HOOVER, Ala. — Despite a magical month of May, 11th-seed LSU ran out of miracles on Sunday as the defending NCAA champions fell short 4-3 against top-seeded Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
Despite jumping to a 1-0 lead in the first inning off a monstrous 471-foot solo homer from Jared Jones, the Tigers found themselves trailing the Volunteers by three in the ninth.
However, LSU nearly tied the game in the final frame after Steven Milam hit a ground-rule double to score Hayden Travinski followed by a Mac Bingham double to drive in Milam to cut the deficit to one with one out.
But Ashton Larson and Alex Milazzo struck out to cut the comeback short.
Tennessee has made six College World Series appearances, two of them coming in the last three seasons.
The Tigers have appeared in the CWS 19 times, winning titles in 1991, 1993, 1996-97, 2000, 2009 and last season.
"I think the story is how we played all week long," said LSU head coach Jay Johnson after the loss, the Tigers' only defeat after going 4-0 in the tournament to reach the final game. "We had two dominant pitching performances, we had two dominant offensive performances and came up a little bit short. Really liked what I saw in terms of the depth of our pitching staff and guys that can make a positive contribution moving forward in the NCAA tournament."
LSU (40-21) will learn its regional fate during Monday's NCAA tournament selection show at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
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