No. 4/6 Tennessee was unable to hang on to a ninth inning lead in Friday's series opener at No. 3/7 LSU, falling 6-3 at Alex Box Stadium.
It was a nightmare of a ninth inning for the Volunteers (34-8, 12-7 SEC), who committed two errors before surrendering a walk and three hits, including a walk-off three-run homer by Jared Jones. UT entered the inning leading 3-0 and had allowed just three hits up until that point.
Despite the miscues, Tennessee was still a strike away from escaping with the win before LSU leadoff hitter Derek Curiel drove a 1-2 pitch through the right side of the infield for an RBI single to tie the game at three and set the stage for Jones' walk-off homer one batter later.
Andrew Fischer,
Hunter Ensley and
Gavin Kilen all had RBI hits for the Big Orange to account for the team's three runs while
Reese Chapman also had a productive night at the plate with a pair of singles.
The Vols outhit the Tigers 9-6 on the night but also left 10 runners on base.
Doyle Does His Part
It was another dominant outing on the mound from junior lefthander
Liam Doyle, who outdueled LSU ace Kade Anderson in a matchup of two of the SEC's best pitchers before exiting the game with two outs in the seventh inning.
Doyle allowed just one hit and had six strikeouts over 6.2 scoreless innings despite having to deal with a lengthy weather delay that postponed the start of the game more than three hours.
Up Next
Tennessee will look to wipe the slate clean and rebound to even the series on Saturday night when the Vols and Tigers square off at 8 p.m. ET on ESPNU.