OMAHA, NE. — LSU left-handed pitcher Nate Ackenhausen recorded 18 outs against Tennessee Tuesday night at Charles Schwab Field. It was over a quarter of the outs he recorded this season prior to the matchup.
Another average left-handed pitcher gave Tennessee’s lineup fits again, its situational hitting left plenty to be desired and the Vols made defensive mistakes you can’t make against LSU.
After two months of fantastic baseball, the issues that plagued Tennessee earlier in its season reared their ugly head again as the Vols season ended in a 5-0 loss against LSU.
“We didn’t play very well tonight. LSU did,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. “Both teams made mistakes but they capitalized.”
The Vols biggest advantage over LSU entering the game was on the mound. Tennessee had sophomore Drew Beam who entered the game on a tear. LSU, who’s pitching depth is its weakness, was down its top three pitchers and seemed poised for a Johnny Wholestaff game.
Beam was fantastic for the fourth straight start but Ackenhausen surprisingly matched him. Tennessee’s struggles against non-elite lefties was a common theme this season, particularly in a game two loss against Georgia.
“He got in on lefties and got righties to kind of over swing a little bit,” Vitello said of Ackenhausen.
“He had excellent command at the start of the game. Then as the game went on a little bit, there were some mistakes he made out of the zone, whether it be hit by pitch or something like that, but then he kept his composure, regathered and did well.”
To Vitello’s point, Tennessee had opportunities. A two-out double with a runner on first didn’t plate a run in the fifth inning, Tennessee stranded a pair in the third inning and the bases loaded in the seventh inning.
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Tennessee was a home run heavy offense all season and on days the ballpark played big, they often struggled to get clutch hits and produce runs. The Vols overcame that Monday against Stanford but couldn’t Tuesday against LSU.
“For our team, a lot of times when it was tough out of the gate, we just needed one thing to happen and then it kind of came,” Vitello said. “Not necessarily like an avalanche, who knows, maybe we get that one little moment, things are different. But we did not.”
Even after the seventh inning missed scoring opportunity, Tennessee trailed by only two runs and remained within striking distance.
But simple mistakes cost Tennessee in the top of the eighth inning. Aaron Combs hit the first two batters of the inning. Camden Sewell entered and looked like he got Tennessee out of the inning with a double play ball, but Christian Moore bobbled the exchange at second, giving LSU runners on the corners with two-outs.
LSU didn’t have to earn the run as a Sewell wild pitch gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Dylan Crews’ two-run home run an inning later effectively ended the game.
Tennessee improved radically over the course of the season, returning to Omaha for the second time in the Tony Vitello era. But the pitfalls and weaknesses of the 2023 Tennessee baseball team ended its season Tuesday night.
