#10 Tennessee dropped a hard-fought battle to top-ranked LSU, 5-2, in front of a record crowd of 13,068 in Thursday night’s series opener at Alex Box Stadium.A battle of two of the nation’s top pitchers in UT’s Chase Dollander and LSU’s Paul Skenes lived up to the billing as the two aces both pitched well to give their respective teams a chance to win the ballgame.Dollander battled throughout and escaped a few early jams to keep the game scoreless into the fifth inning, when the Vols opened the scoring with a clutch two-out RBI single by Christian Scott to plate Jared Dickey and put the Big Orange on top, 1-0.The Tigers answered right back with a two-run homer from Gavin Dugas in the bottom of the fifth, the only runs that Dollander surrendered on the night. The sophomore right hander allowed four hits and struck out three in 4.2 innings of work before making way for Seth Halvorsen, who was dynamite in relief.The hard-throwing right hander was the tough-luck loser after giving up three unearned runs in the eighth inning. After a two-out error extended the inning, LSU’s Jordan Thompson made UT pay for the defensive miscue with a bases-clearing three-run double to put the Tigers ahead 5-2 not long after Christian Moore knotted the game up at two with an RBI single in the top of the inning.
Tennessee (20-7, 3-4 SEC) will look to even the series tomorrow night when the two sides square off at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network. Sophomore Chase Burns will get the start for the Vols while LSU (23-3, 5-2 SEC) will turn to junior right hander Ty Floyd on the bump.