LSU Baseball escapes from the jaws of defeat behind a walk-off three-run home run from Jared Jones that puts an exclamation point on the most improbable and impressive comeback win of the season against the nationally-acclaimed No.5-ranked Tennessee Volunteers by a final score of 6-3.

To start this highly anticipated matchup, each team found itself in a prolonged pitching duel.

Junior starting pitcher Kade Anderson, who has solidified his name into conversations surrounding the top pitchers in all of college baseball, boasted a 5-1 record in SEC play entering this matchup against the star-studded Tennessee Volunteers’ batting order.

Behind the trust of his coaching staff to take the mound in this pivotal first game of the most highly anticipated series of the season, Anderson cherishes the opportunity to compete against a star-studded batting lineup of Tennessee’s caliber.

“That’s one thing that I kind of thought about before the game… being grateful to be in this situation. [Tennessee] is a good team as well and that’s why you come here,” Anderson said.

Managing to maneuver through five scoreless innings and racking up eight strikeouts in the process, approaching the third time through the batting order proved to be rather challenging.

With this in mind, Anderson recognizes the adjustments that need to be made over the course of his outings to prevent instances of his opponent stringing together hits and/or runs in abundance.

“Noticing where I got the [batters] out last at-bat… trying to learn as the game goes on,” Anderson said. “That’s something I really enjoy about pitching, and that’s why I keep doing it, honestly. It’s been fun [and] that’s a good team, but we put it to them tonight.”

Following a single to left field off the bat of sophomore third baseman Dean Curley and advancing to second base after a wild pitch, the Tennessee Volunteers found themselves with a runner in scoring position with no outs in the top of the sixth inning.

Entering the batter’s box, junior first baseman Andrew Fischer, on a 2-2 pitch delivery, powered a single directly up the middle and allowed Curley to score standing up.

The Volunteers struck first and possessed a manageable 1-0 advantage over the Tigers.

However, at the beginning of the eighth inning, starting pitcher Kade Anderson would storm out of the dugout and become comfortable on the mound for another inning of work.

Striking once again, Tennessee first baseman Andrew Fischer notched a double down the right field line and slid safely into second base with ease.

This would serve as the finishing blow for Anderson, as junior right-handed pitcher Zac Cowan, a transfer from Wofford University this offseason, came on in relief and ended his night.

Despite coughing up a single that whizzed by the outstretched glove of second baseman Daniel Dickinson, which scored Fischer from second base and increased the lead to 2-0, Cowan mitigated what could’ve been a nightmarish inning and kept the ballgame within reach.

The line for Anderson was 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, and eleven strikeouts (his sixth double-digit strikeout performance of the season) on 114 total pitches thrown.

Securing a much-needed insurance run in the top of the ninth inning on a double hit into the left-center field gap by junior second baseman Gavin Kilen, the Tennessee Volunteers boasted a somewhat comfortable 3-0 lead against the Tigers’ stagnant, underwhelming offense.

Only three outs separated the Tigers from suffering a disappointing loss at home.

Leading off the inning, junior designated hitter Ethan Frey reached on a throwing error made by Tennessee’s third baseman Dean Curley that pulled the first baseman off the bag.

In the next at-bat of the inning, sophomore shortstop Steven Milam struck out swinging.

Two outs remaining in the game.

Following in the similar footsteps of Frey, right fielder Jake Brown notched a hard-hit ground ball in the direction of Tennessee third baseman Dean Curley. Moreover, in this particular scenario, the Volunteer defense was positioned in a manner to turn a potential game-ending double play.

However, Curley would be charged with a fielding error after fumbling with the weird hop that the baseball took off the bat.

Two Tigers base runners are on with only one out in the inning.

Coming in as a substitute for Michael Braswell III, left-handed third baseman Tanner Reaves battled and successfully drew a walk in his first plate appearance of this matchup.

With the bases loaded full of tigers and facing a 3-0 deficit, an unlikely individual was called upon to keep hope alive for the purple and gold’s growing comeback efforts.

Senior Dalton Beck, who before this game had only appeared in five total at-bats this season, was brought into the dream scenario for a hitter and looked to make an impact on the score.

Facing a hitter’s count of 2-1, Beck mustered a single into shallow center field that plated both Brown and Frey.

While ice continued to circulate in his veins, Beck managed to successfully pull the Tigers within reach of the Volunteers by a score of 3-2.

Ladies and gentlemen, we now have ourselves an entirely new ball game.

It should be noted that several groups of fans started to leave their seats in Alex Box Stadium as the bottom half of the ninth inning inched closer to avoid the postgame traffic.

With the game-tying run on second base and game-winning run on first base, freshman phenom Derek Curiel approached the plate with two outs in the inning following a flyout to left field by Chris Stanfield.

One out remaining in the game.

Down to his last strike, Curiel made decent contact on the 1-2 pitch delivery and mustered just enough power to have the hard-hit ball pass below the glove of the diving Tennessee first baseman Andrew Fischer and trickle into shallow right field.

Running on contact no matter what, Tanner Reaves crossed home plate standing up and officially tied this game at 3-3.

Advancing to third base on this hit as well, Dalton Beck now served as the game-winning run, which was standing only 90 feet away from home plate.

To put an exclamation mark on this entertaining, heavyweight SEC matchup, the next batter would provide much-needed fireworks for the purple and gold faithful still in attendance.

Junior first baseman Jared Jones annihilated his 1-2 pitch delivery as well, which was an absolute no-doubt, 452-foot bomb to straight away center field.

While admiring his work of art in the air and taking his sweet time around the bases, the entirety of the LSU Baseball team, who were on the front steps of the dugout, stormed the field immediately after hearing the sound of the ball coming off the bat.

Jones would proudly navigate the bases, quickly become mobbed at home plate, and run freely into right field with his teammates following him in hot pursuit.

When recalling this moment, Jones cannot help but recognize the wide range of emotions that overcame him while rounding the bases.

“I don’t really remember what happened… I hit a ball, and then I started running. ” Jones said. “ I just blacked out with [this] moment… Coach Johnson says all the time, ‘there’s no clock in baseball,’ so you have to get 27 outs against our offense, and that’s tough to do sometimes.”

No.4-ranked LSU Tigers now shift their focus to securing a series win against the No.5-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in the second matchup between these two SEC powerhouse programs on Saturday, April 26, at 7:00 p.m. CST at Alex Box Stadium.

This matchup will be nationally televised on ESPNU.