LSU Doesn’t Come Back This Time, Falls At Tennessee, 4-1, To Even Series, 1-1

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU tempted fate one too many times on Saturday night at Tennessee.

The Tigers fell behind for the fourth straight game, and lost for the first time over that stetch, 4-1, to the Volunteers at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

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The Vols took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on two unearned runs off LSU starter William Schmidt, who walked Garrett Wright and allowed a single to Blaine Brown with no outs. He struck out Henry Ford, but Blake Grimmer reached first and second on a fielding error by first baseman Zach Yorke, scoring Wright and Brown. Schmidt retired the next two batters.

LSU (21-11, 5-6 Southeastern Conference) cut it to 2-1 in the second inning on an RBI single by Chris Stanfield after Derek Curiel and John Pearson singled to start the inning. With Pearson on second base, Yorke popped out and Steven Milam flew out between a walk to Cade Arrambide.

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Tennessee (20-11, 4-7 SEC) extended its lead to 3-1 on a Grimmer home run off Schmidt in the third, and Jay Abernathy hit a two-out RBI double off Schmidt for the 4-1 advantage. Schmidt walked Manny Marin to start the inning. The Vols snapped a four-game losing streak in SEC play after blowing a 4-1 lead on Friday through seven innings and falling 7-5 as Curiel hit a grand slam for the second straight game.

Tennessee freshman left-hander reliever Cam Appenzell struck Curiel out looking with runners on second and third in the fifth inning. Appenzell (4-0) He retired LSU’s last 15 hitters in a row for the win. He struck out six in five innings with one hit allowed and zero runs or walks

Vols’ starter Tegan Kuhns allowed one run on four hits in four innings with two walks and a strikeout.

LSU had just five hits and committed the one error. Tennessee had only three hits, but committed no errors.

Schmidt (4-2) took the loss, allowing two earned runs on three hits and three walks and a hit batsman with seven strikeouts over 99 pitches through five and two-thirds innings.

LSU and Tennessee meet at noon Sunday on SEC Network+ to decide the three-game series.