OMAHA, Neb. — Tennessee Baseball has another breakthrough at LSU in the College World Series.
The Vols (44-21) and Tigers (49-16) play Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) in a CWS playoff game at Charles Schwab Field.
Tennessee lost 6-3 in their opener to LSU on Saturday before beating Stanford 6-4 on Monday to avoid elimination. It was Tennessee’s first win in Omaha since 2001, ending a six-game losing streak. The Tigers fell into the elimination round after losing 3-2 to top seed Wake Forest (54-10) on Monday.
Stanford is the only team eliminated on the UT side of the group.
UT will start Drew Beam, his signature Game 3 starter. Beam is 9-4 with a 3.78 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 78⅔ innings. He’s made three good starts for Tennessee, including a six-inning scoreless start against Southern Miss in Game 3 of the Hattiesburg Super Regional.
Tennessee Baseball vs. LSU in College World Series: Result, Live Elimination Game Updates
Tennessee 9th: The Vols are dealing with some deficits and sticky situations during the NCAA tournament. This evening will be the hardest to recover from. Vols need 5 to tie, 6 to win. LSU’s Riley Cooper stays in the game.
Denton drives a ball down the middle, but Crews manages to catch the ball at the warning track. 1 out.
Christian Scott slams while facing a breaking ball. 2 out.
Kavares Tears is the pinch hitter. He sends one toward the left field wall, but Josh Pearson makes a running catch at the warning lane.
FINALS: LSU 5, Tennessee 0.
INSTANT ANALYSIS: Listless Tennessee Baseball went out of the College World Series against LSU 5-0
GENTRY ESTES: An overview of Tennessee Baseball’s loss to LSU in the College World Series playoff
LSU 9th: Camden Sewell remains in the game.
He takes the lead with LSU’s No. 9 hitter to start the inning. Dylan is on his way. danger zone.
Crews 2-run home run. Volumes in big, big trouble. LSU 5, Tennessee 0.
Kirby Connell will replace Sewell. After an out, Dugas walks and Beloso’s popup finds the grass in flat left field. Runners on the corners with two outs. Thompson groundes out to end the inning.
Tennessee 8th: Jared Dickey leads the inning with a single shot into left field. But on the next shot, Merritt rolls one to shortstop for a 6-4-3 doubleplay.
Christian Moore hits a two-out double to left center with a one-hop to the wall. Volumes need to string together some hits.
Burke falls short to end the inning. Vols doesn’t air anything with RISP.
LSU 8th: Aaron Combs comes to the pitch and hits the first two batters. Here comes Seth Halvorsen.
Halvorsen makes Beloso jump out. Vitello is eliminated again in the middle of the next shot for another pitching change. Camden Sewell comes into play.
Sewell gets Thompson to roll a ball to the shortstop and Christian Moore drops the ball after making the out in second. Could have ended the inning. runners at the corners. two out.
Jobert HBP loads the bases.
The first pitch against Milazzo is wild and hits Tre’ Morgan. LSU 3, Tennessee 0.
The Tigers also stranded some runners tonight, but the mistake and wild pitch cost the Vols a run. The UT bats have six outs to extend the season.
Tennessee 7th: Ackenhausen beats Burke to start the inning. LSU challenges, unsuccessful. Riley Cooper will replace Ackenhausen. No matter what happens to Burke, Ackenhausen is on course to victory.
Tennessee will face Riley Cooper for the second time in the CWS, possibly with a 9-out save. Must. Receive. Runs.
Dylan Dreiling scores for Cal Stark and walks away with two outs. This is Maui Ahuna.
Ahuna throws one to Jordan Thompson, who wobbles the ball. All safe. Huge sequence coming up.
Hunter Ensley swings after two ugly break balls and then lands first. Not his best evening on the plate. The inning is over. The bases are still loaded. LSU leads 2-0.
LSU 7th: Russell withdraws the Tigers in turn.
