Ole Miss beat LSU 6-3 on Friday night at Swayze Field in Oxford, Miss., breaking a 3-3 tie with three runs in the eighth inning and ending the first game of the SEC series with a result that tightened the race in the league standings. Walker Hooks shut the door in the ninth, and Ole Miss moved to 24-11 overall and 6-7 in SEC play.
Hayden Federico started the decisive rally with a run-scoring single, Brett Moseley then bunted home a run from third base, and Brayden Randle followed with a sacrifice fly. Hooks earned the win after covering the final 3.0 innings, allowing one hit with no walks and three strikeouts. He retired the side in order in the ninth. Zac Cowan took the loss for LSU after allowing three runs, one earned, on four hits in 1.2 innings.
That finish erased a game that LSU had opened with a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Jake Brown hit a two-run homer, his 14th of the season, before Ole Miss answered in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single from Will Furniss and a run scored by Tristan Bissetta from third base on a passed ball. Owen Paino then tied it in the second with a solo home run, his first of the year.
LSU stayed in front of the early pitching matchup through seven innings, with Casan Evans working 6.0 innings and giving up three runs on five hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. The Tigers pushed the game back into a tie in the seventh when Derek Curiel drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, but they could not hold it in the eighth. LSU fell to 22-13 overall and 6-7 in conference play after the loss.
Ole Miss entered the night with the same SEC record as LSU, and the opener showed why the series carried weight for both teams. Both lineups answered early, but the game turned on execution late, when Ole Miss made the clean plays and LSU did not. Jay Johnson said his team was ready and not playing tight, but the Tigers still needed to execute better and keep attacking solutions. The teams were scheduled to resume the series at 4 p.m. CT Saturday.
