The game was all but over.
Junior Ethan Frey’s ground ball to third base figured to be the first out of the ninth inning. It was a routine play as LSU trailed 3-0 and had just three hits all night against Tennessee’s bullpen and left-handed ace Liam Doyle.
But third baseman Dean Curley made a poor throw to first base, allowing Frey to reach on an error before he made a second error two batters later. Redshirt junior Tanner Reaves then walked to load the bases, suddenly putting the go-ahead run up at the plate with two outs.
Four batters later, LSU won the game. On a night where the Tigers had trouble threatening at all through eight innings, they scored six runs in the ninth to capture a 6-3 victory in the wee hours on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.
Following Reaves’ walk, fifth-year senior pinch-hitter Dalton Beck came up in the clutch with a single up the middle that drove in two runs and cut the LSU deficit to one.
The base hit was just his second hit of the season.
The Tigers were down to their final strike after Beck’s single, but freshman Derek Curiel completed the comeback with a game-tying single past the diving first baseman to send the remaining LSU faithful into a frenzy.
Junior Jared Jones ended the ballgame four pitches later. He blasted a 452-foot three-run walk-off home run over the batter’s eye in center field to hand LSU the 1-0 lead in the series.
Before what became a memorable night at Alex Box Stadium could begin, everyone had to wait. Both teams sat through a three-hour and 25 minute weather delay that pushed the time of first pitch from 6:30 p.m. to 9:55 p.m.
The game lasted three hours and 22 minutes and didn’t conclude until 1:17 a.m.
The night started out as a classic pitcher’s duel between LSU sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson and Doyle. Both aces traded zeroes until the sixth inning, when Tennessee third baseman Andrew Fischer singled home second baseman Gavin Kilen with nobody out.
Anderson continued on despite surrendering the run. He lasted until the eighth inning, allowing just six hits and striking out 11 batters. He exited for junior right-hander Zac Cowan after a one-out double from first baseman Andrew Fischer.
A wild pitch allowed Fischer to advance to third base before he eventually scored on a single that snuck through a drawn-in LSU infield. The base hit gave Tennessee a 2-0 lead in the eighth.
Junior right-hander Jacob Mayers pitched the ninth inning, replacing Cowan after he threw 13 pitches in the eighth. He surrendered a two-out run-scoring double to Kilen that extended the Vols’ lead to three.
LSU didn’t get its first hit until the sixth inning when Jones singled up the middle with two outs. The only hitters who reached through the first 5⅔ innings was Curiel and Jones — they both walked.
The Tigers were unable to run Doyle out of the game until the seventh inning after he walked sophomore Jake Brown with two outs. Senior Josh Pearson then singled off right-handed reliever Tanner Franklin to put two runners on for sophomore Ashton Larson, but Larson harmlessly flew out to left field to end the inning.
Doyle, a junior, finished his night with just one hit allowed and three walks in 6⅔ innings. He only had six strikeouts but forced eight fly outs and six ground outs.
Right-hander Nate Snead entered for Tennessee in the eighth inning and tossed a scoreless inning before running into trouble in the ninth.
LSU and Tennessee square off for Game 2 of the series on Saturday. First pitch from Alex Box Stadium is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be avaiable to watch on ESPNU.
