Late Rally Sparks Another Tiger Comeback Over Vols
David Billiot Jr • April 4, 2026
LSU - 7, Tennessee - 5
Friday Evening Recap
For the third consecutive game, the LSU Tigers decided to be the Cardiac Cats. That’s nothing new for an LSU baseball team, but considering the struggles of this team in 2026, the mid-game deficits have seemed scarier than normal. Tennessee’s new Friday night ace Landon Mack was phenomenal and he had the Tiger offense in a pretzel. Through 7 innings, he struck out 10 and was mowing LSU hitters down. They only mustered together 3 hits, one of which was a Jake Brown solo homerun, representing the only damage Mack allowed. He finished his outing by retiring 14 straight hitters, which makes Josh Elander’s decision to not send him back out in the 8th inning with 96 pitches that much more confusing. He was showing no signs of slowing down. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and the Tigers went full-on attack mode with the Volunteer bullpen. A 5-run 8th inning flipped the game on it’s head and LSU never looked back.
Coming off of his strange outing vs Kentucky, Casan Evans was pretty good from the very beginning. It was two pitches and two swings that resulted in the only damage that he sustained. Both were mistake pitches that were left in hittable spots and Tennessee hitters deserve credit for taking advantage of them. Aside from that, Evans was very good, despite not making it through the 6th inning. There was some shakiness in the 7th from the bullpen, but Santiago Garcia ended up receiving the win to bring his record to 1-0. Deven Sheerin’s second save of the season closed out a massive victory on the road in Knoxville, as the Tigers took game 1 by a final score of 7-5.
Pitching
Casan Evans got off to a great start in the 1st. Despite a 2-out single to the open part of the field due to the shift, he struck out two for a pretty easy inning. A leadoff single in the 2nd was quickly erased by a 6-4-3 double play turned by Steven Milam and Seth Dardar. Another groundout to Milam would retire the side in order. Tennessee made their first dent in the 3rd when Levi Clark hit a belly-high fastball out to left-center to tie the game at 1-1. Evans would retire the next two hitters to end the inning. The 4th is where he would find the most trouble. After a flyout to start the inning, the Vols would get a bloop single, followed by a Reese Chapman bomb to right-center field to give them their first lead of the game. Another deep flyout and a strikeout would end the inning there. Evans walked the leadoff hitter in the 5th, but then struck out three in a row to prevent any further damage. The Friday night ace would see the end of his night in the 6th after a walk and single put two runners on with 1 out in the 6th. He hung in to get a lineout, but with 2 outs, Jay Johnson would walk out to make the change.
- Final line: 5.2 IP / 6 hits / 3 runs / 6 Ks / 2 BBs / 90 pitches (62 strikes, 69%)
Danny Lachenmayer was called upon for the third time in the last four SEC games, showing the inflated level of trust that the coaching staff has found in him. He came in to face a lefty Tyler Myatt and struck him out on 4 pitches to do his job.
- Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BBs / 4 pitches (3 strikes, 75%)
Mavrick Rizy entered to start the 7th and was in the strike zone immediately, recording a 4-pitch strikeout, but then lost it and walked the next hitter on 5 pitches. A jam shot would roll right in to no man’s land with Dardar playing up the middle, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Omar Serna would get charged with an inexcusable passed ball to allow both runners to move up. Rizy came through with a massive strikeout with the infield drawn in, but then allowed another walk after a 2-2 count to load the bases.
- Final line: 0.2 IP / 1 hit / 1 run / 2 Ks / 2 BBs / 24 pitches (11 strikes, 46%)
Jay would call upon Santiago Garcia with 2 outs and bases loaded and left-handed hitting Blake Grimmer coming to the plate. Four straight balls would walk in a run to extend Tennessee’s lead to 4-1. Garcia was able to find the zone against Chapman, striking him out to prevent further damage.
- Final line: 0.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 1 BB / 10 pitches (4 strikes, 40%)
A 5-run 8th inning for LSU took them from down by 3 runs to up by 2, Jay turned to Deven Sheerin to try and get the final 6 outs of game. He recorded back to back flyouts to Chris Stanfield to start the inning, but even those were nerve=racking as he temporarily lost both in the sunsetting sky. A single and a walk put the tying run on base with 2 outs, but the junior got his first strikeout and let out a primal yell afterwards. After Stanfield added an insurance run in the top of the 9th, Sheerin returned in the 9th to close out the game. Despite a 2-out solo homerun to make it 7-5, he struck out the side with two of them looking to slam the door and record his second save of the season.
- Final line: 2.0 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 4 Ks / 1 BB / 41 pitches (28 strikes, 68%)
Hitting
Derek Curiel’s 8th inning grand slam was, to no one’s surprise, was the Magic Moment of the game. Just when it looked as if LSU was going to waste a huge opportunity, the star sophomore did what stars do and changed the game with his one swing. He also singled earlier in the game and was the only Tiger to record multiple hits tonight. Curiel finished 2-4 with the 4 RBI and scored that one time.
Chris Stanfield hit his second homerun of the game to add insurance in the 9th, but that was not his biggest at bat of the night. He was up second in the 8th and after Mason Braun drew a walk to lead off the inning, the senior outfielder laid off a few good breaking balls to draw the second walk of the inning, which eventually led the bases. Not many players could have held back from chasing all of those pitches and that game would have been completely different if he struck out in that moment. Stanfield finished 1-3 with the homerun, walk, RBI on the homerun, and also scored twice.
