Tigers Blow An Eight Run Lead In The 8th Inning, Ole Miss Then Wins 10-9 With A Walk Off Homer In The 9th

Photo By: olemisssports.com

4/25/2021
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports


   OXFORD, MS: After winning their first SEC series of the season, the Tigers will be looking to sweep the Rebels on Saturday in Oxford, and through the first seven innings things were looking really good. LSU would go into the bottom if the 8th inning leading 9-1.  Ole Miss would explode for eight runs in the bottom of the inning, to tie the game at 9-9. The Rebels would pull out the win in walk off fashion, 10-9. What a gut-wrenching way to lose a ballgame that you dominated for seven and a half innings. 
 
    Below is our Game breakdown..... 



          1st INNING:

   The Tigers would pick up where they left off on Friday night, as they would continue to swing the bat early. Tre' Morgan would leadoff the game with a single to right field. Dylan Crew would then double down the left field line moving Morgan to third. Gavin Dugas would step to the plate next with runners on second and third with no outs. Dugas would fly out to deep center field, allowing Morgan to tag up and score giving LSU the early lead. 
   That would be all the Tigers could produce in the inning as Ole Miss pitcher Drew McDaniel would record the final two outs to end the LSU scoring threat. 

   Will Hellmers would start on the mound for the Tigers and would quickly handle the Rebel hitters in order, three up-three down to end the 1st inning with LSU on top 1-0.




          2nd INNING:

   The Tigers would continue to hit off of McDaniel as Jordan Thompson would leadoff the top of the 2nd with a solo homerun over the right field fence. After Beloso and Bianco would both ground out, Alex Milazzo would rip a double down the right field line. Tre' Morgan would step up and come up a huge timely hit, as he would single to right field scoring Milazzo, extending the LSU lead to 3-0. Crews would strike out to end the top of the second, but the Tigers would have a solid inning. 

   Hayden Dunhurst would leadoff the bottom of the 2nd with a double to right center field. Hellmers would then hit Justin Bench with a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. TJ McCants would then ground into a double play with Dunhurst advancing to third. Hellmers would get Cael Baker to ground out to end the 2nd inning with LSU leading 3-0.




          3rd INNING:

   Gavin Dugas would leadoff the 3rd inning with a deep homerun to center field. Giovanni DiGiacomo would then single to right field. The Tigers bats would stay alive as Cade Doughty would single to center field putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.     Thompson would step up to the plate and lay a sacrifice punt down the third base line to move both runners up. Beloso would strike out for out #2. 
   Drew Bianco would now have an RBI opportunity, and he would come through against his dad's team as he would single to center field, scoring DiGiacomo and Doughty. Ole Miss skipper, Mike Bianco had seen enough, going to his bull pen to bring in Austin Miller to try and stop the bleeding. Miller would strike out Milazzo, but the Tigers would extend their lead to 6-0 as we would head to the bottom half of the inning.

   Hellemrs would leadoff the inning issuing a base on balls to Hayden Leatherwood, then he would hit the next batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. 
   Jacob Gonzalez would step up and ground into a double play, moving Leatherwood to third base. Peyton Chatagnier would double to left field to bring home the run before the Tigers would get the final out of the inning. 





          4th INNING:

   With LSU up 6-1, the Tigers would look to stay hot at the plate to continue on building their lead. Morgan would draw a leadoff base on balls, followed by Crews reaching first base on a throwing error. 
   After Dugas would strike out, DiGiacomo would single to right field, scoring Morgan and moving Crews to third. Cade Doughty would step to the plate next and hot a sacrifice fly to left field to bring Crews home for another run. 
   Thompson would then single up the middle, forcing a Ole Miss pitching change.  Jack Dougherty would take the mound to record the final out, stranding two runners on base. The Tigers were now leading the Rebels, 8-1.

   Blake Money would replace Hellmers on the mound to begin the 5th inning. Money would retire the first two Ole Miss hitters before TJ McCants would end up with a ground rule double. Baker would then single to 3rd base putting runners at the corners. 
   Money would get Leatherwood to pop up for the final out.




