Tennessee opens weekend series with 6-3 win over LSU

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee reliever AJ Causey pitched 4.2 scoreless innings Friday night as the fourth-ranked Volunteers posted a 6-3 win over No. 25 LSU in Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Tennessee improved to 28-6 overall, 8-5 in the SEC, while the Tigers dropped to 22-13 overall and 3-10 in conference play.

The teams will meet in Game 2 of the series at 4:30 p.m. CT Saturday in a contest that will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and televised on the SEC Network.

Causey (6-2) entered the game in the third inning in relief of starter Chris Stamos and fired 4.2 innings with no runs on five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Kirby Connell picked up his second save of the season by working the final 1.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

“Their pitchers did a good job tonight of locating their fastballs, and they commanded their off-speed pitches in all the counts,” said LSU coach Jay Johnson. “They got ahead in the counts and put a lot of pressure on our hitters.”

LSU starting pitcher Gage Jump (2-1) was charged with the loss, as he surrendered five runs on five hits in 4.0 innings with four walks and five strikeouts.

A two-run homer by third baseman Billy Amick gave Tennessee a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

The Tigers narrowed the deficit to 2-1 in the third when third baseman Tommy White delivered an RBI single.

Tennessee leftfielder Dylan Dreiling drew a bases-loaded walk from Jump in the bottom of the third, giving the Vols a 3-1 advantage.

Dreiling’s solo homer in the fifth highlighted a three-run outburst in which Tennessee scored twice on LSU errors.

The Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, when Connell entered the game in relief of Causey and recorded two outs to end the threat.

LSU scored two runs in the ninth when White produced another run-scoring single, and centerfielder Jake Brown scored from third on a Connell wild pitch.

LSU relievers Samuel Dutton, Aiden Moffett and Cam Johnson pitched very effectively, combining to limit Tennessee to one run on two hits over the final 4.0 innings with six strikeouts.

“I thought the bullpen was great tonight,” Jay Johnson said. “I’m really encouraged by that, and we’re going to keep going to those guys. We haven’t had a performance like that out of the bullpen in a long time.”