No. 19 LSU Takes Series with Game Two Victory

Saturday, April 14

Baton Rouge, LA

9 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

21-16, 5-9

#19 LSU

23-13, 8-6

Tennessee

LSU

Photo by: John Golliher/Tennessee Athletics

April 15, 2018 | Baseball

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BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 19 LSU raced out to an early lead for the second straight game and went on to secure a series win with a 14-5 victory over Tennessee on Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium.

Pete Derkay and Nico Mascia combined for five hits, three runs scored and two RBI to lead the Volunteers, but it wasn't enough as the Tigers continued their hot hitting, racking up 17 hits on the night.

Zach Watson scored three runs and had three hits while Jake Slaughter hit his third home run of the series and drove in four runs for the LSU. Antoine Duplantis also had a big game with three hits and three RBI.

Freshman pitcher Ma'Khail Hilliard gave up three runs on five hits over six innings of work to pick up the win for the Tigers and improve to 7-2 on the year. Tennessee starter Garrett Stallings went five innings but gave up nine runs – only four of which were earned – to drop his record to 4-3.

UT got off to another shaky start, giving up five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Beau Jordan reached on a throwing error to start the inning before back-to-back singles brought in the game's first run. An RBI ground out from Austin Bain brought in another run before RBI hits from Daniel Cabrera and Slaughter made it 5-0.

The Tigers added another run in the second when Bain singled up the middle for his second RBI of the night and fifth of the series to make it 6-0.

Mascia sparked the offense with a leadoff home run in the top of the fifth. The redshirt sophomore blasted a 3-2 pitch into the right-field bleachers to make it 6-1. Wyatt Stapp pulled the Vols within three by ripping a two-run double into the right-center field gap later in the inning for his first-career hit in SEC play.

The momentum was short-lived, however, as LSU struck back immediately with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to take a 9-3 lead into the sixth.

A couple of LSU errors allowed the Vols to load the bases with only one out in the top of the seventh, but Tigers' reliever Caleb Gilbert struck out Stapp and got Jay Charleston to ground out to second base to escape the jam unscathed.

The Tigers went on to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead to double digits. The Vols plated a pair of runs in the eighth with as Evan Russell and Derkay both drove in runs to cut the deficit to eight. LSU's Nick Webre hit a pinch-hit solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to cap off the scoring.

Notable
Mascia Continues Hot Streak at Plate
Redshirt sophomore Nico Mascia continued his recent string of solid performances, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run on Saturday night. The Knoxville native has recorded a hit in four straight games with two home runs, four runs scored and three RBI in that span.

Ammons On-Base Streak Up to 13 Games
Sophomore outfielder Justin Ammons extended his on-base streak to 13 games with a single in the fourth inning. The Memphis native went 2-for-4 on the night and currently leads the team with a .347 batting average and 17 hits in conference play.

Next Up
First pitch for tomorrow's series finale is slated for 5 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast live on the SEC Network. Fans can also listen live on Sports Radio WNML (FM 99.1 / AM 990) as John Wilkerson has the call.