HOOVER, Ala. — Billy Amick picked a good time to end his slump.

The Tennessee third baseman, who hits in the three-hole of the Vols' lineup, hadn't homered in 23 days when he stepped into the batters box in the SEC Tournament Championship Game at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Sunday.

Tennessee had runners on first and second with two outs. Amick watched the first pitch go past him for a strike. He swung at the second one, mashing it more than 350 feet to put the 1-seed Vols ahead for good and headline a 4-3 victory over 11-seed LSU to claim their fifth tournament title in program history and the second in three years.

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Amick gave Tennessee (50-11) the lead, but it was Dylan Loy who protected it.

The freshman pitcher entered for starter A.J. Russell in the second and went 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out five.

After he exited with one runner on and two outs in the sixth, LSU (40-21) made its most significant threat to the Vols' lead, loading the bases before Cal Stark made one of his trademark back-picks to get the runner on first out and keep the Tigers scoreless for the fifth-straight frame.

Hunter Ensley, drove in a run in the following inning as part of a 4-for-4 afternoon at the plate that provided the very definition of insurance and the difference despite a late LSU rally in the bottom ninth.

Tennessee
1. Christian Moore (R) - 2B

2. Blake Burke (L) - 1B

3. Billy Amick (R) - 3B

4. Dylan Dreiling (L) - LF

5. Hunter Ensley (R) - CF

6. Kavares Tears (L) - RF

7. Dean Curley (R) - SS

8. Cannon Peebles (B) - DH

9. Cal Stark (R) - C

RHP A.J. Russell

LSU

1. Michael Braswell II (R) - SS

2. Tommy White (R) - 3B

3. Jared Jones (R) - 1B

4. Josh Pearson (L) - LF

5. Hayden Travinski (R) - DH

6. Steve Milam (B) - 2B

7. Jake Brown (L) - CF

8. Ashton Larson (L) - RF

9. Alex Milazzo (R) - C

LHP Nate Ackenhausen

Tennessee went down in order in the top of the first inning and A.J. Russell almost returned the favor in the bottom half, getting two quick outs before Jared Jones homered to left field to give LSU a 1-0 lead.

Russell limited the damage to just the one run, then Hunter Ensley worked a long at-bat and doubled to center for the Vols' first hit in the second, but he was stranded in scoring position to keep Tennessee scoreless.

Dylan Loy took over for Russell, who had a short outing with just one inning. The freshman gave up a hit that fell out of the glove of a diving Dylan Dreiling in left but responded with two strikeouts and a line out.

The Tigers made their own pitching change in the third after starter Nate Ackenhausen got two quick outs to start the frame but a Christian Moore single and Blake Burke walk give up by reliever Fidel Ulloa put two on for the Vols.

Billy Amick, who was a combined 4-for-16 in his four previous tournament games, made the most of his second at-bat of the afternoon, mashing a three-run home run to put Tennessee ahead 3-1.

Tommy White doubled off the wall in left with two outs and an intentional walk put two on for LSU in response, but Loy got out of the inning unscathed, striking out Josh Pearson swinging.

With two outs in the fifth, Ensley knocked his third hit of the game into right-center, allowing Amick, who reached on a throwing error, to move over to third and five Tennessee runners on the corners.

The Vols were unable to add to their lead, though, leaving a pair of runners on base for the second-straight inning.

Missed opportunities to add to a two-run lead were overshadowed by Loy's performance. Through four innings, he had given up just two runs, struck out four and retired seven-straight as the LSU lineup struggled to muster hits.

The Tigers got one on base via walk in the sixth and Loy exited after a commanding performance with two outs, leading to Andrew Behnke taking over on the mound.

Behnke gave up back-to-back walks, loading the bases for LSU and forcing Tennessee to call on Kirby Connell from the bullpen to try and get out of trouble, but it was Cal Stark that delivered, picking off the runner at first and ending the threat.

Tennessee had been unable to pay off base runners outside of Amick's homer in the third, but Ensley changed that trend with a single through the left side to stretch the Vols' lead to 4-1 with two outs.

Backed by pitching, that was more than enough for Tennessee.

LSU recorded its first hit in six innings with a Hyaden Travinski double with the Tigers down to their last two outs in the ninth.

Aaron Combs was called on to close it out for the Vols, but two-straight doubles trimmed Tennessee's lead to 4-3.

As had been the case all tournament, the Vols' arms, though running thin, came through with Combs striking out the go-ahead run at the plate and bringing a dramatic end to a week full of them.

1. Billy Amick gives Tennessee the lead on three-run home run in third inning.

2. Dylan Loy strands two runners with his third strikeout of the game in the bottom third.

3. Cal Stark throws out runner at first to get Tennessee out of bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

Tennessee is a lock for a regional host in the NCAA Tournament later this week, but it will have to wait to found out its seeding.

The Vols are the No. 1 overall national seed according to most projections after winning the SEC Tournament title, which would make a potential run to the College World Series go through Knoxville in the next couple of weeks.

The NCAA will announce its 16 host sites tonight and the 64-team field and seedings with a selection show on Monday, May 27 at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

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