BATON ROUGE - The LSU Tigers broke out of an offensive slump with a huge seventh inning two-out rally to beat Mississippi State 10-1 in game one of their SEC series at Alex Box Stadium on Thursday night.

LSU scored seven runs as 12 Tiger batters went to the plate in the 7th inning. 

LSU head coach Paul Mainieri challenged his team to excel in the pressure moments of the game and his team responded.  Their ten runs scored against the Bulldogs surpasses the total of the Tigers previous four games.

Zach Watson led the offensive attack at the plate with a 3 for 4 night, scoring three runs and driving in two more.

“Watson got a huge two-out hit after Hughes’ double, and I didn’t think we could hit a ball over (Mississippi State centerfielder Jake) Mangum’s head, but Antoine got it over his head for a triple", said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We just kept swinging the bats, and it was really good to see us get a lot of clutch hits. Our offense rewarded the pitching we had tonight, which was tremendous.”

Meanwhile LSU starting pitcher Zack Hess overcame a rough first inning to settle into an impressive showing, as he threw for 6.2 innings allowing three hits and one run while striking out ten MSU batters. 

“Zack did a really good job with 10 strikeouts, and our bullpen was excellent again tonight. It was a real pitchers’ duel through the first six innings of the game, but we finally got to Pilkington, who is one of the best pitchers in our league and a likely first-round draft choice.”

Game two will be Friday night at the Box with first pitch coming at 7:00 p.m..