A seven-run seventh inning that erased a shutout and briefly tied the game wasn’t enough Sunday as LSU fell in Oxford, Miss., for the third straight day and dropped its third consecutive game of the week.
Ole Miss responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning to claim the series finale, 8-7, and complete the sweep and drop the Tigers (22-15, 6-9) to No. 14 in the 16-team SEC standings.
The Rebels (26-11, 8-7) took all three home games at Swayze Field by a combined 26-12 margin.
“We got dominated for the first six innings — you can’t lose sight of that,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “(Ole Miss sophomore Taylor) Rabe is a good pitcher, and we couldn’t do anything with him. We did come back from a late deficit on a Sunday, which we’ve done before, but we didn’t make the plays we needed to win the game.”
The Rebels’ righty had retired all 18 LSU batters he faced through six innings before the Tigers finally broke through in the seventh on back-to-back-to-back home runs by sophomores Derek Curiel and Cade Arrambide — his ninth of the year — and junior Jake Brown (Sulphur).
Senior second baseman Brayden Simpson helped continue closing the gap with a two-run single a few at-bats later and then scored on a Curiel single down the right-field line. And junior pinch-hitter Eddie Yamin IV scored on a wild pitch to knot the game at 7-7.
The eight hits in that frame were all that LSU managed the entire afternoon, though.
And Ole Miss spoiled the rally nearly as quickly as sophomore outfielder Hayden Federico, a former West Monroe star, singled to second base, advanced on an error and a bunt and then came home on an RBI single by junior shortstop Brayden Randle off freshman righty Marcos Paz, the Tigers’ fourth arm of the day who became the pitcher of record on the play.
The weekend’s other two games had their own distinct shapes, but the outcome was the same. LSU jumped ahead Friday on Brown’s two-run homer in the first, held a 3-3 tie entering the eighth and watched the Rebels score three times off the bullpen for a 6-3 final. Saturday was over much sooner, as the Tigers saw an early 2-0 lead evaporate into a run-rule loss as Ole Miss erupted for 12 unanswered.
LSU’s pitching staff had its standout performances or at least stretches throughout the series, but struggled to protect early advantages of hold the Rebels in check when necessary late.
Sophomore ace Casan Evans was sharp for six innings Friday only to see the bullpen surrender the lead late. Sophomore William Schmidt (Catholic-Baton Rouge) walked four in 3 2/3 innings Saturday, but never made it out of a fourth inning where the wheels rapidly came off. And Sunday, Ole Miss quickly got to starter Grant Fontenot (Lafayette) and first reliever Gavin Guidry (Barbe), forced the Tigers to use five pitchers in all and eventually managed to scratch the final necessary run across.
On the offensive side, junior shortstop Steven Milam was LSU’s most reliable bat all weekend, going 5-for-11 across the three games, and Brown finished 4-for-12 with two home runs.
But those bright spots were too scattered to overcome a Rebels lineup that was relentless from the jump. Will Furniss — son of Eddy Furniss, the legendary LSU first baseman whose No. 36 is retired in Baton Rouge— went 6-for-10 with five RBI across the series, and Dom Decker was a constant thorn as well, combining for five hits, including a solo homer Sunday.
Johnson captured the weekend’s central pitching frustration after Saturday’s loss: “Can’t give them free bases, because eventually they’re going to homer, and they did.”
LSU will look to reset Tuesday when it hosts Northwestern State at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium.