If there was any leftover business from last season for LSU’s baseball team, it was its sole Southeastern Conference series loss to Tennessee.The No. 4 Tigers (20-3, 5-1) got their chance for revenge in their first road games of the season during the weekend in Knoxville, Tenn., and they took care of business, sweeping the Volunteers (11-13, 0-6). It was the Tigers’ first road SEC sweep since the end of the 2008 season when LSU swept past Auburn.But the victories came faster than expected as inclement weather in the Knoxville area pushed Sunday’s game to Saturday to make for an afternoon doubleheader.The weather also pushed up the much-anticipated start of junior pitcher Anthony Ranaudo to the second game of the series, a 10-6 LSU victory.Ranaudo fired two perfect innings with a strikeout, and sophomore southpaw Chris Matulis (4-0) earned the win in relief, allowing three earned runs on five hits in five innings.”Ranaudo was awesome,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “He couldn’t have done better. He was throwing hard, hitting 93 miles per hour consistently, and he had great command of his fastball … He actually wanted to continue pitching, but we decided the right thing to do was to shut him down.”LSU also saw their offense wake up, as the team knocked around 15 hits and scored 10 runs for the first time since a 10-3 victory against Nicholls State on March 17.Junior catcher Micah Gibbs and sophomore shortstop Austin Nola each went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI for the Tigers.Senior designated hitter Matt Gaudet hit his eighth home run of the season in the top of the sixth to tie the game at three. The Tigers then used a four-run seventh inning to take the lead.”Matt Gaudet was great,” Mainieri said. “He had a couple of clutch home runs for us that helped spark us when Tennessee kept trying to climb back into the game.”The Tigers nabbed an 8-6 victory in the second game of the doubleheader.Sophomore right-hander Joey Bourgeois got the unexpected start because of the doubleheader and went 5 1/3 innings, giving up five earned runs on seven hits to earn the victory. Four Tiger pitchers finished the game, going 3 2/3 innings and giving up one earned run.Gaudet hit his ninth home run of the season in the top of the fourth, a two-run shot, that gave LSU a 2-1 lead after Tennessee took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Landry would add a solo shot to lead off the top of the fifth in what would end up being a four-run fifth inning.The Tigers ended the game with 12 hits.”There were times when I felt like we could have broken those games open,” Mainieri said. “But we did what we had to do.”Saturday’s doubleheader came on the heels of a 6-2 LSU victory on a chilly Friday night.LSU sophomore second baseman Tyler Hanover went 3-for-4 in the game with four RBIs, including two on a two-out double in the top of the ninth to give LSU a 6-2 lead.Junior Austin Ross went six innings for the Tigers, giving up two earned runs while striking out four and walking two on 91 pitches.Tennessee starter Bryan Morgado went seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits while striking out a season-high 11 and walking four.He got the loss, but Morgado’s success against the Tigers is nothing new, as he got the save in the Vols’ 7-5 victory on April 18, 2009, in game two of a three-game series last season. He pitched two innings in the game, giving up two hits while striking out four.”He’s one of the best pitchers in our conference, for sure, if not the country,” Mainieri said. “Last year when he came out of the bullpen, he was throwing 97 miles per hour … Even though he had the 10 strikeouts against us, I thought our guys did a pretty good job.”
 
 
 
—-Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]