Ole Miss baseball falls 4-2 at LSU in game two

BATON ROUGE, La. – (Release) Ole Miss fell short in its comeback attempt against LSU Friday afternoon and lost game two of the baseball series 4-2.

Ole Miss is now 27-27 on the season and 11-18 in the Southeastern Conference. LSU is 35-20 and 12-17. The Rebels and Tigers meet again Saturday in the series finale at 1 p.m.

The Tigers struck first on Friday with a run in each of the first two innings. Tommy White got LSU on the scoreboard with a solo home run with one out in the top of the first. In the second, after Ashton Larson reached on a double, Alex Milazzo got a base hit to score Larson.

The home team added two more runs for a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Michael Braswell led off the frame with a single, followed by a double from White to put runners in scoring position. Josh Mallitz entered the game for Rebel starter Liam Doyle at that point. After Jared Jones sent a fly ball to right field for an out, a groundout by Hayden Travinski to third scored Braswell. Josh Pearson then singled to score White.

The Rebels were able to chip into the LSU lead in the top of the sixth. After Eli Berch was on with a one-out single, Luke Hill launched one out of the ballpark to cut the LSU lead to two at 4-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, Mallitz was relieved by Wes Mendes after two walks led off the frame. A one-out walk loaded the bases, and Mendes got two of LSU’s best hitters – White and Jones – to both strikeout swinging. The Tiger threat had ended, and the Rebels still trailed by two but took some momentum into the seventh.

Ole Miss got something going in that seventh with back-to-back singles from Campbell Smithwick and Treyson Hughes. Tiger starter Luke Holman was relieved by Christian Little who got Brayden Randle to strike out. The score remained 4-2 LSU.

Mendes continued to pitch well, and the Rebels got another chance at a comeback in the top of the eighth. Trenton Lyons led things off with a single to right, followed with a walk by Hill.

Little’s time in the game was over as Griffin Herring came in to try to stop the Rebels’ attempted comeback. Herring was able to get Andrew Fischer and Jackson Ross to strikeout and Will Furniss to ground out.

In the bottom of the eighth, with one out and a runner on second, Mendes was replaced by Connor Spencer who finished things out for Ole Miss with no damage.

In the top of the ninth, Herring took care of the Rebels in order as Ethan Groff, Judd Utermark, and Drew Markle were not able to get aboard. Herring got his sixth save of the season.
LSU starter Holman (8-3) got the win. Ole Miss starter Doyle (3-3) got the loss.