LSU secures No. 4 seed at SEC Tournament with a monster day in Nashville

An incredible finish saw LSU complete the sweep of Vanderbilt with a 21-10 win, earning a bye in Hoover next week.

LSU came into Saturday’s Game 3 looking to sweep the Vanderbilt Commodores and possibly earn the No. 4 seed for the SEC tournament.

For that to happen, LSU would have to win, and Auburn would have to lose.

First thing’s first: Control what you can control. The Tigers did just that as they won 21-10 over the Commodores. Vandy tried to make things spiral out of control early as it went up 6-0 headed into the top of the third inning.

In that frame, the Tigers finally got on the board as [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag]hit an RBI double to score [autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag], and then [autotag]Brayden Jobert[/autotag] hit a two-RBI double to cut the lead to 6-3.

In the top of the sixth inning, [autotag]Tyler McManus[/autotag] hit a solo homer to cut the lead to 6-4. Vandy answered in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer to extend its lead to 8-4.

In the top of the seventh inning, Jobert hit a three-run Jo-bomb to cut it to a one-run game. After being down 6-0, the Tigers had finally climbed their way back into the game.

In the bottom of the inning, Vandy loaded the bases and scored a run on a walk to get some breathing room headed to the eighth. In the top of the eighth, Pearson hit an RBI single to score [autotag]Collier Cranford[/autotag] and cut the lead to 9-8.

The Tigers then loaded the bases with only one out, and [autotag]Cade Doughty[/autotag] came through with an RBI single to tie the game. [autotag]Jordan Thompson[/autotag] then stepped into the box and hit an RBI single as the Tigers took their first lead of the game at 10-9.

Jobert was up next, and it was his three-run homer that put the Tigers back within one run in the seventh inning. This time, the bases were loaded. Jobert hit a deep fly ball to center, and you can pucker up and kiss that baby goodbye.

After the grand slam, Jobert had a total of nine RBI. He is the first LSU player with nine RBI since March 5, 1999 (Eric Hendrickson vs Ohio). He scored the same amount of runs as Vandy by himself. LSU wasn’t done in the top of the eighth yet as Cranford hit an RBI double off of the green monster in left field to make it 15-9 Tigers.

[autotag]Josh Stevenson[/autotag] then laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored two runs to make it 17-9, and Morgan followed that with an RBI double. All of that totaled up to an 11-run inning for the Tigers and an 18-9 lead headed to the bottom of the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth, Jobert stepped into the box once again and this time he hit a triple.

Jobert finished the day a single short of the cycle. [autotag]Drew Bianco[/autotag] came into run for Jobert on third and he scored on a McManus sacrifice flyball to make it 19-9. Cranford doubled off the wall in left field which brought up [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag], who didn’t have a hit yet but changed that with a two-run Crews missile to left to make it 21-9 Tigers.

Vandy scored in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn their 10th run of the game. Doughty was injured on the play and walked off the field under his own power. We’ll keep an eye on that as we enter the SEC tournament.

Collins struck out the final batter and LSU won 21-10 to sweep the Commodores.

Control what you can control? Check.  After that, it all came down to the Auburn Tigers. If Auburn lost to Kentucky, LSU earned the No. 4 seed and wouldn’t have to play until Wednesday. If the Tigers from the plains win, LSU would be the No. 5 seed and play on Tuesday in a single-elimination game.

Heading into the ninth inning, the Wildcats led the game 6-2 over Auburn. Sonny DiChiara hit a solo shot to lead off the inning and cut it to 6-3. Kentucky sat down the next three hitters and won the game 6-3. That means LSU secured a top-four seed and goes straight into Day 2 of the SEC Tournament.

What a day for LSU baseball.

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