Tigers lose instant classic to Rebels after improbable ninth inning rally
It’s not often a game can be described in one word. But only one comes to mind after the whirlwind of emotions that took place Sunday afternoon in Alex Box Stadium.
Crazy.
That’s how it felt as LSU, down to its last out of the game against SEC West rival Ole Miss, erased a 15-9 deficit by hitting back-to-back-to-back home runs to force extra innings. It also described watching the unfazed Rebels respond with four runs in the top of the 10th to ultimately win an instant classic 19-15.
Ole Miss (32-17, 15-9) clinched its first series win over the Tigers in Baton Rouge since the 1982 season, a 37-year drought that also saw the Rebels score the most runs against LSU in a single game since 2011. LSU (30-18, 14-10) exited the weekend with its first home SEC series loss of the season, falling to fourth place in the Western Division.
“That was obviously one of the craziest games we’ve ever had,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “We didn’t give up, our kids kept battling and battling and you could go a lifetime and not see what you saw in the ninth inning but I’ve been around baseball a long time and seen a lot of craziness, and today was one of them.”
Neither team had much trouble collecting hits and runs, combining for 45 hits and 34 runs. Ole Miss threw the first punches early and often before LSU finally got in its big swings.
Multiple LSU heroes helped the Tigers claw back from a 10-1 deficit after 4 1/2 innings.
There was shortstop Josh Smith, making an uncharacteristic error in the second inning, and then atoning with his game-tying homer at 15-15 in the Tigers' ninth.
There was first baseman Cade Beloso, whose home run two pitches before Smith’s was equally important but lost in the shuffle of the madness of what was to come.
Then there was right fielder Antoine Duplantis, who continued to have clutch at bats, none more important than the three-run homer to start LSU's last-gasp rally. It capped his 5-for-6, five RBI day at the plate, pushing him to third on the school's career hits list at 329.
It was all the more heartbreaking when Ole Miss then tagged LSU closer Devin Fontenot for the four-game deciding runs that silenced an electric Alex Box crowd.
Fontenot walked Ole Miss catcher Cooper Johnson to lead off the Rebels' 10th, then gave up a double by first baseman Kevin Graham and a tie-breaking two RBI single by right fielder Josh Hall. Ole Miss eventually finished the rally with shortstop Grae Kessinger's RBI single and third baseman Tyler Keenan plating another run with his double-play grounder.
LSU managed two singles in its half of the 10th, but left fielder Zach Watson struck out to end the game.
Fontenot, who struggled to close LSU's series-opening 8-3 Friday win over the Rebels, couldn't escape this time.
“I’ve got to dig deep and try to find it,” Fontenot said. “I’m not getting the good results I’ve had earlier in the year. Our guys showed that they weren’t going give up without a fight and they showed that and I couldn’t pull through at the end to help the team.”
Maineiri said Saturday night after LSU's 5-1 loss that Sunday’s game was perhaps the most important of the season because of the SEC and NCAA tournament seeding implications, Both Ole Miss and LSU, both on the bubble of possibly hosting a regional, entered Sunday's game with identical league records.
LSU started freshman Landon Marceaux on the mound, and his defense almost immediately did him no favors.
The Tigers unraveled in the second inning, with errors and a lack of communication leading to four Ole Miss runs in what should’ve been a one-run inning.
It started with a one-out routine ground ball that shortstop Smith could probably field in his sleep. Instead, he booted it off his right foot, not only bringing home a run but extending an inning on what was a double play grounder.
“It just went under my legs, took my eyes off it,” Smith said.
A miscommunication between Marceaux and second baseman Gavin Dugas led to another run. A two-out double by Kessinger capped the Ole Miss burst.
The nightmarish inning completely took the energy out of the Alex Box crowd of 10,671.
The LSU errors continued in Ole Miss' three-run third. Duplantis let a ground ball roll through his legs, leading to a 7-0 Rebels' lead that mercifully ended Marceaux’s day.
LSU scored its first run in the fourth, followed by three runs in the fifth. But the Tigers would need shutout pitching to rally from a 10-4 deficit.
The Tigers' offense started to find a groove, posting two more runs in the sixth to cut the Ole Miss lead to 11-6. Yet the Tigers' bullpen, which was solid Friday and Saturday, couldn’t get keep the Rebels' off the scoreboard.
LSU reliever Aaron George loaded the bases and walked in a run in the Ole Miss seventh, leaving it up to Tigers' reliever Trent Vietmeier to allow another run for a 13-6 Rebels' advantage.
In the Tigers' seventh, catcher Saul Garza blasted a three-run bomb to dead center field that had every fan simultaneously holding their breath and being confused. Rebels' center fielder Ryan Olenek took a good 10 seconds to indicate he failed to make the catch despite his desperate leap at wall.
When the Rebels added two runs the ninth for a 15-9 lead, it appeared the game was over.
But it wasn't .Yet despite LSU's sixth-run ninth in one of the Tigers' clutch rallies ever, they couldn't ultimately write a winning conclusion.
Mainieri's team needs to shake the loss off quickly. LSU plays Louisiana Tech in a Tuesday night non-conference game before the Tigers' final SEC series road trip starting Thursday at Western Division leader Arkansas (37-12, 17-7).
“We’ve got eight games left,” Mainieri said. “They are all important. We’ve got to get mentally ready for them.”