MSU Falls In 14 Innings To #1 LSU 5-3

Mississippi State (23-23 and 7-15 SEC) battled late into the night against the #1 team in the nation in LSU (39-7 and 15-6 SEC) for 14 innings but the Bulldogs came up short and lost 5-3. Lucas Laster got his final start in Dudy Noble as he and a solid effort from the bullpen gave Jared Poche and the Tigers a run for their money.

MSU's offense got off to a hot start in the first inning, tallying 3 hits in the first frame, knocking in 2 runs, and forcing an error from LSU. State's 3 hits in the first were all singles but Wes Rea's RBI single was able to make it to 2^nd base on the aforementioned fielding error. Reid Humphreys would then step in to ground out but score another run. The Bulldogs were held quiet for the next 8 innings as Jared Poche kept State's offense in check for most of the game.

LSU was held scoreless up until the 4^th inning, where the Tiger offense found some life to the tune of 2 runs off of 2 hits and an error. The Tigers would then take the tie game into the 5^th and take their lead as Alex Bregman (who played like some sort of human highlight reel for LSU) was brought in by Connor Hale. LSU took this 3-2 lead into the 9^th inning.

In the bottom of the 9^th, State had the chance to win the game on a Reid Humphreys double off the center field wall, which brought in Jacob Robson to tie the game. Unfortunately, Matt Spruill stumbled on this play and fell down as he was rounding third and heading home. It appeared as if he might have injured himself on the play as he was shaken up after being tagged out.

The game remained tied as the Bulldogs and Tigers were unable to plate any runs until the 14^th inning, where Hale had a 2 RBI double to take a 5-3 lead that MSU was unable to recover from.

The Bulldogs started their last home series of the season with a Lucas Laster on the mound for the first 4 innings of the game. Laster gave up 3 runs, 2 of which were earned off of 5 hits. Zac Houston came in for 5 innings of relief where he held the Tigers scoreless, only giving up 2 hits in his appearance. After Houston, Trevor Fitts took the mound for 4.1 innings and gave up 6 hits and 2 runs in his time on the mound. Dakota Hudson was the last pitcher for State and he threw .2 innings on 14 pitches. Fitts was charged with the loss.

The Tigers turned to Poche who threw 118 pitches through the first 9 innings of the game. LSU then had Parker Bugg, Zac Person, and Jake Godfrey take the mound to take LSU into the 14^th where they brought in Jesse Stallings to get his 12^th save. Godfrey was credited with the win and it is his 7^th of the season.

LSU and MSU will play again tonight at 7:00 P.M. for game two of the series. The game will be aired on ESPNU.