Jake Brown and Seth Dardar both finished with identical lines. They went 1-4 with solo homeruns. Brown hit his in the 3rd inning to start the scoring for either team. Dardar’s came immediately following Curiel’s grand slam for back to back blasts. His actually ended up being the difference in the game, as it made the score 6-4, because Tennessee hit the solo homerun in the 9th for their fifth run.
Although he went hitless, Mason Braun deserves to be noted for 2 walks. He finished 0-2 and also struck out twice, but one of the walks was the only one that Landon Mack allowed and the other was to lead off the big game-changing 8th inning.
Up Next
LSU and Tennessee will return tomorrow evening for game 2. First pitch is for 5 pm central, as the Tigers look to follow up their first SEC series win with their first road SEC series win of 2026. With today’s win, LSU is now 21-10 overall and back to .500 with a 5-5 conference record. Tennessee drops to 19-11 overall with a disappointing SEC record of 3-7. William Schmidt (4-1) will take the mound for the Tigers to make his second consecutive game 2 start. He is coming off of the win vs Kentucky in which he threw 5.1 scoreless innings. The Volunteers will answer with Tegan Kuhns, who had been their Friday night ace up until last weekend. The potential 1st round pick in this July’s draft has not had the season he expected, but is still very talented. He’s off to a 1-3 start in 2026 with his 4.08 ERA. Although he’s struck out 46 hitters in 35.1 innings pitched, he’s allowed 34 hits. LSU would love to strike first, as the trajectory of Tennessee’s early conference season is in a tailspin at this current moment. If the Tigers can come out hot, they will put a lot of pressure on the Volunteers.
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Tigers - 6, Sooners - 2
After putting a cap on a 34-21 regular season record and 16-14 in the Sun Belt, Louisiana baseball has now turned their heads to the Sun Belt Baseball Championship tournament in Montgomery, Alabama. The Cajuns head into this 10-team tournament as the 7-seed, with hopes they can do enough to earn a spot at a regional. Their first game will be a single-elimination matchup against the 10-seed Thundering Herd of Marshall, who finished 23-31 overall and 13-17 in the conference, today at 3pm. Louisiana sealed their spot in the tournament after winning the series against the 20th nationally ranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at home this past weekend. Luckily, this helped boost their resume for an NCAA tournament push. The Cajuns now go into the SBC tournament with series wins over four of the top five teams in the Sun Belt (Southern Miss, Coastal Carolina, App State, and South Alabama). It also brought the Cajuns RPI up to 40th. While their path to earning a spot in the Field of 64 is not guaranteed, it certainly is not out of reach thanks to the resume they have built throughout the season. The Cajuns won series against three of the current five "Quadrant 1" teams they have played this season (Southern Miss, Coastal, and Arkansas State). Not to mention, Southern Miss was ranked in the top 10 nationally during that weekend series. They also have impressive series wins over "Quadrant 2" Dallas Baptist and App State teams, both of which were on the road. UL finished the season with nine 3-game series wins out of the 14 they played. What has hurt the Cajuns this season though is some of their poor losses, especially halfway into conference play when the team entered a lull and lost three straight conference series. As a result of poor pitching and execution, those losses to Texas State (sweep), ULM (lost two of three), and JMU (lost two of three) eventually set the Cajuns back into a hole that they had to dig out of. Before those losses, the Cajuns were nationally ranked and held an RPI in the top 20. That said, the Cajuns will more than likely need to win some games in the Sun Belt tournament to get the likes of the selection committee to strongly consider them for a regional bid, and it starts today against a tricky Marshall team in a first-round "play-in" style game. The Thundering Herd are not a great baseball team by any stretch, but they are not awful either. With the help of a weak schedule this season, they presented a strong offensive game through the likes of Evan Bottone (hitting .387) and Tyler Kamerer (hitting .323), and Jackson Halter (11 HR, 52 RBI). All of that has come from the help of average pitching from their opponents this season (5.8 opponents ERA). Marshall's pitching itself has presented its fair share of weakness with a 6.14 team ERA, playing a big role in why this team has lost a lot of games. With Marshall's RPI sitting at 179 and presenting a losing record through a weak schedule, a win against Marshall will more than likely be necessary for the Cajuns to keep their regionals hopes alive. UL is just now getting back on the radar for regionals bid, but that is under the assumption that they beat this Marshall team. Given an unusually crowded bubble for the field of 64 this season, a Cajuns loss today would probably drop them well enough to make it hard for the selection committee to consider them for a regional bid. Should the Cajuns defeat Marshall, they will find themselves matched up against Coastal Carolina for the fourth time in the last week. That game would take place on Wednesday at 12:30pm. The winner will play on Thursday afternoon against the winner between App State and Texas State. Since this tournament (outside of the first round) is a double-elimination bracket, the loser will move into the loser's bracket for a chance at redemption. With Louisiana being strongly on the bubble for the field of 64, a win against Coastal in this case would almost certainly guarantee them a seed in the NCAA tournament. It would be the final defining statement for the program who appears to have gotten hot at just the right time following the unusual skid they had halfway through the season. If UL loses to Coastal however, it would not be the end of the world thanks to the double-elimination style bracket, but they would definitely need to find themselves back in a game against a team still in the winner's bracket, which would require two wins in the loser's bracket. For now, the Cajuns will need to focus on their task at hand today, which is to beat the Marshall Thundering Herd and earn the right to play Coastal Carolina tomorrow.