Tigers fall in SEC Tournament vs. Tennessee, face elimination on Saturday

LSU didn’t have enough on offense to topple the Volunteers, and it will have to win a rematch against Kentucky on Saturday to stay alive.

Round 3 in the winner’s bracket of the 2022 SEC Tournament pitted the Tigers against the No. 1 team in the Southeastern Conference and the whole country, the Tennessee Volunteers.

The Vols proved they are the top team for a reason, as they won 5-2 to advance to the semifinals. LSU meanwhile, faces elimination in a rematch against Kentucky on Saturday.

[autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] got the start on the mound, and UT did not greet him kindly as it scored three runs in the first two innings to jump out to an early lead that it held until the top of the fifth. In that frame, [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] hit an RBI double to score [autotag]Drew Bianco[/autotag], and [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag] followed that with an RBI of his own to cut the lead to 3-2.

Tennessee scored two more runs on Floyd in the bottom of the fifth to increase its lead back to three runs.

[autotag]Trent Vietmeier[/autotag] came in to pitch for the final out of the fifth inning. Floyd’s final line was 4.2 innings pitched allowing five runs on six hits, three walks and five strikeouts.

Vietmeier stayed in to pitch for the rest of the game as he went 3.1 innings allowing zero runs on zero hits and three strikeouts. However, LSU was unable to score any more runs against the potent Tennessee pitching staff.

With the loss, LSU moves to the loser’s bracket and now has a date with the Wildcats, who have been something of a tournament darling as they’ve won two games as a 12-seed. The first pitch for that game will likely be 30 minutes after the conclusion of Alabama vs. Florida, which begins at 9:30 a.m. CT.

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