Despite great home crowds and beautiful weekend weather, the No. 15 Mississippi State baseball team could not best the Louisiana State Tigers, dropping two of three games to the visitors from Baton Rouge.Friday
Substitute starter Chad Crosswhite pitched his first career complete game for MSU in the Bulldogs’ 12-3 series-opening win over LSU.
Crosswhite (5-1) gave up three runs on 10 hits and struck out 5 to earn the win.
“They asked me in the ninth [inning] if I could go. I said ‘yes sir’,” Crosswhite said. “It was fun. I haven’t pitched for a team like this in a long time. Our offense was outstanding. They put some guys in scoring position and knocked them in.”
Five Bulldogs finished the game with multiple hits, including senior co-captain Jeffrey Rea, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in his first Southeastern Conference game since the death of his grandfather late last week.
Rea’s third hit tied the second baseman for fourth of MSU’s all-time hits list with Burke Masters at 295.
“Our ball club is very confident offensively,” Bulldog head coach Ron Polk said. “We’re getting runs in when we have runners in scoring position, and that’s been the biggest difference for us.”
Saturday
With two outs and two strikes recorded in the top of the ninth inning, the Bulldogs were within one pitch of sending Saturday’s game into extra innings when LSU shortstop Michael Hollander blooped a double down the right field line to score third baseman Chris Jackson and put the Tigers up 6-5.
“I didn’t hit it that good. I just poked it that way,” Hollander said. “It was clutch for Chris to come up with two outs and get a base hit. We’ve been good lately at getting those two-out hits.”
The Bulldogs left two runners stranded in the bottom of the frame, ending the game and evening the series at one game apiece.
“We’ve been pretty fortunate this year with one-run games,” said freshman Brandon Turner, who drove in two runs on a single in the fifth inning. “It’s kind of surprising when you don’t get one.”
Bulldog starter Justin Pigott pitched 7 1/3 strong innings for the Bulldogs, striking out a career-high 10 batters in the no-decision.
“I really didn’t know that,” Pigott said. “But I’d give up all 10 of them for a win.”
Reliever Ricky Bowen was charged with the loss.
Sunday
LSU second baseman Nicholas Pontiff broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh with a two-run single that would prove to be the deciding margin in the Tigers’ 3-1 series-clinching victory over the Bulldogs Sunday.
MSU third baseman Conner Powers and shortstop Brandon Turner both turned in multi-hit games for the Bulldogs, with Powers batting in the team’s only run on a single in the bottom of the sixth.
LSU starter Jared Bradford earned his seventh victory of the season, going 7 1/3 innings and striking out five.
“The key to the game was timely hitting,” Polk said. “It was disappointing, but Bradford was a heck of a pitcher. We were in position to score some runs, we just didn’t do it.”
Senior Josh Johnson pitched six strong innings for the Bulldogs before turning the mound over to Aaron Weatherford, the normal Friday starter, who earned the loss.
The Bulldogs will continue their home stand with two midweek matchups against Southern Mississippi at Dudy Noble field today and Wednesday. Both games begin at 6:30 p.m.