Cade Arrambide turned Easter Sunday in Knoxville into his own personal home run derby, crushing four homers and driving in seven runs as LSU stormed back to beat Tennessee 16-6 in 12 innings at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. A tight 6-6 duel suddenly became a blowout when the Tigers unloaded for 10 runs in the top of the 12th to clinch the series and send the home crowd trudging for the exits.
Arrambide finished 5-for-6 and set an LSU single-game home run record, a performance that began as a nice day at the plate and quickly turned legendary. His final swing was the exclamation point: a grand slam in the 12th that turned a tense extra-inning fight into a full-on rout, part of a slate that also featured a solo shot in the fifth, another blast in the seventh during a three-homer barrage, and a go-ahead shot in the 11th, according to LSU Athletics. Coach Jay Johnson, not exactly new to big wins, called the victory “definitely up there in my coaching career.”
How the comeback unfolded
For a while, it looked like Tennessee had the holiday script all written. A messy third inning for LSU featuring three errors opened the door for five unearned runs, punctuated by a Blaine Brown grand slam that put the Volunteers up 5-0, as shown in the ESPN box score. LSU finally got on the board with a solo homer in the fifth, then really started breathing in the seventh, when a rare run of long balls sliced the deficit to a single run.
By the time the ninth rolled around, the Tigers had fully shaken off their early funk. Jake Brown stepped up with two outs and delivered a clutch RBI single that tied the game and silenced what had been a pretty loud Knoxville crowd. That knock sent the game into extras and set the stage for Arrambide’s star turn.
Arrambide’s historic stretch
From there, Arrambide’s afternoon shifted from hot streak to school-history status. He finished 5-for-6 with four homers and seven RBIs, per Crescent City Sports. The defining sequence came in the seventh, when John Pearson, Arrambide and Seth Dardar went deep in three straight plate appearances, marking LSU’s first run of three consecutive homers in a game since May 9, 2023.
Arrambide was nowhere near done. He launched his third homer in the 11th to briefly put LSU in front, then returned in the 12th with the kind of swing players dream about: a towering grand slam that officially turned the afternoon into one for the LSU record books and Tennessee’s nightmares.
Late drama and a 12th-inning explosion
The 11th inning brought its own plot twist. After Arrambide’s third homer gave LSU a short-lived edge, Tennessee answered in the bottom half when Levi Clark lifted a sacrifice fly to even things again, according to the ESPN play-by-play. What looked like a marathon was about to turn into a sprint.
In the 12th, the Tigers finally broke the game apart. LSU piled up 10 runs in the inning, with Arrambide’s grand slam accounting for four of them, and a string of base hits plus a Tennessee fielding miscue stretched the gap all the way to 16-6. The box score shows LSU finished with 19 hits on the day, a total that reflected just how relentless the lineup became once it found its footing.
On the mound, Gavin Guidry quietly played hero in his own right. He worked the final 5.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits to pick up the win and improve to 4-3, while Volunteers reliever Brayden Krenzel was tagged with the loss, according to LSU Athletics. Johnson praised Arrambide’s outing as a special performance and made a point to credit several Tigers for stepping up in key moments, framing the win as a total-team response on the road.
Standings and what’s next
The victory pushed LSU’s overall mark to 22-11 and evened its SEC record at 6-6, while Tennessee dropped to 20-12 and 4-8 in league play, as reported by WBRZ. The Tigers now head back to Alex Box Stadium, where they are scheduled to host Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday, giving them a quick reset at home, per local coverage from WDSU.
Arrambide’s four-homer outburst will be replayed on video boards and in group chats for a long time, and LSU’s resilience in clawing back from a 5-0 hole to grab a road series could loom large as SEC play grinds along. For the Tigers, it is the kind of win that can anchor a season. For Tennessee fans, it is one that might linger well into the offseason as a “how did that get away from us” kind of day.
