No. 9 Vanderbilt Baseball Walks It Off For Second Consecutive Night, Takes Series Over Kentucky

Vanderbilt’s offense picked up right where it left off in Thursday’s comeback win as the Commodores put another 9 runs on the board to win 9-8 in walk-off fashion.

JD Thompson got the start Friday night. Thompson’s outing started out on the wrong foot. With one on and two outs, Thompson allowed back-to-back RBI hits that put Vanderbilt in a 2-0 deficit.

The Commodores’ response was swift. In the bottom of the first inning with runners on second and third, Vanderbilt’s Riley Nelson drove in the first run off a groundout that scored Rustan Rigdon. Just two pitches later, Brodie Johnston gave the Commodores its first lead of the game with a two-run blast to left center field. A Jonathan Vastine RBI single later in the inning put Vanderbilt up two runs after one inning.

The two teams would go back-and-forth over the next four innings. Kentucky tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the second via an RBI single and a RBI walk for Wildcats’ Luke Lawrence and James McCoy.

RJ Austin broke the tie in the fourth inning with an RBI single that scored Mike Mancini, but Thompson surrendered a fifth run to Kentucky in the very next frame to tie it back up at five. All five of the runs that Thompson gave up occurred with two outs in the inning. He pitched five innings and allowed nine hits on five runs.

Vanderbilt took control of the game in the sixth inning. Vastine hit a solo home run to put the Commodores back in the lead and added another run in the bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI double from Nelson.

The Commodores got a good showing from the bullpen. Sawyer Hawks gave three shutout innings of relief work as Kentucky could only land three hits against him. Vanderbilt seemed to on its way to securing a series victory.

But in the top of the ninth Ethan McElvain came in to pitch the final inning. In his one inning, McElvain gave up two solo home runs to Kentucky's Lawrence and Cole Hage and another RBI double to Kyuss Gargett to give Kentucky the lead late.

But in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on second and one out, Vastine once again stepped into the batter's box with a two-strike count and hit his second home run of the night, this time being a walk-off home run.

The win not only secured the Commodores third consecutive series victory, but has put them in a position for a double-bye in the upcoming SEC Tournament. If currrent scores (as of 9 p.m. Friday night) hold up, all Vanderbilt will need is an LSU win or Georgia loss tomorrow to get a top four spot in the conference tournament, regardless if Vanderbilt wins or loses.

Vanderbilt will try to go for the series sweep tomorrow as the Commodores take on Kentucky at 2 p.m. CT.