Life on the road continues to be problematic for Tennessee.
The 10th-ranked Volunteers played top-ranked LSU close again Friday night at Alex Box Stadium, but the Tigers scored the final three runs of a 6-4 triumph. LSU scored three eighth-inning runs to break free Thursday night for a 5-2 victory.
Tennessee is now 20-8 overall, 3-5 in Southeastern Conference play and 1-7 away from Lindsey Nelson Stadium heading into Saturday afternoon's series finale.
"We've got to keep going," Vols coach Tony Vitello said. "If you don't want to keep going, then don't sign up for baseball. Obviously there are areas for improvement, but we don't get to practice five times before tomorrow's game. We've got to come prepared to play.
"We've got to hook it up for an entire weekend and fight and scratch and claw to get something before we get out of here."
Maui Ahuna's leadoff home run to center field Friday gave Tennessee a quick 1-0 lead, but LSU answered later that inning with RBI doubles by Tommy White, Cade Beloso and Josh Pearson. The Pearson RBI was actually a two-out fly ball in front of the pitcher's mound that dropped in front of four Vols.
Though Tennessee was not charged with an error on that play, the Vols did wind up committing two.
"The one pop-up was a deal where guys couldn't hear each other communicate," Vitello said. "There were some plays we could have made, and there were some great plays we did make out on the field. The 'SportsCenter' ones are nice, but all we're looking to do is make the average play consistently."
Hunter Ensley's homer to left in the second inning pulled Tennessee within 3-2, but that should have been a tying blast, as Dylan Dreiling was picked off first base moments earlier. Zane Denton's two-run homer to right-center in the fourth put the Vols up 4-3, but LSU went ahead to stay later in the fourth on solo shots by Brady Neal and Gavin Dugos.
LSU improved to 24-3 overall and to 6-2 within the SEC.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.