Tennessee baseball beat LSU on Sunday afternoon to win the 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament. Here are GoVols247's takeaways from the Vols' second SEC Tournament title in the last three seasons.
Ben McKee
HOOVER, Ala. —Billy Amick stepped into the batter's box of the Hoover Met on Sunday afternoon in the bottom of the third inning. He swung and missed at a 97 mph fastball on the inside corner of the plate, as he had done often this week at the SEC Tournament.
Amick took a step out of the box and spit his frustrations into the dirt. The Tennessee third baseman hadn't picked up a hit in the four games UT had played in Hoover to advance to the SEC Tournament Championship Game.
LSU pitcher Fidel Uiloa tried to go back in on Amick with the very next pitch. Amick quickly got his hands inside of the baseball, turned around the 96 mph fastball and sent it over the wall in left field for a three-run home run.
Amick's strike sent the baseball 422 feet to end an 0-for-17 drought at the plate. It gave No. 1 Tennessee the lead and proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win over No. 11 LSU to win the SEC Tournament for the second time in the last three seasons.
Tennessee had not won the SEC Tournament in its current format prior to Tony Vitello's arrival since 1995. This year's group of Vols joins the 2022 team that also won the SEC regular-season championship and the SEC Tournament.
Sunday's victory marked the 50th of the year for the Vols. They've now won 50 games in three of the past four seasons, which they had only done twice in the history of the program prior to Vitello's tenure.
Here are our takeaways from Tennessee's (50-11) win over LSU (38-21) in the SEC Tournament Championship Game.
These takeaways will continue to be updated throughout postgame.
Loy's phenomenal outing
Tennessee freshman Dylan Loy (W, 2-0) turned in a career outing as the first man out of the bullpen. The lefty took over on the mound and proceed to pitch a career-high 4.2 scoreless innings of baseball to pick up his second career win.
Loy threw 78 pitches on the day, 48 of which were strikes. His previous high in pitches this season was 50. He had only three or more innings in an outing twice during his rookie season.
The Pigeon Forge, Tenn. native allowed two hits and two walks. He struck out five to tie his career high.
Stark's strike
Loy walked LSU star Tommy White to lead off the bottom of the sixth. He battled back with a strikeout and a fly ball to get to two outs in the inning before Vitello elected to turn to Andrew Behnke out of the bullpen.
Behnke struggled. The sophom*ore lefty walked the only two batters he faced to load the bases for LSU. It prompted Vitello to make another pitching change.
Tennessee fans cheered as the bullpen door swung open and Kirby Connell emerged. Connell's first pitch was a ball, but he fired back a strike on his second pitch that catcher Vol catcher Cal Stark fired to first base behind the LSU baserunner. Blake Burke snug in behind Tigers second baseman Steven Milam and applied the tag to get the Vols out of the bases-loaded jam.
Ensley's big day
Tennessee centerfielder Hunter Ensley was responsible for four of UT's seven hits on the afternoon. His fourth hit of the day proved to be the most pivotal.
Burke singled with one out in the top of the seventh and the Vols leading by two. After Amick walked, they had runners on first and second, and cashed in on a two-out RBI single up the middle from Ensley. His fourth hit extended the lead to three.
Ackenhausen shoved
Tennessee struggled with LSU lefty Nate Ackenhausen to begin the game. Ackenhausen served as an opener and faced the UT lineup once, striking out six of the nine batters he faced. The senior allowed one hit and did not allow a walk.
The Vols got to LSU immediately after it pulled Ackenhausen in the top of the third with two outs. Christian Moore greeted Uiloa with a single and Burkewalked to set Amick up for his three-run homer.
Russell opens
Sophom*ore AJ Russell served as an opener for Tennessee on the bump. In his second appearance of the week, which also marked his second outing following a two-month absence due to a right arm injury, Russell threw 13 pitches.
10 of Russell's pitches were for strikes. The one poor pitch he threw resulted in a 471-foot solo home run for LSU first baseman Jared Jones.
Aside from the homer that gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead, Russell got a ground ball and two fly balls to retire three of the four batters he faced.
Up Next
Tennessee will now turn its attention to the NCAA Tournament. The Vols are expected to be the No. 1 overall seed in the field when the bracket is revealed on Monday afternoon during the selection show at 12 p.m. ET on EPSN2.
