Third baseman Billy Amick missed Tennessee's past two weekend series, against Georgia and Auburn, after having his appendix removed.
His return Friday night was hardly subtle.
Amick's first swing was a two-run home run to left field in the first inning, which catapulted the No. 4 Volunteers into a lead they would never relinquish during a 6-3 triumph over reigning national champion LSU inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The transfer from Clemson scored twice as the Vols improved to 28-6 overall and to 8-5 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Tigers slipped to 22-13 and 3-10.
AJ Causey had been Tennessee's series-opening starter in recent weeks, but the Jacksonville State transfer was replaced Friday by Chris Stamos.
Stamos held the Tigers scoreless through the first two innings, but he was pulled and replaced by Causey with two out in the third inning and with Michael Braswell on third base. Causey then gave up a single up the middle to Tommy White, which trimmed Tennessee's lead to 2-1, before getting out of the inning.
When asked on the ESPNU telecast why Stamos got the starting nod, Vols coach Tony Vitello said, "We were looking for a little stress relief for Causey, really."
The Vols regained a two-run lead at 3-1 later in the third inning when Dylan Dreiling drew a bases-loaded walk, and they extended their advantage to 5-1 in the fifth when Christian Moore and Amick scored on throwing errors. Dreiling homered to left after those errors to make it 6-1.
Causey wound up working into the eighth inning before turning things over to Kirby Connell with one out and the bases loaded. Connell got a strikeout and a fly out to maintain the 6-1 lead, but he hit two batters and threw a wild pitch in the ninth.
Game two of the three-game series is at 5:30 p.m. Saturday on the SEC Network.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.