Three Walk-Offs, One Sweep: VandyBoys Down Vols in Wild Series
The Vandyboys may have just saved their season against hated rival Tennessee, and they could not have done it in any more dramatic a fashion.
Vanderbilt used 3 consecutive walkoffs (including 2 games in extra innings and a walkoff grand slam) to narrowly escape the Vols every game and leave the weekend with a series sweep. Vanderbilt won by scores of 3-2 (after 10 innings), 6-5 (after 16 innings), and 16-15 to move to 5-4 in the SEC and 17-12 overall.
Offensively, by far the biggest standout of the weekend was Brodie Johnston who had a 4 hit game on Friday and a 3-5 performance on Sunday that included a home run. Ryker Waite also had 2 multi-hit games and a home run on Sunday. Other than Johnston and Waite, Korbin Reynolds, Mike Mancini, and Tommy Goodin had home runs for the Vandyboys. Goodin’s home run was a pinch-hit walkoff grand slam to win the game on Sunday. Logan Johnstone also contributed with 2 multi-hit games, including the walkoff winner on Saturday’s game.
Vanderbilt’s pitching staff put together two very solid days before a depleted bullpen gave up 15 runs on Sunday. Connor Fennell had his best start of the season, giving up just 1 earned run and 3 hits in 7.1 IP. Brennan Seiber pitched 2.2 scoreless innings on Friday before a poor outing in Sunday’s game (when Vanderbilt had literally nobody left in the pen). Tyler Baird threw 5 innings with 0 ER and just 2 hits in Saturday’s contest. Nate Schlote also threw 3.0 scoreless innings while Nate Taylor and Luke Guth threw 1 a piece. Sunday’s standout pitcher was Jakob Schulz, who had his best appearance of the season throwing 3.2 scoreless innings while allowing just 2 hits.
Game Recaps
Game 1
For all of the home runs that Vandy has hit this year and Tennessee has hit over the last 5 years, Friday’s game was a very low scoring affair thanks to some great pitching. Neither team recorded a hit until the 3rd inning when Ryker Waite doubled down the left field line and Brodie Johnston brought him home with a single that gave Vandy a 1-0 lead. In the 5th inning Korbin Reynolds blasted a ball over the right field wall, giving Vandy a 2-0 lead. Connor Fennell made it through 5 innings without allowing a hit before Tennessee finally got him in the 6th inning. A double and single put runners on the corners before. Tennessee sent the runner at first to draw a throw from Reynolds. After the throw, Tennessee gave up the runner at first but the man on 3rd scored to break up Fennell’s scoreless outing. It remained a 2-1 game into the 8th where Fennell allowed a single and then made a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, allowing the runner to get into scoring position. Fennell got one more out before giving way to Luke Guth who gave up a single that made it 2-2. Brennan Seiber then came in and closed out the inning with no further trouble. Vandy was unable to walk it off in the 9th after Seiber held the Vols scoreless, but after a Barczi HBP and Johnston single in the 10th, Logan Johnstone was able to walk things off with a single into left field, giving Vandy the 3-2 win.
Game 2
You’ll notice a theme in these recaps. Each of these games seems to outdo the prior one. Saturday’s contest made Friday’s look like a walk in the park. Both teams struggled to get anything going at the plate early in the game. Neither team recorded a run in the first 3 innings despite some traffic on the bases from Vanderbilt. In the 4th inning, though, Vanderbilt finally got some runners home thanks to two big flys by Ryker Waite and Mike Mancini and an unearned run from Rustan Rigdon. The 5 run Vandy lead stuck in the 5th as Wyatt Nadeau continued to look untouchable, but things started to come apart in the 6th for the talented freshman. In Nadeau’s 3rd time facing the top of the Tennessee order, they finally got to Nadeau. The inning started with a HBP and after 4 more hits (that included a 3 run home run from Henry Ford) things were all tied up at 5 a piece. Nadeau finished the 6th inning, but was pulled for freshman Tyler Baird in the seventh.
