Landon Mack navigated early baserunners before sitting down 14 LSU batters in a row. But when Tennessee baseball moved away from him, it all fell apart.
Derek Curiel stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and put the Tigers ahead after a lifeless mid-game slump. That helped LSU steal a 7-5 win in front of a record 7,195-person crowd at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday night.
Tennessee (19-11, 3-7 SEC) had woes at the top of the order. Garrett Wright and Blaine Brown went 1-for-10 with six strikeouts. Wright recorded the only hit, legging out an infield single in the seventh.
LSU (21-10, 5-5) starter Casan Evans tossed 5.2 innings for the Tigers, blemished by a pair of mid-game blasts. Evans allowed six hits and walked two while striking out six batters across 90 pitches. Entering Friday, Evans had allowed just one career home run in 88.2 innings, but he allowed two to the Vols — resulting in three earned runs.
A one-inning game stretch between the home half of the seventh and the top of the eighth defined the Vols’ loss. Tennessee stranded the bases loaded, then allowed a grand slam.
Friday night ace Mack
For the second straight weekend, the Vols opted for a change on their Friday night starter. Mack was handed the ball against the defending national champions and went a season-best 7.2 innings. He delivered an SEC-high 10 strikeouts, allowing three hits and a walk — all in the third inning or prior.
He faced early trouble in the second inning when Curiel led off with an opposite-field single. LSU eventually loaded the bases with another hit and a walk, but Mack induced an infield pop-up to strand all three.
Jake Brown smashed an outside corner pitch from Mack in the third inning and sent it to the opposite field as the Tigers struck first blood. Mack bounced back by retiring 14 straight, seven via strikeout.
In the fourth inning, trainer Jeff Wood made a mound visit after Mack delivered his third-straight ball to Zach Yorke and began grabbing at his right side. He stayed in the game and induced a popout to Yorke on the ensuing pitch.
Mack’s discomfort had no impact on his pitchability. He recorded four straight 1-2-3 innings before Brandon Arvidson emerged in the eighth inning of a 4-1 game. And it went downhill from there.
Have a day, Chapman
Tennessee’s senior right fielder put together a prolific inning-long stretch between the home half of the fourth and the top of the fifth.
When he stepped to the plate after a Blake Grimmer single with one out, Chapman carried a ball to opposite right-center field to give Tennessee a 3-1 lead. Then he stepped up defensively.
Chapman had shades of Hunter Ensley in the fifth inning. Steven Milam took Mack’s 1-1 delivery on a line-drive trip to the short bullpen wall in right field. But a chasing Chapman did not let it drop, ramming his body into the wall while securing the catch.
It kept LSU from cutting into the deficit and kept Mack’s retired streak intact, pushing the needle to eight in a row.
Chapman finished the evening 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs as Tennessee’s only batter with a multi-hit night.
Eighth inning arm mismanagement
Mack rolled through seven strong innings when the Vols brought seven batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning. With Mack at 94 pitches and a long half-inning of rest, Tennessee elected to go to the bullpen.
Brandon Arvidson was the guy called upon, and he was non-competitive in his outing. Arvidson walked the first batter he faced on five pitches, then delivered two more walks to load the bases with no outs. He finally recorded an out on a lineout to short, then the Vols went back to the pen.
But Bo Rhudy was no better. He just finished out the harm Arvidson set up. Curiel took a 1-0 delivery from Rhudy to the porches in left for a grand slam, giving LSU a 5-4 lead after not having a baserunner in the previous four innings. Seth Dardar made it back-to-back home runs to push the lead to two.
Chris Stanfield added a solo home run in the top of the ninth, and Blake Grimmer smoked a line drive solo fly of his own. The exchange wasn’t enough for the Vols to salvage their disastrous meltdown.
Tennessee and LSU will be in the primetime slot on Saturday night for a 6 p.m. ET first pitch on ESPN2.
