradford CF (.293, 29 R, 9 2B, 1 3B, 29 RBIs)
2. Cody Freeman C (.287, 29 R, 9 2B, 2 HR, 25 RBIs)
3. Jarrod Parks 3B (.389, 45 R, 12 2B, 3 3B, 3 HR, 34 RBIs)
4. Jaron Shepherd RF (.299, 25 R, 7 2B, 3 HR, 22 RBIs, 10-13 SB)
5. Nick Vickerson 2B (.310, 48 R, 13 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 22 RBIs, 25-28 SB)
6. Ryan Collins 1B (.271, 29 R, 6 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 31 RBIs, 10-14 SB)
7. Brent Brownlee LF (.274, 16 R, 4 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 18 RBIs)
8. Trey Johnson DH (.224, 11 R, 5 2B, 9 RBIs)
9. Jonathan Ogden SS (.266, 35 R, 9 2B, 2 3B, 8 HR, 35 RBIs)
LH Nick Routt (2-2, 3.86 ERA, 37 1/3 IP, 32 SO/15 BB, .270 opponent BA)

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Advocate file photo/

Mikie Mahtook

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- First step handled in resounding fashion.

But there's still work for LSU to do over the next two days to make Thursday's 17-1 rout meaningful.

The Tigers rattled the Bulldogs behind Mikie Mahtook and Mason Katz with four RBIs apiece, and LSU ended the drama with three runs in the fifth and a season-best 10 in the sixth inning on the way to the most lopsided SEC win since May 10, 2003 -- 20-3 vs. Auburn.

Katz gave the Tigers (35-19, 12-16 SEC) the lead for good, 3-1, with a two-run single in the third inning. Mahtook padded the cushion to 7-1 with a two-run homer in the fifth.

Then in the sixth, Katz and Alex Edward unloaded three-run doubles and JaCoby Jones popped a two-run homer.

The benefactor of all the offense (14 hits, seven doubles) was Kevin Gausman, who logged a fourth consecutive solid start and improved to 5-6. Gausman threw 7 2/3 innings, striking out seven and allowing only four hits.

Thursday's victory keeps LSU alive in the chase for an SEC Tournament berth, but the Tigers still need to beat the Bulldogs (34-20, 13-15) twice more to keep those hopes.

State fell into a four-way tie for second place in West Division lead, thanks to upset wins by Ole Miss at Arkansas (2-1), Alabama over South Carolina (2-1) and Tennessee at home vs. Auburn (5-2).