Mississippi 5, LSU 3

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) Thomas Berkery and Brad Jones had RBI singles in a three-run seventh inning to give Mississippi State a 5-3 win Saturday over LSU to improve the Bulldogs&#39; Southeastern Conference tournament hopes.<br> <br> LSU (37-18, 17-12) led 3-2 before Mississippi State&#39;s Brian LaNinfa led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to left field.<br> <br> The Bulldogs (36-19, 13-15) entered the series in ninth place in the SEC and needed a successful weekend to move up a spot and qualify for the eight-team conference tournament.<br> <br> The win put Mississippi State ahead of Vanderbilt and Arkansas, which both loss on Saturday and are now 13-16 in the league.<br> <br> The Bulldogs tied the game when Jeff Butts hit a single and LaNinfa scored. Berkery followed with his single later in the inning to score Butts and Jones finished the seventh with his single to give Mississippi State the winning margin.<br> <br> LSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on Bruce Sprowl&#39;s solo homer, his second of the season. With the score 2-0, Blake Gill had an RBI double for the Tigers, but Mississippi State starting pitcher Todd Doolittle settled down after Gill&#39;s hit and didn&#39;t allow another run.<br> <br> Justin Pigott (2-1) came on in relief and earned the win, allowing three hits in two innings of work. Mike Valentine surrendered just one hit in the ninth inning to earn his third save.<br> <br> Edgar Ramirez (0-1) gave up three runs, two earned, on two hits in one inning to pick up the loss for LSU.<br> <br> (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/5/133981