BATON ROUGE - Runs figured to be tricky enough to come by Friday when Mississippi State and LSU got the SEC baseball season started at Alex Box Stadium.

Bulldogs pitcher Chris Stratton made sure just making contact was a challenge for the Tigers as well.

The former Tupelo High star struck out a career-best 17 hitters in a magnificent nine-inning performance and Mitch Slauter played the role of offensive hero with a two-out solo home run in the 10th inning.

But the Bulldogs couldn't hold onto the lead in the bottom of the 10th as LSU scored two run to snare a 3-2 triumph and take the series opener.

"The last two outings I haven't thrown too well and my team has picked me up," Stratton said. "We competed our tails off. That was a great ballgame. We've got to bounce back and be ready to play hard (Saturday)."

Slauter gave State (14-6, 0-1 SEC) a 2-1 lead when he yanked a 3-and-1 pitch from Tigers closer Nick Goody into the left-field seats.

MSU closer Caleb Reed got ahead of Tyler Hanover 0-and-2 to start the 10th, but Hanover punched a ground ball toward right field that second baseman Eric Jacobson smothered but couldn't come up with.

Ty Ross bunted Hanover to second base and LSU designated hitter Grant Dozar yanked Reed's first offering into the right-field corner to score Hanover and tie the game. After two intentional walks, Richton native JaCoby Jones took a strike and then dumped a line drive into center field for the winner.

Until then, Stratton and Tigers starter Kevin Gausman waged a magnificent duel for nine innings to get the game to the bullpen.

Six LSU starters struck out at least twice, with Katz and Dozar piling up three. Stratton struck out the side in the sixth and eighth frames.

The Bulldogs didn't fare much better against Gausman, who matched his career-best with 11 strikeouts and, like Stratton, pitched into the ninth.

State's only damage in the first nine frames came in the second when Hunter Renfroe poked a one-out double over left fielder Jared Foster's head and Fullerton chased him home on a hot shot up the middle that Jones, the second baseman, gloved but couldn't come up with.

After that, Gausman surrendered only two more singles - Adam Frazier in the third and Renfroe in the seventh.

Slauter finally came up with the big hit, but it didn't hold up.

"They played their tails off and seven of them had never played an SEC game before,"Bulldogs coach John Cohen said. "I'm thrilled with how hard we played and how hard the kids worked, but we've got to find a way to win the game. There are no moral victories."

Also in the SEC

Kentucky 4, South Carolina 3: The Wildcats (19-0) extended the longest winning streak in major-college baseball on a Luke Maile two-run walkoff home run in ninth.

The Gamecocks (15-2) outhit Kentucky 10-7 but blew the 3-0 lead they held in the sixth.

Florida 10, Vanderbilt 2: The top-ranked Gators (17-1) set a school record with their 15th straight victory. Preston Tucker went 2 for 5 and drove in three runs for Florida, which broke the game open with a five-run fifth.

Georgia 4, Tennessee 0: The Bulldogs were outhit 9-7 but Kyle Farmer went 3 for 4 and homered to lead the victory. Nelson Ward had a two-run single in the second inning.

Arkansas 4, Alabama 3: The Razorbacks (17-2) loaded the bases in the bottom of the 12th and won it when Jake Wise drew a two-out walk. Barrett Astin was the winner with 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.