Series Recap: VandyBoys Sweep South Carolina at The Hawk to Finish the Regular Season
Game 1: Vanderbilt 9, South Carolina 1
A stress-free SEC win for the VandyBoys. A rarity this season.
Vanderbilt opened the final regular season series with one of its more complete performances of the season, beating South Carolina 9–1 behind a balanced offensive attack, a strong start from Connor Fennell, and another dominant relief appearance from Alex Kranzler.
South Carolina actually struck first in the 2nd inning, when Ethan Lizama singled down the right-field line to score Tyler Bak and give the Gamecocks a 1–0 lead.
That lead did not last long.
Vanderbilt immediately answered in the bottom half, and Rustan Rigdon delivered the swing that flipped the game. With the bases loaded, Rigdon doubled to left center, scoring Logan Johnstone and Braden Holcomb to put Vanderbilt ahead 2–1.
Ryker Waite followed with a two-run single to left, and just like that, the VandyBoys had turned a 1–0 deficit into a 4–1 lead.
From there, Vanderbilt controlled the game.
The Offense Keeps Applying Pressure
This was not a game built around one huge swing. It was Vanderbilt putting together quality at-bats, creating traffic, and forcing South Carolina’s pitching staff to work constantly.
The VandyBoys added four more runs in the 5th inning, turning a comfortable lead into a blowout. Holcomb singled home Brodie Johnston, Tommy Goodin followed with an RBI single of his own, Korbin Reynolds drove in another run with a single to left, and Waite added a sacrifice fly to make it 8–1.
Vanderbilt added one more in the 7th when Chris Maldonado doubled down the left-field line to score Rigdon. This was the highlight of the weekend for me, as Maldo delivered on senior weekend.
By the end of the night, Vanderbilt had 14 hits, seven walks, and nine runs. The VandyBoys did exactly what they should do against a struggling South Carolina team: they got on base, kept innings alive, and never gave the Gamecocks a chance to climb back into the game.
Goodin led the way, going 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored, and an RBI. Rigdon was excellent as well, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored, two RBIs, and a walk. Waite drove in three runs from the leadoff spot, while Holcomb added two hits, two runs, and an RBI.
This was the kind of offensive performance Vanderbilt needed to start the weekend.
Fennell Sets the Tone
The story on the mound started with Connor Fennell, and he gave Vanderbilt exactly what it needed.
Fennell went 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out seven. He walked only one batter, threw 78 pitches, and never allowed South Carolina to build any real momentum after the 2nd inning.
After Vanderbilt grabbed the lead, Fennell made sure it held. That matters for a team that has had far too many games this season spiral after taking control.
There was no spiral in this one.
Fennell attacked the zone, worked efficiently, and gave the VandyBoys a clean path to the finish line.
The best part? Fennell was able to leave the game with a comfortable lead, and his pitch count low. This likely means that Fennell will be ready to go on Tuesday in Hoover on short rest.
Kranzler Continues to Look Like a Different Pitcher
Then came Alex Kranzler, who continues to be one of the more encouraging developments down the stretch.
Kranzler entered in the 7th and completely shut the door. He threw 2.2 hitless innings, allowing just one walk while striking out four. South Carolina had no answer for him.
For a pitcher who has had such an up-and-down season, this late-season version of Kranzler looks confident, aggressive, and difficult to square up. Vanderbilt has badly needed reliable bullpen answers, and Kranzler is starting to look like someone this team can trust in important spots.
That may not erase the frustration of the season, but it absolutely matters heading into Hoover.
Game 2: Vanderbilt 9, South Carolina 5
Vanderbilt clinched the series, but this one was not nearly as stress-free as the opener.
The VandyBoys jumped all over South Carolina in the 1st inning, putting up six runs before the Gamecocks could even settle into the game. It looked like Vanderbilt might be on its way to another comfortable win, but South Carolina kept hanging around and eventually made things uncomfortable before the VandyBoys added some much-needed insurance late.
The 1st inning was exactly what Vanderbilt wanted. Ryker Waite reached and came around to score on a Brodie Johnston single, then Braden Holcomb followed with an RBI single of his own. Tommy Goodin made it 3–0 with a single to center, Rustan Rigdon followed with another RBI single, and Korbin Reynolds drove in another run on a fielder’s choice.
Then Vanderbilt added one more in the most aggressive way possible, with Rigdon stealing home as part of a double steal to make it 6–0.
That was the kind of inning Vanderbilt has needed more of this season: traffic, pressure, hard contact, and forcing the other team to make plays.
Vanderbilt Builds the Lead, Then Lets South Carolina Hang Around
Vanderbilt added another run in the 3rd when Waite doubled down the left-field line to score Chris Maldonado, pushing the lead to 7–0.
