BATON ROUGE, La. – An impressive pitching performance by Marcus Phillips and an explosive eighth inning at the plate led No. 4/6 Tennessee to a 9-3 win over No. 3/7 LSU in front of a record-breaking crowd at Alex Box Stadium on Saturday night.
After the Tigers (35-9, 13-7 SEC) cut a three-run deficit to one with back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the seventh, the Vols (35-8, 13-7 SEC) responded by scoring six runs in the top of the eighth to break open the game and even the series.
Hunter Ensley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to plate the first run of the inning before Dalton Bargo and Cannon Peebles both came through with clutch two-out hits later in the inning. Bargo drove in a pair with a single to make it 6-2 and Peebles followed with a three-run moonshot into the left-field bleachers to put the Big Orange ahead by seven.
Peebles Is Red-Hot
Tennessee’s junior catcher is on an absolute tear at the plate right now, having recorded four multi-hit efforts in his last seven games. Peebles finished with a season-high five RBIs in Saturday’s win and has now homered five times in his last nine games, driving in 13 runs during that span.
Quality Start for Phillips
Phillips was locked in from the start in Saturday’s victory, retiring 11 of the first 12 batters he faced while carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning. The junior righthander pitched 6.2 innings and didn’t allow a run until LSU hit consecutive solo homers to start the bottom of the seventh. Phillips finished with six strikeouts and allowed just two runs on three hits before handing the ball off to Dylan Loy.
The sophomore lefty tossed the final 2.1 innings to pick up his second save of the season, allowing a run on one hit.
Antigua’s Productive Night
Another bright spot for the Vols on Saturday was the performance of Ariel Antigua, who did a little bit of everything for the Big Orange. The sophomore shortstop made a handful of impressive defensive plays and reached base in four of his five plate appearances. Antigua scored a run, drove in a run, singled, walked, stole a base and was hit by two pitches on the night.
Up Next
The Vols and Tigers will decide this weekend’s series in Sunday’s rubber game, which is set for a 3 p.m. ET start and will be televised on the SEC Network.
