Diamond Dawgs blow Thursday chance in 8-6 loss to No. 8 LSU

Building a 6-2 lead took a lot of work for Mississippi State on Thursday night, but it didn’t take much work for the No. 8 LSU Tigers to erase it.

With that four-run advantage in the fifth inning, MSU’s bullpen fell apart and let the Tigers take the game. LSU scored five runs that frame with no outs and it would springboard the Tigers to the game one win, 8-6.

It was a huge missed opportunity in game one of the series for the Bulldogs. Coach Chris Lemonis decided to throw ace Pico Kohn on Saturday instead of Thursday against LSU ace Kade Anderson.

It looked like it was setting up perfectly as MSU chased one of the nation’s best in the fifth inning. Anderson threw a season-low 4.1 innings and gave up a season-high five runs and three home runs. He also had his fewest strikeouts of the year at five.

State had limited the Tigers offense with Evan Siary’s start and the offense added on every inning to start the game. Ace Reese hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Joe Powell followed up with a solo shot in the second to get the 3-0 lead.

After a two-out error on Sawyer Reeves opened the door for the Tigers in the second, a double steal had a runner out at the plate. Replay changed it to give the Tigers a run with two outs, but Siary would get out of the inning without further damage.

The two teams traded home runs in the third as Hunter Hines drove one out to right field and freshman Derek Curiel hit one to left to make it 4-2. State got a sacrifice fly in the fourth to push the lead out and another big run in the fifth as three-straight reached with two outs. Nolan Stevens was the third in that group as the right fielder doubled down the third base line for a 6-2 advantage.

The bottom of the fifth is where things fell apart for the Bulldogs. Freshman RHP Ryan McPherson walked the first two batters he saw and then paid for it when Daniel Dickinson hit a two-run home run to get to within a run. The Tigers would follow that up with Dane Burns surrendering a two-run home run of his own to Steven Milam, flipping the game to a 7-6 lead for the Tigers.

“You’ve got to throw strikes. We had the game under control at that point and we come in and start a fire,” Lemonis said on postgame radio. “We have a five-batter moment where we don’t compete, and it kills us in the game.”

State gifted one final run in the eighth and it would be a big one. Though Nate Williams came in and struck out the two best hitters in the lineup with strikeouts, he threw two wild pitches in those at bats that would bring in an insurance run.

The freshmen bullpen arms ultimately bit pitching coach Justin Parker. In their first games at Alex Box Stadium, McPherson and Burns lasted 1.0 inning with four hits, five runs and three walks. The Diamond Dawgs did have a strong effort from Chase Hungate and he retired nine-straight batters at one point with 3.1 innings, one hit, one run, one walk and one strikeout.

 After State got runs in each of the first five innings, the Bulldogs couldn’t score in the last four frames. Pitcher Zac Cowan came out of the bullpen and struck out seven batters in 4.0 innings with just one hit and no runs.

The Bulldogs had two hits and a home run each from Reese and Hines. Reese and Powell drove in two runs.

“I thought we were great,” Lemonis said of the offense. “The guy that threw the last four innings, he was good, and we knew that coming in. He kind of shut us down in the end, but I thought we did a great job against their starter.”

State (16-10, 1-6 SEC) will try to even up the series on Friday night with Kohn pitching. The two teams meet at 6:30 p.m.

“I think everybody is leaving pissed because you lead the majority of the game, but you don’t win it because you give up too big of an inning in the fifth,” Lemonis said.