BATON ROUGE — Two homers and five runs batted in by designated hitter Matt Gaudet, including the game-winning sacrifice fly in the eighth, lifted No. 27 LSU to a 14-13 win over Mississippi State on Thursday night in Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (35-19, 13-15) snapped a six-game losing streak with the win.
Mississippi State dropped to 22-32 overall and 5-23 in the SEC with the loss. The series between LSU and Mississippi State will continue tonight at 7 in Alex Box Stadium.
LSU is vying for a berth in the eight-team SEC Tournament that begins next Wednesday in Hoover, Ala. LSU will clinch a berth tonight if the Tigers defeat Mississippi State and either Georgia defeats Kentucky in Athens or Tennessee defeats Alabama in Knoxville.
After trailing 12-9 entering the inning, the Bulldogs tied the game 12-12 in the eighth after a sacrifice fly RBI and a pair of RBI singles. The last single off reliever Matty Ott hit off his foot, forcing him to leave the game. Junior right-hander Anthony Ranaudo entered the game and hit Connor Powers with the bases loaded to make the score 13-12.
The Tigers responded in the bottom of the frame when Micah Gibbs launched a solo homer to right to tie the score.
After a successful hit-and-run single by Austin Nola advanced Blake Dean to third, Gaudet knocked him in with a deep sacrifice fly to center to regain the Tigers’ lead at 14-13.
Ranaudo (3-2) earned the victory after shutting down the Bulldogs in the ninth, despite surrendering a leadoff single, to secure the victory for LSU. Caleb Reed (0-2) was charged with the loss for the Bulldogs after allowing the two runs in the eighth.
“I can’t say enough about how hard every guy in our lineup played tonight,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “We had some great at-bats and we came back from a deficit three different times. It was a game we had to win, and I’m very proud of our team for playing with tremendous determination.”
Along with Gaudet’s five RBIs, the Tigers were also led by Gibbs, who went 3-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored. Third baseman Alex Edward went 3-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back solo home runs from Nick Vickerson and Luke Adkins.
Designated hitter Russ Sneed tripled off the wall in right to score Powers to put Mississippi State ahead 3-0.
In the second inning, Adkins ripped a two-out RBI single to right, scoring Vickerson from second to increase State’s lead to 4-0.
The Tigers erupted for six runs in the bottom of the second, beginning when Gaudet launched a two-run homer to right-center to cut the deficit to 4-2.
LSU followed with six consecutive hits, including RBI singles by Mahtook, Watkins and Dean. Edward and Tyler Hanover singled, followed by Mikie Mahtook, who laced an RBI single to left, scoring Edward from second. On the play, Bulldog left fielder Ryan Duffy's throw in went through the infield and ended up near the LSU dugout, allowing Hanover to score and Mahtook to advance to third, tying the score at 4-4.
Trey Watkins followed with a single to score Mahtook and give LSU a 5-4 lead. Watkins scored on a Blake Dean single to make it 6-4.
