Defending Champion LSU Overcomes Catcher Balk, Ejection To Make SEC Final Vs. No. 1 Tennessee
HOOVER, Alabama - Just six weeks ago, No. 4 Tennessee swept defending national champion LSU in a three-game series in Knoxville, stretching the Tigers' Southeastern Conference losing streak to five and dropping them to 22-15 and 3-12 in the league.
The Vols (49-11), who have been No. 1 in the polls for weeks, beat Vanderbilt on Saturday to reach the SEC Tournament championship game today (3 p.m., ESPN2) against the Tigers.
Tennessee shared the SEC regular season title with Kentucky at 22-8, while LSU had to rally to finish just 13-17 with a sweep of Ole Miss for the No. 11 seed in the 12-team SEC Tournament.
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello has the Vols in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Alabama, for the third time in four years after beating Vanderbilt 6-4 on Saturday. (Getty Images)
But Tennessee plays a new LSU team in the title game at the Hoover Met, leading into the NCAA playoffs that begin this weekend. The NCAA Selection Show will announce the entire, 64-team tournament field Monday (12 p.m., ESPN2) after the NCAA announces the top 16 seeds and their host sites tonight at 8:30 p.m. on social media.
LSU won its seventh straight game Saturday in spectacular fashion, 12-10, over No. 10 seed South Carolina in the bottom of the 10th on a two-run, walk-off home run by Steven Milam.
"Yeah, they're different," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said of the team he has watched this week and the one he swept 6-3, 3-1 and 8-4 in April at Lindsay Nelson Stadium. "They are a different team. They're playing better right now and have found themselves a little bit."
LSU Is 18-5 Since Tennessee Swept The Tigers In April
Since that sweep in Knoxville, No. 16 LSU (40-20) has gone 18-5 and 14-5 against SEC teams to finally get to .500 against the league at 17-17. The last time the Tigers were .500, the calendar said March 22. LSU beat Florida, 6-1, to get to 2-2, and the Tigers have not sniffed .500 since … until now.
Through March and April, LSU looked like it might not make a tournament. Now, it is likely to be a No. 2 or 3 seed in the NCAA field.
"We were in a tough spot, and now we're one of the best teams in the country," LSU coach Jay Johnson said Saturday after sprinting from the bowels of the Hoover Met.
Johnson did not see Milam's home run in the 10th from the dugout because he had been ejected in the top of the inning for arguing a strange catcher's balk call that allowed South Carolina to take an 11-10 lead. A catcher's balk is a form of catcher's interference when the catcher illegally steps on or in front of home plate.
In this case, LSU catcher Brady Neal stepped even with home plate, but not in front of it, according to replays, and it also didn't look like he was quite on the plate. So, when LSU pitcher Griffin Herring threw a pitch home and Neal caught it and tagged Blake Jackson trying to steal home for the third out, the inning should have ended with the score tied, 10-10.
But umpires incorrectly ruled that Neal had stepped on or in front of the plate, interfering with the runner.
That is not what happens in the replay. And Neal clearly showed no intent to impede the runner. He was making a typical catcher's play during a steal of home attempt.
LSU coach Jay Johnson just before getting ejected in 10th inning Saturday in SEC Tournament semifinal win over Tennessee in Hoover, Alabama. (Getty Images)
Often, though, umpires and officials in other sports insist on being mall cops and don't see the big picture. Neal did not create an illegal advantage for his team by accidentally putting his foot on the plate.
He made a normal play. Technically, he may have touched the plate, barely. But in this case, the umpires were over-officious jerks, as the great Marv Levy, former Buffalo Bills coach, said.
Johnson wanted a review, or he planned to protest, but he got neither as it was a judgment call and not able to be reviewed. In this case, poor judgment by the umpires. Technically, the umpires may have been correct, but they missed the spirit of the rule terribly.
"I was upset because it's not a reviewable play," Johnson said. "Now, the foundation of umpiring is always to get the call right, and I do respect that. I've never seen that called before. I've got to be honest."
The foundation of umpiring is to be fair and not try to show that you know the entire rule book - even the exotic rules for rarely seen situations. In the end, justice was served with Milam's home run.
That home run, by the way, was LSU's 11th of the SEC Tournament as the Tigers enter the championship game with bats blazing. LSU has scored 43 runs on 47 hits, including five home runs in an 11-0, 10-run rule win over SEC co- champion Kentucky last Wednesday. The Tigers became the first team in SEC Tournament history to hit two grand slams in the same game in that one as Tommy White and Jared Jones each delivered one of those. For White, it was his second grand slam in five days as he had one against Ole Miss last weekend.
LSU overcame the questionable catcher's balk in the 10th after it fell behind, 8-0, to South Carolina in the fourth and by 10-6 in the sixth. LSU also came back from a 5-1 deficit to South Carolina in the third on Thursday and still trailed 10-7 in the sixth before winning 11-10.
"The toughness that this team has displayed since the middle of the season is special," Johnson said.
LSU coach Jay Johnson runs back onto the field after his Tigers beat South Carolina, 11-10, with a walk-off, two-run home run by Steven Milan in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday in Hoover, Alabama. Umpires had ejected Johnson in the top of the inning. (Getty Images)
That's why he ran so fast from baseball jail after the game ended.
"Yeah, I can't run as fast anymore as when I was a player," he said. "But I love these guys. I remember when we just got back from Tennessee (after that sweep), and I walked into the room. I said, ‘Look, it’s not going to get any worse than this. But we have to stay with it. Nobody's cussing anybody out, calling anybody soft. Nobody is getting blown up. We're just going to keep working.' I'm proud of them. And we've come this far. We might as well give it another great effort Sunday."