At that point, the game felt close to over.
Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, it was not.
South Carolina finally broke through in the 4th, and Vanderbilt helped open the door. Tyler Baird ran into trouble, and the Gamecocks took advantage with a two-run double from KJ Scobey and an RBI single from Will Craddock. The inning cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 7–3 and gave South Carolina at least a little life.
That was the frustrating part of this game. Vanderbilt had a chance to bury South Carolina early, but instead let the Gamecocks hang around long enough to make the final few innings matter.
South Carolina pushed closer in the 7th, when Luke Yuhasz doubled home a run and Tyler Bak followed with an RBI single to make it 7–5. Suddenly, what had once been a seven-run Vanderbilt lead was down to two.
The 8th-Inning Insurance Finally Gives Vanderbilt Breathing Room
To Vanderbilt’s credit, the offense answered when it needed to.
In the bottom of the 8th, the VandyBoys added two massive insurance runs. Logan Johnstone drove in Waite with a sacrifice fly, and Holcomb followed by reaching on a fielder’s choice that brought home Mike Mancini.
Those two runs stretched the lead back to 9–5 and gave Wyatt Nadeau a much more comfortable cushion to finish the game.
Holcomb once again led the offense, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Waite went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Mancini went 2-for-4 with two runs and a walk. Goodin added two hits before leaving the game, and Maldonado also had a multi-hit night.
Vanderbilt finished with 13 hits and four walks. For the second straight night, the offense did more than enough to win.
A Bullpen Game That Got Stressful, But Survived
On the mound, this was much less clean than Game 1.
Tyler Baird started and gave Vanderbilt 3.2 innings, allowing three runs, though only two were earned. He did enough early while Vanderbilt built the big lead, but he could not quite get through the 4th inning cleanly.
Brennan Seiber came in and got Vanderbilt out of the inning, striking out one batter after allowing a hit.
Matthew Shorey then gave the VandyBoys two important innings, allowing just one run while striking out three. He was credited with the win, and even though South Carolina’s comeback started to build later, Shorey helped bridge the game when Vanderbilt needed outs.
Luke Guth handled the 7th and allowed two hits and a run, which made things tighter than they needed to be. South Carolina had cut the lead to 7–5, and the game suddenly had a very different feel than it did after the 1st inning.
Then Wyatt Nadeau did what Vanderbilt needed him to do.
Nadeau threw the final two innings, allowing two hits but keeping South Carolina off the board. He struck out two, did not walk anyone, and earned his first save of the season. It was not a dominant shutdown where every hitter looked overmatched, but it was a steady finish in a game that had started to get uncomfortable.
A Quick Word on the Defense
It is also worth pointing out how good Vanderbilt was defensively in Game 2.
The offense put up nine runs, so that will naturally get most of the attention, but Vanderbilt’s defense has been strong all season, and this game highlighted three guys who are probably underrated in that area: Logan Johnstone, Mike Mancini, and Tommy Goodin.
Goodin, in particular, has clearly put a ton of work into improving defensively, and that showed in the 4th inning when he helped turn a huge double play. South Carolina was trying to chip away at Vanderbilt’s early lead, and Goodin made the kind of clean, confident play that does not happen by accident. That is the result of a player who has put in the work to become more than just a bat in the lineup.
Johnstone added one of the best defensive plays of the night in the 6th, making a great sliding catch in right field. He has quietly been very steady out there, and that play was another example of how much ground he can cover.
Then there was Mancini, who made a leaping catch at second base that probably had Eli Stowers nodding in approval at the vertical. That play may not show up in the box score as anything more than an out, but it was another reminder of how athletic and reliable Mancini has been on the infield.
Vanderbilt’s defense has been one of the bright spots of the season, and Game 2 was a perfect snapshot of why. The VandyBoys got highlight-level plays from three different spots on the field, and those plays mattered in a game that got tighter than it probably should have.
Vanderbilt Clinches the Series
This was not as clean as Game 1, but it still counts the same.
Vanderbilt scored six runs in the 1st, built a 7–0 lead, survived South Carolina’s push, and found two late insurance runs to close out a 9–5 win. The VandyBoys had already taken care of business in the opener, and with this win, they clinched the series before Saturday.
It would have been easy to focus on the lead shrinking from 7–0 to 7–5, and that part was definitely frustrating. But Vanderbilt still won an SEC game by four runs, had 13 hits, and got the final six outs from Nadeau without letting the game fully spiral.
For a team that has had plenty of games get away from it this season, that is not nothing.
Game 3: Vanderbilt 5, South Carolina 3
Vanderbilt finished the job.
