After a wild top of the seventh in which Ole Miss third baseman Ryan Starr experienced an at-bat that lasted well over five minutes, 17th-ranked LSU held on the defeat Ole Miss 7-6 and take the SEC series from the Rebels. The two teams will play game three of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. It will be streamed on the SEC Network+.
Starr came to the plate with two outs and runners on first and third base with the Rebels down 7-6. Her at-bat featured a wild pitch advancing the potential go-ahead runner from first to second, a defensive change at catcher and a phantom third-out called when LSU reliever Paytn Monticelli hit her with a pitch but the home plate umpire ruled Starr leaned into the offering. By rule, it should have been called a strike. Instead, he signaled out number three, thus ending the game.
After quite a bit of confusion, action resumed, only for Starr to strike out with two runners in scoring position.
BOX SCORE: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=639115
The loss dropped Ole Miss to 27-20 overall and to 2-15 in SEC play. LSU improved to 31-14 and to 7-9 in the league.
The contest was a back-and-forth affair with Ole Miss leading 1-0, trailing 2-1, regaining the lead 4-2, being tied 4-4, trailing 6-4 and finally forging a 6-6 tie.
Lilly Whitten (6-1), who pitched three innings in relief of starter Kyra Aycock, was saddled with the loss. Whitten allowed three earned runs on five hits and four walks. She struck out one.
Aycock worked the first three innings. She was hit for four runs (two earned) on four hits and walk, while fanning none.
At the plate, leadoff hitter and catcher Kennedy Bunker had a 2-for-3 day at the plate, driving in three runs. Second baseman Mackenzie Pickens also registered a 2-for-3 effort with a double, hiome runs, three RBIs and a run scored. Bunker and Pickens were the Rebels only multi-hit hitters. The rebels managed just five hits on the day, the other coming as a single off the bat of Lalonna Applin.
Each team left eight runners on base.