Little did people know that there was going to be a full game of baseball played AFTER those exciting first 7 innings. After that, the bats simply went away. Both Tennessee and Vandy only recorded 5 more hits over the next 9 innings as both pitching staffs dealt while batters struggled mightily to see what was being thrown their way. Baird got through the 11th inning without allowing another run. Schlote got Vandy through the 14th while holding the game at 5-all. Luke Guth came out in the 15th inning and gave up a walk and single that put runners on the corners with 1 out, but a misplaced Tennessee bunt that didn’t allow the runner from 3rd to advance bailed Vandy out of a jam. In the 16th inning Nate Taylor came in and managed to pitch out of a jam that had a runner in scoring position with just 1 out. Finally, in the 16th inning, back to back walks to Rigdon and Max Jensen, followed by a double steal put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Ryker Waite was intentionally walked, and then Mack Whitcomb laid down a perfect bunt and Vanderbilt executed a textbook suicide squeeze play to walk it off in the 16th inning and claim the series.
Game 3
If you thought that was exciting, just wait until reading about Sunday’s matchup. Both teams came into the day with almost no pitching depth left after having played 26 innings in just 2 days. Tennessee did have the advantage of starting star pitcher Evan Blanco whereas Vanderbilt trotted out the struggling Alex Kranzler. A walk and 2 singles in the 1st inning got Tennessee on the board first, but Vandy got to Blanco in the bottom of the 1st. Brodie Johnston’s first home run in almost 4 weeks tied things up at 1 before Holcomb doubled, Johnstone walked, and Rigdon hit his 3rd home run of the season to make it 4-1. All of Vandy’s runs were scored with 2 outs in the 1st inning. That set the stage for a wild game. In the 2nd inning Kranzler got 2 quick outs and looked like he secured a 1-2-3 inning, but an errant throw by Holcomb at 3rd kept the inning going. After a HBP Blaine Brown blasted a 3 run homer to tie things up at 4-4. Vandy went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 2nd. Kranzler then let up a double, single, and HBP to load the bases with no outs in the 3rd before being pulled for Jacob Faulkner. He limited the damage to only 2 runs after a sac fly scored one and a single scored another. The top of the 3rd ended on a lineout that resulted in a double play. The bottom of the inning was equally as dramatic as Colin Barczi reached 2nd on a dropped pop fly, Holcomb singled, and Logan Johnstone brought Barczi home with a single. Rigdon, Maldonado, and Reynolds all singled after this to make it a 9-6 Vandy lead after 3. In the 4th a double, 3 singles, and a HBP scored 3 runs for Tennessee before Faulkner struck out 2 to leave the bases loaded. A Barczi HBP, Johnston single, Holcomb FC, and Johnstone groundout scored 1 for Vandy and gave the ‘Dores a 10-9 lead after 4. In the 5th Nate Teague came in for Vanderbilt and struggled with his command as he allowed a single and then 3 walks to tie the game at 10. Jakob Schulz came in and gave up a single that made it a 12-10 Tennessee lead, but got out of the inning without allowing any more damage to be done.
The game settled down a little bit after this, but the finish was equally as wild. Neither team would score again until the 9th inning as Schulz pitched well for Vandy and Nic Abraham gave Tennessee 4 outstanding innings. Both were spent by the 9th inning, though, which allowed the game to resume its insanity. Brennan Seiber came in for his 2nd appearance for the weekend and gave up 2 walks and 2 singles that allowed Tennessee to take a 15-10 lead into the bottom of the 9th. Abraham was still pitching in the 9th, but Brodie Johnston got a leadoff single and he walked both Logan Johnstone and Rustan Rigdon while only getting 1 out (a Holcomb FC), resulting in him getting pulled. Mack Whitcomb pinch hit for Jensen and singled to left field which scored Holcomb and Johnstone. Ryker Waite was then HBP to re-load the bases and Tommy Goodin was inserted as a pinch hitter. Goodin took a pitch low but over the plate and golfed it into the center-left bleachers to give Vandy a series sweep on a walk off grand slam.
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