Mississippi State baseball thumps LSU, wins first home series vs. Tigers since 2003

STARKVILLE — LSU pitcher Christian Little is a familiar face for Mississippi State baseball. In the 2021 College World Series, while he was at Vanderbilt, Little allowed five runs in two innings as MSU evened a series it went on to win for its first national title.

Now in Tigers gold, Little was on the wrong end of another piece of history against the Bulldogs. Mississippi State defeated No. 2 LSU 15-5 in eight innings at Dudy Noble Field on Sunday, giving MSU its first series win at home against the Tigers since 2003. The Bulldogs won Friday and lost Saturday.

Little was charged with all five runs allowed in the sixth inning as Mississippi State (15-6, 2-1 SEC) pulled away after it jumped to a 7-3 lead in the fifth.

Dakota Jordan again was part of the destruction from the MSU lineup, collecting two hits and four runs driven in. In the fourth inning, he hit his 10th homer of the season, a three-run blast to center. He was followed by Hunter Hines, who hit a solo shot for his fourth homer of the season and third of the series.

In five tries, MSU coach Chris Lemonis has won three series against LSU (17-4, 1-2).

Jurrangelo Cijntje rolls, then runs into trouble

Through four innings, MSU starter Jurrangelo Cijntje was rolling against the LSU lineup. However, the ambidextrous pitcher ran into trouble in the fifth.

Behind five batters walked, Cijntje allowed three runs in the inning, allowing the Tigers tie the game even though they had only one hit in the inning.

Cijntje had a chance to escape with only one run allowed. LSU catcher Hayden Travinski was down 1-2 in the count with the bases loaded and two outs. However, despite two pitches close to the zone, Travinski was walked. That was followed by another run-scoring walk to Brady Neal.

Cijntje finished with six strikeouts in five innings.

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How the first two games went

Mississippi State took the series opener, winning 10-4 despite not having usual Friday night starter Nate Dohm. Evan Siary got the start for MSU, and he allowed three runs in three innings to give LSU a 3-1 edge. However, the Bulldogs — behind a pair of Hines home runs — scored nine unanswered runs to regain control. Freshman Nolan Stevens pitched in relief of Siary and allowed only one run in 5⅔ innings.

LSU jumped to a 9-1 lead on Saturday, scoring five of those runs in two innings against MSU starter Khal Stephen. The eight-run edge proved to be too much to overcome, despite Mississippi State scoring seven unanswered runs in the 9-8 loss.

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State baseball beats LSU, wins series at Dudy Noble Field