Vols rally past Tigers, pull within one victory of College World Series berth
Jun. 13—Updated with more information at 11:45 p.m. on June 12, 2021.
A quick deficit. A 50-minute weather delay, and an impressive start by the opposing pitcher.
Tennessee was expected to encounter significant adversity in Saturday night's opening game of its NCAA super regional against longtime power LSU, but the Volunteers once again overcame the setbacks in posting a 4-2 victory before a rain-soaked but energized crowd at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Vols sent nine to the plate and scratched out three runs to get within one win of a College World Series berth.
The Vols are also one triumph shy of a 50-win season, improving to 49-16 with their fourth victory over the Tigers (38-24) in four tries, with the second game of this best-of-three series set for Sunday afternoon at 3 on ESPN2.
Saturday's game ended with Vols reliever Sean Hunley striking out Jordan Thompson with runners on second and third.
"Everything seems to happen crazy for this team," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said afterward on a Zoom call. "Sometimes we do it to ourselves, and sometimes we overcome those things, but it's just kind of part of our mantra."
A random downpour could not deter Chad Doughty from launching a home run to right field off Tennessee starter Chad Dallas in the second inning. The Vols were hitless through two innings, and the game was halted before the start of the third with LSU leading 1-0, which sent both teams off the field and back to their respective quarters.
"Going through the rain delay was a little different," Dallas said. "I felt like it was my game to continue, and there was nothing that was going to take me out of that game, no matter how long it was."
Tennessee quickly pulled even after the delay, with Jordan Beck leading off the bottom of the third with a double to left-center and scoring on a Connor Pavolony groundout. LSU, however, regained the advantage at 2-1 in the fifth when Drew Bianco stole third and Vols catcher Connor Pavalony made an errant throw up the line that got past Jake Rucker and into left field, allowing Bianco to score easily.
LSU starter Ma'Khail Hilliard allowed three hits and a run before being replaced by Javen Coleman, whose lengthy sixth inning included a Rucker double down the left-field line, a Beck single to right and three walks. The first was drawn by Max Ferguson after an 0-2 count.
"Last weekend, we went to Javen early, and he pretty much dominated," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said when asked about the pitching change. "I was happy to get five good innings out of Ma'Khail. He threw 76 pitchers, and we were getting ready to go back to the top of their order, so they had already seen Ma'Khail twice.
"Javen struck out (Liam) Spence to start off the inning and got two quick strikes on Ferguson, and the undoing was really coming back and walking Ferguson. It was a 3-2 pitch that barely missed."
Dallas worked six innings and recorded 12 strikeouts, the highest single-game performance of his career, while LSU standout first baseman Tre' Morgan, who entered Saturday with a team-leading .361 average, went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.
