On Sunday afternoon in Alex Box, the Tigers returned to the field with vengeance in the Game 3 rubber match against Tennessee. After a rough Saturday night, the bats and pitching staff were right on the mark, paying it off with a run rule of the Vols and securing a series win.
In the hot sun on Sunday afternoon, you could see a fire in LSU’s bats early on. The Tigers saw the ball clearly and made it known they were on the hunt for a home victory.
Derek Curiel’s 43-game on-base streak ended Saturday night, but he responded with maybe the best game of his college career. He started with a 371-foot solo homer to put LSU on the board. On the night, Curiel went 4-for-4 with five RBI and two doubles.
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“I just attacked today like any other day and I think I just went back to my roots,” Curiel said. “Obviously great pitchers from the other side, but staying in control of my bats and I wanted to put on a show tonight for my family but also help my team. So it was great.”
The game’s breakthrough came in the second inning after Luis Hernandez tripled to left center. Curiel came up to bat again, hitting the double that sent Hernandez home, tying the game 2-2.
The LSU offense then kicked into the next gear with a three-run homer from Jake Brown, which broke open the score and gave the Tigers their first lead of the day.
“He’s a great athlete and such a great competitor,” Johnson said. “It was one of the at-bats of the year for our team today, and it was cool to go see him execute that.”
This series matchup against Tennessee has seen the most tension in an SEC matchup for the Tigers so far this season. The power behind each team’s bats and on the mound made it challenging to get big hits.
Effective strategy from Jay Johnson was brought to life after going through almost the whole bullpen Saturday night.
The decision to not pitch Casan Evans in the first two games of the series paid off as he recorded his longest appearance, throwing 77 pitches through 6.0 innings of work. He tallied six strikeouts in his first career start in the rubber match.
To start the Sunday final matchup, the Vols struck, tallying two runs on the board from stolen bases. They seemed to locate pitches, and it began to look like Saturday night. Evans shut that down.
Evans struggled in the first, allowing two runs on four hits, but a huge strikeout seemed to swing momentum in his favor.
Zac Cowan replaced Evans to start the seventh inning, and their combined effort helped the Tigers maintain the lead as they held Tennessee to three hits and no runs after the first inning.
Jay Johnson joked about Evans and Cowan on the LSU postgame radio show saying, “Outside of my wife Maureen Johnson, probably two of the most important people in my life.”
The Tigers desperately needed signs of life from the bullpen in this series after it allowed seven earned runs through 3.1 innings in Game 2. But the roles reversed when the Tennessee pitching couldn’t find an advantage over LSU in the third game.
Tennessee hoped the bullpen could help keep this game close, but LSU saw eight pitchers and forced each to surrender at least one hit, walk or earned run.
The scene from the fans of Alex Box was pure electricity, giving the Tigers much-needed energy to fuel off to keep the hits coming and battling the Vols off, claiming a 12-2 victory.
Game 3 followed two fiery matchups on Friday and Saturday, completing the highest attended weekend in LSU baseball history. Game 1 ended with a ninth inning Jared Jones walk-off home run, as LSU rallied for all six of its runs in the final inning. Game 2 was just as heated as Game 1, with each team receiving a warning from friends towards the end of the game. A failed relief effort was insurmountable, and Tennessee tied the series before losing it in eight innings on Sunday.
The Tigers will play on the road next week in College Station and face off against the Texas A&M Aggies starting May 2 at 6 p.m.
