Although LSU faced its largest deficit of the season after two innings shaky innings Saturday, hitting still wasn’t a problem.
Pitching was another story.
The Vols salvaged the final game of the three-game series 14-7 at Alex Box Stadium after scoring 10 runs in the first two innings. LSU (24-4, 6-3) has won all three of its Southeastern Conference series this season, but the Tigers’ first conference sweep evaded them again.
On Saturday, LSU starting pitcher Thatcher Hurd struggled for his third consecutive SEC start.
He faced only six batters and all of them reached base — four via hits and two who drew walks. All six would score — including three runners whom left-handed reliever Riley Cooper inherited after replacing Hurd with nobody out.
Cooper gave up four runs of his own in the second inning before stopping LSU’s bleeding against the Vols (21-8, 4-5) to allow LSU to mount a comeback. Cooper covered 5⅔ innings and allowed six earned runs on eight hits. He struck out five and walked two.
Although the Tigers managed seven runs on 15 hits, it seemed like the offense was capable of more. LSU left 13 runners stranded, failing to score with the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Hurd walked the leadoff batter before yielding four straight hits as Tennessee went ahead 3-0. After he walked the next batter on four pitches to load the bases, he was lifted for Cooper.
Cooper began his outing by walking Zane Denton, which forced in a run. Kyle Booker’s groundball allowed him to reach on a fielder’s choice when shortstop Jordan Thompson forced Denton out at second. That scored Blake Burke from third. The final run scored on a fielding error by Tommy White to make it 6-0.
The Vols added four runs on four hits in the second inning to compile the 10-0 lead, but LSU got on the board in the bottom of the frame when Jared Jones scored on a throwing error by shortstop Maui Ahuna.
Cooper kept Tennessee’s bats quiet through the fifth, and LSU tacked on five runs in the meantime. Dylan Crews’ RBI single in the bottom of the third scored LSU’s second run, and he returned in the fourth to follow up Tre’ Morgan’s two-run double with a two-run single. That cut the Vols’ lead to 10-6.
Cooper gave up a two-run home run to Denton in the sixth to stem LSU’s momentum and extend the Vols’ lead to 12-6. They added two more runs in the seventh off of reliever Sam Dutton for a 14-6 edge. LSU’s seventh run came on an RBI single by White in the bottom of the seventh.
Crews finished 4 for 4 with three RBIs to raise his season batting average to .543. Morgan was 3 for 6 with two runs scored and two RBIs, and Jones also had three hits for the Tigers.
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