Tennessee baseball’s disastrous stretch in the first half of SEC play continued Friday night as the Vols blew a late inning lead and squandered a fantastic Landon Mack start in a 7-5 series-opening loss.
Here’s how it happened.
Reese Chapman Turns In An Impressive Performance
Right fielder Reese Chapman changed the game with one swing of a bat and one extremely impressive defensive play just seven minutes apart from each other.
First in the bottom of the fourth inning, Chapman gave Tennessee its first lead of the game when he punished a Casan Evans hanging breaking ball 401 feet to right-center field. The long ball gave the Vols a 3-1 lead that they took into the late innings.
Chapman has quietly had a really nice season despite his power numbers being down. His fourth homer of the season proved to be a significant one.
The senior then showed his defensive prowess in the top of the fifth inning, making a leaping catch into the short right field wall to take a would-be solo homer away from Steven Milam. It preserved the second of four straight one-two-three innings for Landon Mack.
B4: Reese Chapman two-run homer.
T5: Reese Chapman robs a homer.pic.twitter.com/cRdrF4M8hH— Ryan Schumpert (@ryanschumpert00) April 3, 2026
Chapman turned in a really strong performance even besides those two plays, going three-for-fIVE.
Landon Mack Gives Tennessee His Best Start Of The Season
Making his first Friday night start of the season, sophomore Landon Mack turned in his best start to date against quality competition.
The right-handed pitcher faced early adversity in the second inning when LSU put runners on the corners with one-out and loaded the bases with two outs. But Mack worked around the trouble, getting nine-hole hitter Chris Stanfield to pop out to end the inning.
Jake Brown hit a solo home run off Mack in the third inning to open the scoring. From there, Mack got on a roll and retired the final 14 batters he faced.
The scariest moment of the night came in the fourth inning when head coach Josh Elander and trainer Jeff Wood came out to check on Mack as he held his right side. But Mack stayed in the game and worked out of a 3-0 hole to retire Zach Yorke and the side in order.
Mack ended his night allowing just one run on two hits and one walk. He posted a new SEC-high 10 strikeouts in a season-long seven innings pitched.
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Tennessee Struggled To Break The Game Open
Sitting on a 3-1 lead, Tennessee had multiple opportunities to open up a comfortable lead but failed to do so. In the fifth inning, Trent Grindlinger walked and immediately reached second on a wild pitch before three straight uncompetitive strike outs stranded him on second.
A Blake Grimmer walk and Chapman single gave Tennessee two-on with one-out in the sixth inning. But Manny Marin lined out and Tyler Myatt struck out to end the inning.
Tennessee finally added one insurance run in the seventh inning when Santiago Garcia entered with the bases loaded and promptly walked Blake Grimmer on four pitches. But the Vols couldn’t add any more as Chapman struck out to end the inning.
The inability to do more when the opportunity presented itself was costly.
A Controversial Decision And Bullpen Disaster
Mack had thrown 94 pitches through seven innings when Elander decided to go to Brandon Arvidson after a 14 minute bottom half of the seventh inning. The decision proved to be a disaster.
Arvidson promptly walked the first three batters he faced before getting a soft line out from Brown. Bo Rhudy relieved Arvidson and struck out Omar Serna Jr. on three pitches, looking like he might escape the jam.
But Derek Curiel hit a grand slam into the first deck of left field porches, giving LSU a 5-4 lead. Things went from bad to worse when Seth Dardar made it back-to-back long balls and gave the Tigers a 6-4 lead.
Tennessee never recovered from there, squandering an elite start from Mack and blowing a late lead.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee and LSU resumes its three-game series on Saturday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch is at 6 p.m. ET and the SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
