LSU slugs and pitches their way to a series win over Tennessee

Jared Jones after hitting his walkoff home run Friday night (Photo from SEC)

By Andrew Riedell

Series of the year, anyone? Yes, you heard that correctly. I have deemed this the best series of the year, as this weekend in Baton Rouge, every game felt like Game 3 of a Super Regional at Alex Box Stadium.

I had the pleasure of covering this series with our very own Jake Mckeever, as the Tennessee Volunteers came down to Baton Rouge to face the LSU Tigers, in a battle of two of the top college baseball programs in the country this weekend. Fans from all over the country came down to Baton Rouge to witness it, as this was the best matchup of the weekend. Here is how it happened:

Friday: LSU 6 Tennessee 3

To start things off, I was so excited to go cover this series, I got to the stadium at 4:30. The game ended up not starting for another five hours, as weather entered the Baton Rouge area and delayed the first pitch to a 9:50 start.

The pitching matchup of Liam Doyle and Kade Anderson lived up to all the hype, both pitchers trading zeroes left and right the first five innings. Doyle was sitting in the upper 90s, topping out at 98, but the LSU hitters were working deep into counts to get his pitch count up.

Kade Anderson matched Doyle all the way till the top of the sixth, when Gavin Kilen singled to start the inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and Andrew Fischer brought him home on a RBI single. Anderson worked into the 8th before being taken out for Zac Cowan after a Andrew Fischer leadoff double.

Cowan then allowed a Hunter Ensley single to squeak through the shifted infield, making it 2-0 Tennessee. The Volunteers added another run in the ninth to make it 3-0, but that is when the magic began.

It started right after the first pitch in the ninth inning, when the game was stopped momentarily by a fan throwing a baseball at Reese Chapman in right field. A fan was pointed out and ejected, but it was reportedly not the right fan, as I learned in an exclusive interview the next day.

After that, back to back errors by Dean Curley at third base and a walk to Tanner Reaves loaded the bases for Dalton Beck pinch hitting. Head Coach Jay Johnson said post game he has been trying to get Beck into more situations because of the work he is putting in during practice.

Beck took advantage and drove a ball up the middle, nearly taking off pitcher Nate Sneed's head, driving in two runs that cut the lead to one. After a fly out, it came down to Derek Curiel, who did what he's down all year, hit the ball hard where no one is.

Curiel got one through the right side of the infield to tie the game but also brought the winning run to 90 feet away from ending the game. If you're one of few who doesn't know what happened next, Jared Jones, in a 1-2 count, got a fastball left in the heart of the plate by Snead and sent it 452 feet over the center field batters eye for a walkoff three-run home run. Alex Box Stadium exploded, my jaw was on the ground, having just seen one of the best baseball games I have ever witnessed. As Jones ran the bases, tempers flared in the high emotional moment, and we would see continue to flare over the next couple games.

Saturday: Tennessee 9 LSU 3

Tennessee came into this game taking things personally, as after the Jones walkoff, tempers flared, and Head Coach Tony Vitello mentioned that for his team, there were only two options: move forward or move backwards.

The Volunteers moved forward and had the tone set nicely by starting pitcher Marcus Phillips, who was great all night, topping out at 100 MPH. Outside four walks and two home runs, he was lights out, and LSU did not have an answer for him all night.

Anthony Eyanson got the start for the Tigers, and he was solid. He and Phillips traded zeroes through three innings, but in the 4th, Reese Chapman doubled and Dalton Bargo singled to put runners on the corners for Cannon Peebles, who singled to bring home the first run of the game. Ariel Antigua brought home the second run of the game on a ground ball back to Eyanson, who did not check the runner at third, allowing him to score.

The Volunteers did not score again until the 7th, when Chase Shores entered the game for LSU after two prior pitchers loaded up the bases. Shores allowed a sac fly to Peebles, making it 3-0.

Just like the night before, though, the Tigers fought back, Steven Milam igniting the LSU crowd with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the 7th and Michael Braswell making it back-to-back jacks with his first home run of the season. But, that is all they got in the 7th. It felt like LSU was just giving Phillips a lot of quick outs before finally getting him to really work in the sixth and seventh.

In the top of the 8th, it got ugly for the Tigers pitching staff, Chase Shores losing his control and hitting two Tennessee hitters. Then, Cooper Williams relieved and followed that by allowing a two run single to Bargo, then a three-run home run to Peebles making it 9-2.

A John Pearson home run for LSU made it 9-3, and that was all she wrote, as Tennessee evened up the series. Vitello gave credit to his assistant coaches for mentally preparing the team and mentioned how Phillips has matured on the mound, going from a kid to an adult maturity wise. Peebles also said Tennessee felt like the villain, a role he and the team love being portrayed. LSU's Derek Curiel also saw his on-base streak end at 43 games.

Sunday: LSU 12 Tennessee 2

Coming to the ballpark, we learned the pitching match up was set to be a really good one, A.J. Russell vs Casan Evans on the mound. Russell was getting his first SEC start this year, returning from elbow surgery and successful rehab after Tennessee then decided to pace his comeback to avoid burnout or a recovery setback and have him ready for the back half of SEC play.

On the other side, freshman Evans was getting his first collegiate start, having been one of the two main LSU closers so far. Evans started off shaky against the Volunteers lineup, allowing four hits, and on a Ensley sacrfice fly and Bargo double, it was 2-0, Tennessee striking first again.

It did not take long, however, for LSU to strike back, Curiel launching a ball deep into the right field bleachers to get the Tigers on the board. From there, it was all Tigers the rest of Sunday. In the bottom of the 2nd, it was Curiel again, this time an RBI double to tie the game 2-2. After Jones was intentionally walked, it was Jake Brown's homer deep into the right field bleachers that gave the Tigers a 5-2 lead.

Curiel drove in his third run of the game in the 4th on an RBI single and then two more on another RBI double. Curiel went 4-4 with his HR, two doubles, and a single, driving in five runners.

On the pitching side for the Tigers, Evans was brilliant in his first-ever start, going six innings, giving up six hits, yielding just the two runs in the first inning and striking out six. Johnson said that they will keep all options open for a potential start for Evans, meaning that if he does not use Evans out of the pen on Friday or Saturday, we could potentially see him start more on Sundays. Cowan came in afterward out of the bullpen and was solid out of the bullpen.

LSU ended up run-ruling Tennessee to end the game, scoring one in the 7th off a Michael Braswell home run, and then three more in the 8th, the final two coming on a walkoff two-run Luis Hernandez double.

My final thoughts:

If you made it all the way through this, first off, thank you! My final thoughts on this series were that Tennessee really blew it, as they really should have won this series pretty easily. If Curley doesn't make two errors in the 9th, they take the game Friday night.

This week showed me a lot about this LSU team, though, as they suffered their first non-conference run-rule loss at home and then found a way to beat Tennessee with their best bullpen arms out there. It showed how gritty this team is, and how much depth the Tigers have, as we saw Dalton Beck, John Pearson, and Tanner Reaves all come off the bench for the Tigers to work quality at-bats.

Pitching for the Tigers, on the other hand, was solid outside the six-run 8th inning on Saturday. This LSU pitching staff allowed only one home run to a team that is second in the country in home runs. LSU now looks to keep the momentum, as they head to College Station to face Texas A&M. Tennessee will look to bounce back vs Auburn this upcoming weekend.

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