Leading 3-2 heading into the top of the ninth, the LSU baseball team was three outs away from collecting its 15th consecutive win.
Instead, Ole Miss handed the Tigers their first loss in nearly a month.
LSU freshman pitcher Jesse Stalling blew a save for the first time this season, and the No. 1 Tigers fell to Ole Miss in 14 innings, 5-3, Saturday night in Alex Box Stadium.
The loss snapped LSU’s 14-game winning streak, which began after a 6-3 defeat to Nicholls State on Feb. 18. Saturday’s game was also the Tigers’ longest since they played 16 innings against Alabama on April 20, 2013.
“This is how the [Southeastern Conference] is,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Everybody can beat everybody.”
After trailing 3-2 for most of the night, Ole Miss (10-8, 1-1 SEC) tied the game in the top of the ninth after senior first baseman Sikes Orvis’ cracked a single off Stallings, driving in freshman infielder Will Golsan from second.
LSU (17-2, 1-1 SEC) failed to respond in the bottom of the frame, forcing the Tigers into extra innings for the first time this season. LSU and Ole Miss’ bullpens each pitched four scoreless innings before starting the 14th, which is when the Rebels went in front.
After LSU senior pitcher Kyle Bouman (0-1) walked the leadoff batter in the 14th, Orvis cranked an RBI double to left center field to give the Rebels’ their first lead in 11 innings.
Ole Miss sophomore shortstop Errol Robinson added to the Rebels’ lead with an RBI single into right field. It was Robinson’s first hit of the night after going 0-for-5 to start.
The Tigers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 14th, but Ole Miss freshman outfielder Kyle Watson made a running catch down the left field line to end the game. It was another wasted opportunity for LSU, which stranded 10 runners Saturday.
“We scored in one inning out of 14,” Mainieri said. “We had two clutch hits in 14 innings. It’s hard to win a lot of games that way.”
LSU scored three runs in the fourth — with two coming off a triple by senior infielder Jared Foster — but was scoreless in the other 13 innings.
The Tigers racked up five hits through the first four innings en route to building their 3-2 advantage. But LSU went silent at the plate after that, tallying six hits over the final seven innings of the game.
The Tigers finished with four more hits than Ole Miss (11-7), but the Rebels stranded four fewer runners (10-6).
LSU junior outfielder Mark Laird, who went 0-for-6 at the plate, said the Tigers failed to take advantage of hittable pitches.
“We were expecting fastballs, and that’s what we got,” said LSU junior outfielder Mark Laird. “We got under balls and popped balls up. Our bats just weren’t ready today.”
The Tigers’ lack of offensive production masked a dominant performance from freshman Alex Lange, who delivered his best collegiate outing.
Lange struck out a career-high 13 batters and allowed three hits over eight innings of work, which was another personal-best for the hard-throwing freshman. Lange’s 13 strikeouts were the most for an LSU pitcher since April 11, 2014.
Lange struck out the side in the second, fourth and eighth innings before Mainieri replaced the right-hander with Stallings in the ninth.
But Lange stood up for Stallings after he gave up his first run in nine innings of work this season. 
“That’s baseball, and it happens,” Lange said. “Jesse’s the best closer in the nation. He gave up his first run in eight opportunities. It happens, but it won’t happen for him much more. It’s just one of those days in baseball.”
The Tigers and Rebels will conclude their SEC-opening series at 3 p.m. Sunday in Alex Box Stadium. LSU freshman pitcher Jake Godfrey (3-0 1.69 ERA) will start on the mound and try to prevent Ole Miss from winning its first series in Baton Rouge since 1982.
“We have to come back to work tomorrow and swing the bats better than we did [Saturday],” Mainieri said. “Hopefully we get a good pitching performance out of Godfrey like we got out of Lange [Saturday].”