Mississippi State rallies again to complete first sweep of LSU in over 40 years
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Mississippi State made Super Bulldog Weekend historical, too.
The 15th-ranked Bulldogs got 4 RBIs from Ace Reese and 3 hits from Noah Sullivan, staging their third late-inning rally in as many days to take down defending national champion and SEC rival LSU, 13-8, before a happy home crowd in Starkville.
That crowd witnessed some glorious Bulldogs baseball history on Sunday, with Mississippi State completing its first sweep of LSU since 1985. The Bulldogs trailed going into the bottom of the sixth inning in each game of the series, with LSU holding a 7-5 lead on Friday, a 7-2 lead on Saturday and an 8-5 lead on Sunday before Mississippi State stormed back each time.
On Sunday, there were multiple deficits to overcome for the Bulldogs, who trailed 3-0 after the first inning and 5-3 after the third frame before that 8-5 deficit was staring them in the face in the sixth inning. But Mississippi State, which improved to 34-10 overall and 13-8 in the SEC after the thrilling weekend of work, scored the final 8 runs of Sunday’s game, piling up 12 hits and drawing 7 walks to create plenty of traffic on the bases.
Meanwhile, LSU’s nightmare season continued, with the Tigers committing 3 errors on Sunday on the way to dropping to 24-21 overall and 6-15 in the SEC.
Mississippi State prevailed in Friday’s series opener in an 11-inning thriller, outlasting LSU, 10-8, before once again providing the necessary late heroics in a 9-8 victory on Saturday in Game 2.
Sunday’s final score might have come with a 5-run cushion, but there was another late deficit to stare down for the Bulldogs, and on Super Bulldog Weekend they had some super comeback powers for three straight days in sweeping a hated SEC rival for the first time in a very long time.
With Mississippi State in the midst of a possible special season, the Bulldogs have their eyes on a possible College World Series appearance in June. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the odds for the top teams in the mix to reach Omaha to play for all the marbles:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
