BATON ROUGE — Tennessee centerfielder Julio Borbon’s two-run single in the top of the 10th inning on Sunday lifted the Vols to a 10-9 series-clinching win over LSU at Alex Box Stadium.
Tennessee (25-19, 8-11 SEC) won a series in Baton Rouge for the first time in the program’s history.
The Tigers (24-20-1, 9-11-1) had won five straight series against Tennessee overall, including eight of the last nine series.
LSU plays a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers host Southern at 2 p.m. and face Nicholls State at 6:30 p.m.
Live streaming video and audio of both games are available in the Geaux Zone on www.LSUsports.net.
The teams combined on Sunday to walk 14 batters and commit nine errors. LSU issued eight walks and tied a season-high with five errors.
“That was a poorly played baseball game,” said LSU head coach Paul Mainieri. “We could have won. If we just make some routine plays, we win the game. It was a total team effort.”
Tennessee trailed 9-8 entering the eighth before third baseman Cody Brown tied the game on an RBI single to centerfield off of Paul Bertuccini. Two innings later, Brown provided a one-out single to represent the go-ahead run.
Second baseman Nicholas Pontiff committed his third error of the game on a double-play groundball from left fielder Shawn Griffin. After shortstop Danny Lima reached on an infield single, Borbon chopped a bases-loaded single over first base, scoring Brown and Griffin.
LSU pulled to within a run when centerfielder Jared Mitchell led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a solo homer. It was his second blast of the year and first since February 24 against Central Florida.
UT right-hander Aaron Everett struck out third baseman J.T. Wise, but he allowed a one-out single to Pontiff. Right fielder Chris McGhee was called out on strikes, and first baseman Chris Jackson grounded out to second base to end the game.
Everett (2-0) earned the win, allowing one run on four hits in 5.2 innings of relief. He walked two and struck out five in a game that lasted a season-long 4:06.
Bertuccini (0-2) suffered the loss, giving up two runs — one earned — on three hits in three innings of work.
Tennessee built a 5-1 lead through the first three innings against starter LSU Ryan Byrd. Catcher Yan Gomes lined an RBI single to left, scoring centerfielder Julio Borbon in the first. Left fielder Jarred Frazier added a run-scoring hit in the second, plating right fielder Andy Simunic.
Byrd fell into trouble again in the third as the Vols loaded the bases with consecutive hits by second baseman Tony Delmonico and Gomes and a walk to first baseman J.P. Arencibia.
Pitcher Jeff Lockwood connected on an RBI single up the middle. Byrd and reliever T.J. Forrest then issued back-to-back bases-loaded walks to give Tennessee its fourth and fifth runs.
Byrd left after allowing five runs on six hits in 2.2 innings — his shortest starting outing of the year — while walking a season-high four and striking out one.
“(Byrd) didn’t pitch very well today when we needed him to pitch well for us,” said Mainieri. “You can’t look at one call or one pitch and say that turned the game around. It’s all part of the game, and you have to find a way to get it done. We didn’t find a way to get it done today in hardly any aspect today.”
Catcher Sean Ochinko launched a solo homer — his first since March 17 — into the left field bleachers in the second inning. Designated hitter Blake Dean connected on his SEC-leading seventh sacrifice fly on the year in the third to close the gap to 5-2.
Tennessee led 7-2 before beginning a bizarre bottom of the fifth that saw the Tigers claim an 8-7 lead with six runs on only two hits. Lockwood issued three straight walks to load the bases with no outs. Delmonico and Lima then committed consecutive errors on a pair of groundballs that plated Jackson, McGhee and Hollander.
Pontiff erased the once five-run deficit with an infield single up the middle against Everett. The hit scored Ochinko, who beat out an infield single of his own. Pontiff took second when Lima committed his second error of the inning by firing wildly over the dugout.
Everett avoided any further trouble in the fifth when McGhee lined out to right field.
