BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU starting pitcher Anthony Ranaudo was solid if not spectacular, but his teammates ensured he didn't need to dominate.
The No. 1-ranked Tigers scored more runs against Tennessee than any other team this season, never trailing in an 18-3 victory Friday night before 7,155 at Alex Box Stadium.
Ranaudo leads the SEC in strikeouts (54) - a distinction that could change after teammate Louis Coleman (48) pitches today - and he held the Vols to three runs on four hits in seven innings.
Ranaudo (4-2) walked three and struck out seven.
UT right-hander Aaron Tullo, a first-year junior college transfer, gave up 10 runs in two-plus innings. All but one run was earned.
LSU's 17 hits were the most allowed by UT this season.
P.J. Polk's double and Tyler Horne's sixth home run of the season gave the Vols their runs, cutting LSU's lead to 10-3 in the fourth.
The Tigers (28-10) moved into first place in the SEC Western Division at 11-5 and stayed a half-game behind SEC East leader Georgia in the overall standings. Georgia defeated Arkansas 4-3 to drop the Razorbacks into second place in the West.
UT (17-22, 3-13) has the worst record in the SEC.
"We got behind in the first three innings, and it's hard to play catch-up," UT coach Todd Raleigh said. "It's hard to hit when you're down 10, and it's hard to pitch when you're down 10. It's easy on the other side."
The second game of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. today, but late Friday night there was a 50 percent chance of rain forecast for mid-afternoon here. In UT's sweep of the Tigers last season in Knoxville, the teams played a Sunday doubleheader after a Saturday rainout.
Ryan Schimpf's solo homer was the first of four hits that combined to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the first. Jared Mitchell followed a Tullo leadoff walk of Tyler Hanover in the second by hitting a two-run shot to make it 5-0.
UT pitching has allowed an SEC-high 54 home runs, with Tullo (2-5) responsible for nine.
Tullo's pitching line featured more hits (7) and runs (10) than outs recorded (6). Five walks joined those categories as season-worst stats for him in his four starts.
"Every time I kept the ball up and made a mistake, LSU would make me pay for it," Tullo said.
His first seven appearances were in relief before he joined the starting rotation March 29.
Raleigh said Tullo left pitches up early and often, something he didn't do in his previous start.
"I knew right away," Raleigh said. "He was completely different from what we saw last week against a Mississippi State team that led the SEC in intra-conference play in batting average."
LSU led 17-3 in the eighth when Grant Dozar grounded out to shortstop with Chris McGhee on third base. McGhee could have scored, but the Tigers took mercy on the Vols and held him at third. Sean Ochinko's subsequent ground out to shortstop drove in McGhee for an 18-3 lead.
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Comments » 10
golfballs03 writes:
we are really bad
bigtangerine writes:
Pitiful.
I heard a caller make several excellent observations about this baseball team and program on the talking heads afternoon radio program Tuesday. Wilkerson basically chastized the caller for using the word "pitiful" to describe this collection of wannabes, then he cut the guy off and went to a break.
"Pathetic" also describes this team, Raleigh and Wilkerson, the king of the understated. He's the pawn shop version of a joker like Bryant Gumbell. Irritating.
Take Tennessee Vol baseball off the radio, and give us the Smokies and Mick Gillispie, a guy with some talent at the microphone. The Vols will be back one day. But not anytime soon.
teampenny#658108 writes:
As long as we walk with swagger and get in the press, Sorry-yeah there is next year, Give this coach a couple more years. GO VOLS
littleorange writes:
It's getting Really Embarassing.....
olevole writes:
It is very embarassing to see our vols serve as batting practice for another SEC team. The team does have pitchers who are going early in the draft, and a world-class pitching coach. CTR's erratic management of the staff is the problem here.
And its only going to get worse. Players are going to leave early to go pro. There is a lot of talent coming on line in the state, but no top pitcher will want to play for CTR.
crappieking writes:
The only loser is you Jackazz. Why don't you go play on some other board. Or better yet do us a favor and go slice your limp wrist.
Vols_1Always writes:
Great Call bigtangerine because there are oh so many Smokies Fans in this area, that is why we could not even keep them in Knoxville. Sounds like you have been "Called Out" by the talking heads for a dumb question. Do us all a favor and continue to post on the oh so famous Tennessee Smokies Website, oh that's right we could not even keep Knoxville in the name.
armyvol544 writes:
it's all pitching. And they did not get it last night. The pitcher last night should be pitching batting practice for the Vols not LSU. And that's all he should be doing is pitching batting practice.
UT needs pitching. That is what has killed them all year.
livinloudin writes:
LEAVE EARLY...THEY HAVE TO STAY 3 YEARS OR TRANSFER JUCO SAME AS ALL OTHER SEC TEAMS
SFOrange writes:
loosing happens...but we don't seem to be competitive. thats a huge issue.
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