April 14, 2008

University, MS (UWIRE) -- Ole Miss had the brooms ready for a second straight weekend, but Louisiana State spoiled the Rebels plans behind a career performance from an unlikely hero.

After taking the first two games of the series, No. 18 Ole Miss was never able to mount a serious threat Sunday against the visiting Tigers in an 8-2 loss.

LSU starting pitcher Ryan Verdugo tossed a complete-game, three-hit performance, and he wasn't even scheduled to throw when the day began.

Jared Bradford, the Tiger's ace and a 2007 All-SEC selection, was scheduled to start on the mound, but he was scratched 10 minutes prior to the game due to a blister on his throwing hand.

Verdugo, a junior college transfer, was head coach Paul Mainieri's choice to fill in for Bradford and the move paid huge dividends for the Tigers.

"I'm almost speechless; I'm not sure I've seen anything like that before," Mainieri said. "I'd been trying to keep my team's chin up by giving them hope because Bradford was throwing for us today. And then 10 minutes before the game, the guy can't pitch.

"It was a tremendous performance by Verdugo," he said.

Verdugo threw 3.0 innings Wednesday in a start against Southern Mississippi, but he said he felt no ill effects of the outing Sunday.

Verdugo is now 6-2 on the season with a team-best 2.82 earned run average. He was almost speechless following the game.

"I'm still kind of in shock right now," Verdugo said.

LSU scored its first run in the second inning off Ole Miss starter Cody Satterwhite (3-2), but the brunt of the damage came in the middle innings.

The Tigers scored a run each in the third, fourth and fifth innings and plated two runs in the sixth. The final two runs came off Ole Miss reliever Scott Bittle in the ninth inning.

Two of LSU's scores came in the form of solo home runs from Ryan Schimpf and Micah Gibbs. Gibbs finished 3-5 with four RBI and two runs scored.

"I wasn't locating my fastball like I wanted to," Satterwhite said. "They fought hard up there. I missed a couple pitches over the plate and they hit out of the park."

Ole Miss scored its two runs on a Logan Power solo home run in the fourth inning and Brett Baham's RBI single in the fifth that scored Jordan Henry.

The loss snapped Ole Miss' nine-game winning streak, which was the team's second such streak of the season.

"Baseball is not so much about the streaks," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "I don't want to be one of those streaky teams. I want to be the team that plays consistent, and today we didn't."

Despite the loss, Ole Miss (24-12, 9-6 SEC) remained on top of the SEC Western Division standings by three games. The Rebels are three back of overall leader Georgia.

"As tough as this day was, we look at the positives," Power said. "We've been playing really well the last couple weeks, and we didn't play that well this game, but we have to put it behind us because we're in really good shape in the SEC."

Ole Miss won the first two games of the series against LSU behind a pair of masterful pitching performances.

Friday Lance Lynn pitched the Rebels to a 2-1 victory in one of his best outings of the season.

Lynn lasted 8.0 innings and only allowed one run on two hits. He also struck out 12 LSU batters.

Rebel catcher Brett Basham was the offensive hero Friday. Basham broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning with a solo home run over the left field wall.

Saturday true freshman Drew Pomeranz pitched a career-long 8.0 innings in Ole Miss' 7-1 victory.

Pomeranz pitched in front of the second-largest crowd in Swayze Field history and allowed just one run on four hits. He recorded five strikeouts.

Ole Miss will next be in action Tuesday when the Rebels play Mississippi State in the second annual Governor's Cup at TrustMark Park in Pearl. First pitched is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

(C) 2008 Daily Mississippian via UWIRE