Big Seventh Inning Leads LSU Past Mississippi State

BATON ROUGE, La. – Seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning was the big punch, as Mississippi State dropped the series opener against LSU 10-1 in a Southeastern Conference contest Thursday night at Alex Box Stadium.

LSU won its seventh straight in the series and improved to 17-10 (4-3 SEC), while State fell to 13-14 (1-6 SEC).

The Tigers scored one run in the second inning off an RBI-single by Jake Slaughter. They followed up with another run in the third inning when Zach Watson homered to left center to give LSU a 2-0 lead.

The Dawgs found themselves in a pitcher’s dual early, as neither team could get much going through six frames, but State did finally get on the board in the sixth inning when Hunter Stovall doubled and scored Jake Mangum to make it a 2-1 ballgame.

With two outs in the seventh inning of a one-run game, LSU’s offense got hot and scored seven runs on eight hits to take a big 9-1 lead. The Tigers added one more run in the eigth inning to cap off a 10-1 win in the series opener.

State had just three hits against LSU’s 14 hits. Stovall, Mangum and Josh Hatcher recorded hits for MSU.

Konnor Pilkington (1-4) was charged with the loss. He pitched 6.2 innings, allowing five runs, all earned, on six hits. He had six strikeouts and three walks. Jared Liebelt recorded one out while facing seven batters in the sixth inning. Liebelt allowed five hits and four runs. Cole Marsh pitched the eighth inning.

Zack Hess (4-3) earned the win while pitching 6.2 innings. He allowed one run on three hits. He also had 10 strikeouts.

MSU and LSU will return to the field today for another 7 p.m. CT first pitch, this time on SEC Network+, which can be accessed through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.