Tennessee 6th: Ackenhausen returns to face LHH Jared Dickey. Dickey slams and faces a ball that breaks in the top zone.
He stays in and knocks out Merritt on a groundout before knocking out Moore. Ackenhausen threw a gem. Up to 90 pitches, and the Tigers had relievers in the bullpen for at least the last few innings.
LSU 6th: Tre’ Morgan starts with a double over the left field line. Dugas hits a ball over third baseline and Zane Denton throws wide at first base. Morgan scores. Dugas at second base. LSU 2, Tennessee 0.
Beam Walks Beloso on four pitches. Jordan Thompson again bets on a popout that doesn’t move the runners. Tennessee will take it.
Jobert lands on the right side of the diamond, putting the runners in the scoring position. AJ Russell comes into play. The beam is finished after 90 pitches and 5.2 innings.
Alex Milazzo shows up to end the inning. Vols limit damage to one run.
Tennessee 5th: Cal Stark is HBP with two outs and Ahuna hits a double into the center left gap. Stark is in third place and the Vols have two RISP with two outs and Hunter Ensley on the field. Ackenhausen remains in the game with 75 throws. Big decision by LSU.
Ensley shows up. The inning is over. Ackenhausen comes out of trouble.
LSU 5th: Dylan Crews with a liner from Christian Moore’s glove and with a two-out basehit into midfield. Well made.
Tommy White strikes. Beam up to 9 strikeouts.
Tennessee 4th: Ackenhausen returns to the mound and pulls back the Vols’ 4-5-6 hitters in turn. LSU still leads 1-0.
Ackenhausen at 59 pitches after a 10-pitch inning. It wouldn’t surprise anyone to see him come back on the 5th. A season-high in innings for the left-hander.
LSU 4th: Cade Beloso hits a single, but Jordan Thompson makes a hard go at the out. Brayden Jobert then lands in a 4-6-3 doubleplay.
Drew Beam is in crisis. Vol’s bats need to get to work. I’m not sure Tennessee would want to go behind late in this game given the looming potential top starter to use in the LSU bullpen.
Tennessee 3rd: Ahuna singles with two outs. Ensley is HBP with the next pitch. Dickey shows up to end the inning.
Ackenhausen has thrown 48 throws. Should he come out for the fourth inning, Tennessee has two right-handed batters available in Griffin Merritt and Christian Scott.
LSU 3rd: Tommy White drives a ball to Warnlane in right field, but Christian Scott makes the play for the out to start the inning.
Beam knocks out Morgan and Dugas to finish LSU in third place. Beam has six strikeouts.
Tennessee 2nd: A Christian Moore long shot turns into a 6-4-3 doubleplay.
Blake Burke hits a single through the left side opposite the shift. Denton smashes facing the outside third to end the inning. Ackenhausen threw 20 pitches that inning and now has 29.
LSU 2nd: Dylan Crews lets the baseball fly deep middle, but Hunter Ensley catches it right in front of the wall and closes the inning. Better inning by Beam.
Tennessee 1st: Nate Ackenhausen, a junior left-hander who usually throws from the bullpen, will be the starter for LSU tonight. There will be a lot of LSU pitchers pitching tonight. The most he’s pitched in a game this year has been 3.2 innings against South Carolina in the SEC tournament.
Ahuna comes up short on a hard-hit ball, and it’s two groundball outs in the UT 1st. Ackenhausen threw 9 pitches in the inning.
LSU 1st: Drew Beam is on the hill for Tennessee tonight. Vols is the designated home team.
Dylan Crews runs and moves to second base after a pass. Tre’ Morgan hits a single through the left, but Crews hesitates with an out and only gets to third base.
Gavin Dugas makes his way to stop Maui Ahuna and Cade Beloso drives Crews to right center with an RBI single on a hard hit single. LSU 1, Tennessee 0.
Another passed ball allows Beloso to get to second base with a delayed steal. Beam gets Jordan Thompson to hit ball four to end the inning.
Mike Wilson reports on the University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that gives you access to everything.