          5th INNING:

   Bianco would leadoff the inning getting hit by a pitch. He would then advance to 2nd base on a wild pitch. Milazzo would step up next and lay a bunt down the 3rd base line advancing Bianco to third. After Morgan would strike out, Crews would single to bring Bianco home from third. 
   The Rebels would record the final out of the inning stranding two Tigers on base. 

   After Money would give up a double with two outs, Mainieri would bring Javen Coleman to get the final out. We would head to the 6th inning with LSU now up 9-1. 




          6th INNING:

   Both teams would go scoreless in the 6th inning.... Thompson would get on base on a fielding error, but the Tigers would leave him stranded on 1st.

   Coleman would send Dunhurst to 1st base hitting him with a pitch. Dunhurst would then advance 2nd via a balk. Coleman
would then get the next two hitters to fly out, before sending Baker to 1st with a walk. 
   Coleman would be able to strike out the side to send us to the 7th...




          7th INNING:

   Both teams again would go scoreless...  LSU would go three up-three down...

   Coleman would give up back to back singles to start the bottom of the inning, followed by a base on balls to load the bases with no outs. But Coleman would dig down deep and get the next three hitters out. A pop up to 1st base, a strike out, then a floy out to center field. We would head to the 8th with LSU still in control, 9-1...




          8th INNING:

   The Tigers would hope to add to their lead in the 8th, but Tyler Myers who would start the inning on the mound for the Rebels was able to handle the Tiger hitters in order, three up-three down. 

   Coleman would return to start the bottom of the inning. McCants would leadoff with a single to right field. Coleman would then retire the next two Rebels. After issuing a walk to Van Cleave, things were still looking good for the Tigers with runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. 
   That's when the bottom feel out. Gonzalez would step up next and single to right field, scoring McCants and advancing Van Cleave to third. 
   Chatagnier would step up next and blast a three run homer to center field to cut the LSU lead to 9-5. The homerun seemed to shake Coleman up as he would begin to fall apart. 
   Graham would single to right field, then advance to 2nd base on a wild pitch. Coleman would then hit Dunhurst, putting
​runners on 1st and 2nd with still only two outs. 
   Paul Mainieri would pull Coleman, replacing him with Garrett Edwards.  The runners would move up to 2nd and 3rd on a wild pitch. Edwars would then walk Justin Bench to load the bases. 
   With the Tigers still only needing one out to get out of the jam, it wasn't meant to be. TJ McCants would blast a grand slam to center field to tie the game up at 9-9. 
   Paul Mainieri would end up getting tossed from the ball game after arguing with the home plate umpire about a couple of questionable pitches that looked like strikes but weren't...




          9th INNING:

   The Rebels would send their top closer, Taylor Broadway to the mound to start the 9th inning.   Brody Drost would hit a one out double to right center field and it seemed like the Tigers were in business to take the lead back. But Broadway would strike out Bianco and then Milazzo to end the LSU threat. 

   Ty Floyd would take the mound for the Tigers and try to send the contest to extra innings, however Kemp Alderman would leadoff for the Rebels and end the game as he would blast the first pitch from Floyd over the right field fence to end the ball game. The Rebels would steal one from the Tigers, 10-9 to avoid the series sweep.


   “We knew the game wasn’t over with the lead that we had, and I was concerned because Ole Miss has a great hitting team, and this was a very hitter-friendly environment. They’re never out of a game in this ball park." Mainieri noted..  “We used five true freshmen pitchers in the game today, and they all competed as hard as they could. We just couldn’t get to the finish line, unfortunately. The two wins we had earlier in the weekend were great wins against a Top 10 team on the road, so we can build upon this series victory and continue to develop as a team.”



   With the loss LSU falls to 24-15 overall and 6-12 in the conference...  Ty Floyd would be charged with the loss as his record would drop to 0-2 on the season... 

   Next up for the Tigers is a home contest against Grambling State on Tuesday, April 27th at 4:00pm before the #1 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks come town on the weekend for a three game SEC series... 

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