Tennessee 10, LSU 9 (Apr 29, 2007 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Tennessee……….. 113 110 010 2 – 10 17 4 (25-19, 8-11 SEC)
LSU……………….. 011 060 000 1 – 9 9 5 (24-20-1, 9-11-1 SEC)
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Pitchers: Tennessee – Jeff Lockwood; Aaron Everett(5). LSU – Ryan Byrd; T.J. Forrest(3); Nolan Cain(5); Shane Ardoin(8); Paul Bertuccini(8).
Win-Aaron Everett(2-0) Loss-Paul Bertuccini(0-2) T-4:06 A-7158
HR LSU – Sean Ochinko (6); Jared Mitchell (2).
Actual attendance: 2,689
Ardoin faced 3 batters in the 8th.
LSU Baseball Report ? April 30, 2007
Overall Record: 24-20-1
SEC: 9-11-1
Last Week: 1-2
April 27 ? TENNESSEE (L, 1-7)
April 28 ? TENNESSEE (W, 4-2)
April 29 ? TENNESSEE (L, 9-10 ? 10 innings)
Nominee for Pitcher of the Week
Jared Bradford, RHP, Jr., Hueytown, Ala.
LSU ace Jared Bradford turned in another exceptional performance Saturday, as he fired a complete game in a 4-2 victory over Tennessee in Alex Box Stadium . . . Bradford limited the Vols to two runs on nine hits with no walks and eight strikeouts as he recorded his first complete game in an LSU uniform . . . Bradford leads the LSU staff in both wins (8) and saves (5) . . . Saturday’s win marked the fifth time this season that Bradford has started and won a game for the Tigers after LSU suffered a loss the previous day . . . Bradford is 8-2 on the year with a 3.42 ERA in 79 innings . . . . he has recorded 15 walks and 68 strikeouts, and opponents are batting .249 against him . . . Bradford is 5-1 in SEC outings with three saves ? he has either a win or a save in eight of LSU’s nine league victories this season
Notes on the Tigers
LSU ace Jared Bradford turned in another exceptional performance Saturday, as he fired a complete game in a 4-2 victory over Tennessee in Alex Box Stadium . . . Bradford, a junior right-hander from Hueytown, Ala., limited the Vols to two runs on nine hits with no walks and eight strikeouts as he recorded his first complete game in an LSU uniform . . . Bradford leads the LSU staff in both wins (8) and saves (5) . . . Saturday’s win marked the fifth time this season that Bradford has started and won a game for the Tigers after LSU suffered a loss the previous day . . . Bradford is 8-2 on the year with a 3.42 ERA in 79 innings . . . . he has recorded 15 walks and 68 strikeouts, and opponents are batting .249 against him . . . Bradford is 5-1 in SEC outings with three saves ? he has either a win or a save in eight of LSU’s nine league victories this season . . . LSU freshman designated hitter Blake Dean launched two homers and drove in five runs in the Tigers’ series last weekend versus Tennessee . . . Dean was 3-for-9 at the plate against the Vols and he scored three runs . . . junior shortstop Michael Hollander batted .417 (5-for-12) in the Tennessee series with three runs scored . . . freshman first baseman/catcher Sean Ochinko hit .364 (4-for-11) against the Vols with one double, one homer, two runs and two RBI . . . the home run on Sunday was the first for Ochinko since March 17 at South Carolina . . . Ochinko and Dean lead the Tigers with six homers apiece . . . freshman centerfielder Jared Mitchell hit his second homer of the year Sunday against Tennessee ? the dinger was Mitchell’s first since February 24 versus Central Florida . . . LSU received solid relief outings last weekend from a pair of sophomore right-handers ? Louis Coleman and Nolan Cain . . . Coleman blanked Tennessee on Friday in 4.2 innings, allowing just three hits with no walks and three strikeouts . . . Cain fired three shutout innings over two appearances in the series, limiting the Vols to three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.