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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Cody Freeman’s walk-off RBI-single lifted Mississippi State past second-ranked LSU 8-7 in a Southeastern Conference baseball game Friday night at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bulldogs survived a furious LSU rally. The Tigers scored four times in the top of the ninth inning, including a game-tying, two-run home run by designated hitter Blake Dean with two outs. MSU though would not be denied on senior night, piecing together two hits, an intentional walk and an infield error to beat the conference’s best team.

MSU improved to 25-28 overall and 9-19 in conference play. LSU fell to 40-15 and 19-10. Entering the final day of the regular season,
LSU and Ole Miss are tied for first place in the overall conference standings. Alabama trails by one full game in the Western Division race and Eastern Division champion Florida trails by one full game in the overall race.

In the MSU ninth inning, Frank Rawdow started things with a smash hit off LSU ace reliever Matty Ott through the left side of the infield. Grant Hogue advanced Rawdow with a sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk to Ryan Collins, the Tigers appear poised to force extra innings. However, third baseman Tyler Hanover bobbled a potential inning-ending double play ball hit by Scott DeLoach, loading the bases.

Freeman made the Tigers pay, ripping an 0-2 pitch down the left field line for the game-winner.

The Bulldogs celebrated a second straight Friday night victory in style. In pregame ceremonies, MSU recognized senior players Johnny Allen, Brooks Lewis, Chad Crosswhite, Scott DeLoach, Mark Goforth, Nick Hardy, Grant Hogue, Lee Swindle and Jared Wesson.
In the contest, the Bulldogs actually built a 3-0 lead in the first inning. In that at-bat, Connor Powers hit a two-run home run to left field. The lead extended to 4-0 in the fourth inning when LSU ace Louis Coleman was again touched for the long ball. This time, Duffy hit his 10th of the season, easily clearing the right center field wall.

LSU rallied with a single score in the fifth inning and a pair of runs in the sixth inning.

The Bulldogs came right back, scoring three times to extend the advantage to 7-3. DeLoach extended his hit streak to 12 games with a leadoff single in that at-bat. Duffy followed with an RBI-double. Connor Powers then smoked a two-run home run over the extended wall and speaker system in dead center field.

For Powers, it was his team-best 19th round-tripper of the year and his third multi-home run game of the season.
LSU then touched a tiring MSU starter Nick Routt in the ninth inning. Routt walked back-to-back batters to start the ninth inning. Austin Nola chased Routt with an RBI-single to left20center.

In relief, Wesson got a run-scoring groundout and flyout before being touched for Dean’s 13th home run of the season. Greg Houston got the final out of the ninth inning and later picked up the win.

Routt just missed his fifth complete game of the season. The freshman left-hander threw 122 pitches in eight-plus innings of work. Routt allowed six hits and six runs (all earned), with five strikeouts and five walks. Houston moved to 2-2 with the win.

Coleman worked six innings, allowing seven hits and seven runs (all earned), with six strikeouts and a walk. Paul Bertuccini and Chris Matulis each threw an inning before Ott (3-2) took the loss in the ninth inning.

MSU finished with 13 hits. Duffy, Collins, DeLoach and Connor Powers each had multiple hits. Connor Powers had his third four-RBI game for the season.

LSU finished with nine hits. D.J. LeMahieu, Hanover and Nola each had multiple hits. Nola hit his second home run of the season during the LSU fifth inning. A two-run single by Micah Gibbs was the big blow in the LSU sixth inning.

The Bulldogs and Tigers close the regular season with a noon start Saturday at Dudy Noble Field. The contest was originally scheduled for 2 p.m. but moved up due to the threat of bad weather. MSU is scheduled to start freshman right-hander Devin Jones (0-3, 7.59 ERA) , while LSU is scheduled to start sophomore right-handed pitcher Austin Ross (5-6, 5.09 ERA).