What a finish to Sunday’s matchup between LSU (24-13, 9-6 SEC) and Tennessee (21-17, 5-10 SEC). It seemed like the Volunteers were close to coming away with a 7-3 win behind a solid outing by Will Neely. However, the Tigers rallied back in the bottom of the ninth to win 9-7 off of a walk-off home run by Daniel Cabrera.
How It Happened
The Volunteers struck first with an RBI single up the middle in the top of the second by Pete Derkay. Things really got out of hand in the top of the third when Nico Mascia blasted one out to right field to score three more runs, making it 4-0.
LSU got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Austin Bain scored on a passed ball. They continued to cut away at the lead in the fifth with Antoine Duplantis hitting a two-out RBI double by Antoine Duplantis. Bain followed up with an RBI single out to left field to make it 4-3.
After Jay Charleston scored off of a groundout by Andre Lipcius in the seventh, the Vols seemingly put the game out of reach; scoring three runs in the eighth, highlighted by an RBI single out to left field by Brodie Leftridge.
You never want to count out LSU and that was apparent in the bottom of the nith as they put together three runs off of a pair of errors. After Hunter Feduccia struck out swinging, that brought Daniel Cabrera to the plate. The freshman launched a three-run walk-off home run over the Diamond Deck to complete the series sweep.
Taylor Peterson got his first win after facing one batter in the top of the ninth.
Big Number: 1,400
Paul Mainieri put himself in an elite league of head coaches on Sunday with his 1,400th career win. He is the fourth active head coach in college baseball with at least 1,400 wins joining Florida State’s Mike Martin, Miami’s Jim Morris, and North Carolina’s Mike Fox.
Player of the Game: Daniel Cabrera
You hit a walk-off home run, you get player of the game honors, pretty simple selection process.
Next Up: LSU vs Tulane Wednesday; First Pitch 6:30 pm
-Clint Domingue