• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 15, 2009 - Page: 1C

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STARKVILLE, Miss. — One step closer.

It wasn’t an easy step for sure, but with the game on the line the LSU baseball team turned the here-and-now over to its future and let three freshmen handle a good chunk of the heavy lifting.

The Tigers took a major step toward the 2009 regular-season Southeastern Conference championship Thursday night, staging a late rally against Mississippi State with two freshmen delivering the biggest blows.

And when ace Anthony Ranaudo finally ran out of gas, closer Matty Ott — another freshman — calmly trotted in and closed a 5-4 victory at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium.

With a victory that LSU coach Paul Mainieri called one of the toughest in his career, along with Auburn’s stunning 10-inning comeback win against Alabama, the Tigers (40-14, 19-9) maintained a one-game lead over Ole Miss and Florida for the overall SEC championship.

The Rebels and Gators kept pace with wins Thursday. The Crimson Tide fell 1 1/2 games behind with two games left in the regular season.

“That was a hard-fought, tough, gut-check victory,” Mainieri said of his team’s sixth one-run SEC victory of the season. LSU has won three others by two runs. “We were a little tight because these guys know what’s at stake.”

After trailing most of the night, the Tigers staggered the Bulldogs (24-28, 8-19) with three runs to tie the game in the seventh inning and then manufactured the go-ahead run in the eighth — with a huge assist from Bulldogs reliever Chad Crosswhite.

State’s left-handed starter Tyler Whitney handcuffed LSU the first six innings, limiting the Tigers to four hits and one run on freshman center fielder Mikie Mahtook’s solo home run in the first inning.

After shrugging off that blast and logging five straight scoreless innings, Whitney went to the seventh with a 4-1 cushion.

But he created some self-inflicted trouble to start the frame when he walked Jared Mitchell. Tigers catcher Micah Gibbs finished a gritty trip to the plate by ripping a single to left-center field that put runners on the corners with no outs.

State coach John Cohen went to the bullpen for Lee Swindle and on his first pitch, freshman shortstop Austin Nola rocketed a double to the gap in right-center to score a pair of runs.

Right before Nola jumped on Swindle’s first pitch, Mainieri gave his shortstop some tongue-in-cheek advice.