Tennessee dropped game one versus LSU on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, 7-5, despite a dazzling performance from sophomore right-hander Landon Mack.
Mack was excellent in his first Friday night start of the season. The sophomore logged a season-high seven innings pitched and struck out 10, retiring the last 14 batters he faced.
The Bayou Bengals pulled away in the top of the eighth with five runs on back-to-back two-out homers, including a grand slam from Derek Curiel to put LSU in front. A solo shot by Seth Dardar followed, giving the Tigers a two-run lead. Chris Stanfield added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning with a solo home run of his own, pushing the score to 7-4.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Blake Grimmer hit his fourth home run of the season to bring the Vols within two, but that would be all they would get as Deven Sheerin closed the door to seal the win.
Despite the loss, Reese Chapman had a standout performance, finishing 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a leaping catch at the right-field wall to rob a home run from Steven Milam to end the fifth inning.