Nick Cole

ncole@tennessean.com

The No. 6 seed Commodores will face No. 3 LSU on Wednesday.

HOOVER, Ala. Thanks to good defensive positioning, alertness and perhaps a little bit of luck, Vanderbilt survived a ninth-inning scare and held on for a 3-2 victory over Tennessee in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament on Tuesday.

Vanderbilt (41-16) advanced to face No. 3 seed LSU (40-14) at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the double-elimination portion of the tournament.

Clinging to a one-run lead, the Commodores called on Carson Fulmer — who started the season as a closer, but moved into the rotation — to get the final three outs in the first of 17 games at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium this week.

But the hard-throwing righty, who was the starting pitcher in Friday's win over South Carolina, quickly found himself in trouble after allowing a leadoff double to Nick Senzel.

Senzel advanced to third on a balk when Fulmer dropped the ball while standing on the mound, placing the tying run 90 feet from the plate with no outs.

That's when Commodores third baseman Xavier Turner made a play that changed the complexion of the game.

With the infield drawn in to try to cut down Senzel at home, Turner snagged Taylor Smart's well-struck grounder and alertly spun to make a tag on Senzel, who was unable to retreat to third base before being called out.

"Our coaches put me in good position," Turner said. "I knew that I was up in front of the base. The runner was right next to me, so I knew I had a chance to tag him. I was just in the right place at the right time."

Fulmer quickly ended the game by picking Smart off of first base and striking out Vincent Jackson.

"Today was a microcosm of what our season was all about," Tennessee coach Dave Serrano said. "It's a group of guys that have fought extremely hard, but we've just done some things to get in our own way. The ninth inning was an example of what we've had to live with all year long."

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Tennessee (31-23), which was making its first SEC tournament appearance since 2007, now must wait to see whether it receives a bid to the NCAA tournament next week.

Vanderbilt starter Walker Buehler (10-2) worked his way through a two-run, four-hit second inning to earn the victory in eight innings. The sophomore allowed just three runners over the final six innings of his 108-pitch effort.

"I thought (Buehler) was very mature today," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "Once he got through that second inning, it was tough to think he could get through the game the way he did, but he pitched deep into the eighth."

All of Vanderbilt's runs came in the first two innings.

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Vince Conde flared an 0-2 pitch into right field to score Turner, then forced an errant throw from catcher Tyler Schultz on a steal attempt that allowed Bryan Reynolds to score from third base as part of a two-run first.

Vincent Jackson and Derek Lance had RBI singles for the Vols in the second inning.

Commodores DH Ro Coleman drove in what turned out to be the winning run on a routine ground ball to Senzel. That turned into an infield single after the second baseman had trouble deciding to which base he would throw.

Reach Nick Cole at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @ncole6.