Tennessee suffers more late-inning heartbreak, drops opener to LSU 7-5
Tennessee's Trent Grindlinger (30) makes a face as the umpires call his hit a foul ball during a college baseball game between Tennessee and LSU at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. , on April 3, 2026. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images It’s an incredible stretch of painful losses for Tennessee now in SEC play, and it stretched to four straight after dropping a come-from-ahead late-inning 7-5 loss to the LSU Tigers on Friday night in Knoxville.
Starter Landon Mack was flat-out awesome across seven innings, allowing one run on three hits with 10 strikeouts. A truly masterful performance from the team’s new Friday night starter. The Vols got some run support for him through the long ball.
Levi Clark hit a towering shot to left to tie the game at 1 in the third. And in the fourth, Reese Chapman slugged one out to right center to give the Vols a 3-1 lead. Chapman also had one of the plays of the college baseball season in the fifth, robbing LSU of a solo home run with a leaping web gem at the wall.
Reese Chapman, certified ball player! 📺 https://t. co/vR5mtMRhnu #GBO 🍊 // #OTH // #SCTop10 pic.
twitter. com/3ztRom1Rjq — Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) April 3, 2026 Unfortunately, then, the eighth inning happened. Brandon Arvidson, back in the bullpen after starting the opener at Vanderbilt last weekend, couldn’t find the strike zone, walking three of the first four batters he faced.