It was like the good old days at Alex Box Stadium Friday night, unless you were from Mississippi State.
No. 22 LSU opened its last regular season series in its retiring 70-year-old stadium in vintage form by powering to a 15-6 win over the Bulldogs in front of the Tigers' largest home crowd of the season at 6,514.
The Tigers (33-16-1) took an 11-0 lead in the first two innings on 13 hits, including three home runs, and finished with 21 hits.
Derek Helenihi drove in the first two LSU runs in the first inning with a two-run single. Matt Clark followed with an RBI single, and Leon Landry later hit an RBI double for a 4-0 lead.
LSU, which improved to 13-11-1 to stay in first in the Southeastern Conference West, scored seven more in the second. Jared Mitchell made it 6-0 on a two-run home run. Then Clark knocked one off The Intimidator sign beyond right field that lists LSU's five national championships next to a roaring Tiger for an 8-0 lead. Ryan Schimpf later hit a three-run home run for the 11-0 cushion.
Ryan Powers put State (20-30) on the board in the third inning with an RBI double and Nick Hardy hit a two-run home run to cut LSU's lead to 11-3. The Tigers answered in their third with an RBI double by Helenihi for a 12-3 advantage.
State, which dropped to 7-18 in the SEC for last overall, got one in the fourth on a bloop single by Ryan Duffy and cut it to 12-6 in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Jason Nappi and an RBI double by Jet Butler. The Bulldogs finished with 14 hits.
Blake Dean extended LSU's lead to 13-6 in the fifth on an RBI double. LSU starter Louis Coleman (4-0) picked up the win for LSU with 3.1 innings of relief work for starter Ryan Verdugo, while Chad Crosswhite (2-5) took the loss.
Before the sixth inning, State coach Ron Polk, who coached his 64th game in the Box, took down the numeral 3 and replaced it with numeral 2, signifying that only two games remain in the stadium. Polk dropped to 33-31 all-time in the Box and to 27-30 against LSU in the Box.
"That No. 3 is for the number of times we're going to beat LSU," Polk told the Alex Box crowd before the game during a ceremony in which he was honored. Polk is retiring following this season after 35 years as a college coach, including 29 at State.
Former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman praised Polk's many accomplishments on the field before the game. Then he delivered a favorite joke of both men.
"We're giving Ron a lifetime achievement award for living in Starkville (Miss.) for 35 years," Bertman said.
The series continues today at 3 p.m. with the Alex Box regular season finale set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