It was not the offensive avalanche of the first two games, and it definitely did not start the way the VandyBoys wanted, but Vanderbilt found one big inning, got enough from the bullpen, and completed the sweep with a 5–3 win over South Carolina.
South Carolina grabbed control early in the 2nd inning. Talmadge LeCroy singled, Jake Randolph reached, and Will Craddock brought home the first run with an RBI single to third. Luke Yuhasz then doubled to left center, scoring another run, and a fielding error allowed Craddock to come all the way around as well.
Just like that, South Carolina had a 3–0 lead.
For a Vanderbilt team trying to finish the regular season on a high note, it was not exactly the cleanest start. Jacob Faulkner was not terrible, but he had to work through traffic, and the 2nd inning put the VandyBoys in an early hole.
Then the 4th inning changed everything.
Waite Delivers the Swing of the Weekend
Vanderbilt started to chip away in the 4th.
Logan Johnstone and Braden Holcomb helped set the table, and Tommy Goodin got the VandyBoys on the board with an RBI groundout. Rustan Rigdon followed with another run-scoring groundout, cutting the deficit to 3–2.
It was not flashy, but it got the job done. Vanderbilt needed to find a way back into the game, and those productive outs gave the inning life.
Then Ryker Waite gave Vanderbilt the swing it needed.
With Chris Maldonado and Korbin Reynolds on base, Waite launched a three-run homer to right field, turning a 3–2 deficit into a 5–3 Vanderbilt lead. In a game where offense was harder to come by, that was the moment.
Vanderbilt only had seven hits in the game. South Carolina’s Cooper Parks came in and shut the VandyBoys down over the final 3.1 innings, holding them hitless. But Waite’s swing gave Vanderbilt all the offense it needed.
Waite finished with three RBIs, while Johnstone had another strong day, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Vanderbilt did not have the same constant traffic it created in Games 1 and 2, but it found one big inning and made it stand up.
The Bullpen Slams the Door
The biggest story after the 4th inning was the pitching staff.
Faulkner gave Vanderbilt four innings, allowing three runs, though only two were earned. He gave up four hits, walked two, and struck out three. It was not a dominant start, but after the rough 2nd inning, he kept the game from getting away.
Then the bullpen took over.
Aiden Stillman threw a scoreless 5th. Nate Schlote followed with a scoreless 6th. Miller Green handled the 7th and struck out all three outs he recorded. Brennan Seiber got through the 8th without allowing a hit.
Then Alex Kranzler finished it.
Kranzler threw the 9th, allowing no hits and striking out two to earn his first save of the season. For the second time in the series, Kranzler looked like a different pitcher than the one Vanderbilt fans saw earlier in the year. He attacked hitters, missed bats, and closed out a tight SEC win. Read more on Kranzler in my most recent article: “Buzzcut Kranz: The Reemergence of Alex Kranzler.”
The bullpen was the most encouraging part of the day. Vanderbilt did not need the offense to keep piling on because the bullpen never gave South Carolina a real opening. After the Gamecocks scored three runs in the 2nd, they did not record another hit the rest of the game.
That is how you close out a sweep.
Vanderbilt Turns Another One
Vanderbilt added another defensive note to its season in Game 3, turning its 47th double play of the year, the most in the SEC.
That has been one of the most quietly impressive parts of this team. For all the ups and downs on the mound, Vanderbilt’s defense has consistently helped limit damage by stealing outs and erasing baserunners.
In a 5–3 game where the offense only had one big inning, those plays will always matter. Vanderbilt did not need to be perfect Saturday; it just needed to be clean enough to protect the lead. Turning another double play was a fitting reminder that this defense has been one of the most reliable pieces of the roster all season.
A Sweep Vanderbilt Had to Have
This was not Vanderbilt’s prettiest win of the weekend, but in some ways, it may have been the most important type of win.
The VandyBoys fell behind early, did not get much offense outside of one inning, and still found a way to win. That has not always been the case this season.
Waite delivered the big swing, the bullpen was excellent, and Vanderbilt completed the sweep of South Carolina to finish the regular season at 14–16 in SEC play.
It does not erase the frustration of the season, and it does not magically fix the bigger picture, but Vanderbilt did what it absolutely had to do this weekend.
They swept the series.
The Bottom Line
Vanderbilt did what it had to do against South Carolina.
The VandyBoys swept the final regular season series, finished SEC play at 14–16, and gave themselves at least some momentum heading into Hoover. Still, the situation has not really changed.
This team needs a real run in the SEC Tournament.
Vanderbilt opens against Kentucky on Tuesday, and from here on out, the margin for error is gone. Every inning carries weight, every pitching decision gets magnified, and every missed opportunity could be the last one of the season.
The South Carolina sweep kept the door open.
Now the VandyBoys have to walk through it.
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