Pitching Gamble Backfires as Vanderbilt's Late Game Magic Runs Out
Vanderbilt may have run out of whatever late game magic it had Saturday night and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
The Commodores have had a plethora of late-game comebacks or hold off a late rally by the opponent. They entered Saturday with six go-ahead home runs in the eighth inning or later, which is the second-most in the NCAA (Alabama, Kentucky, twice, Georgia, etc.), and there are plenty of other examples of the Commodores coming up clutch late (Western Kentucky and Lipscomb, among others).
The most recent came Friday night in Vanderbilt’s NCAA Regional opening game against Wright State. The Commodores were held hitless through six innings and then hit three home runs to score four runs in the seventh and eighth innings to rally and beat the Raiders, 4-3.
.@LouisvilleBSB UPSETS (1) VANDERBILT#RoadToOmaha x 🎥 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/uJNbsXEYii
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 1, 2025
So, there wasn’t any reason for Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin to think his offense wouldn’t score at least one run after being down 3-2 to Louisville after five innings. The 1,000-plus game winning coach said as much after the game.
“We just couldn't get the timely hit. You have to give credit to Louisville. They pitched well. And that was the tough part for us...We just didn't win the battle. Don't go searching for, like, a lot of ancillary bullshit. It's just, we didn't get the hit."Tim Corbin
Corbin can’t be blamed for thinking his offense would score at least one run when he sent Connor Fennell into the game to start the seventh inning. Vanderbilt’s found some power swings at the plate recently and, before that surge, was great at scoring with small ball tactics.
But the Commodores ran out of their late game magic and failed to score a run.
“That's baseball,” Vanderbilt’s Mike Mancini said.
Sending Fennell into the game was a risky gamble, but not a bad one. It’s just in hindsight, it looks like a bad decision.
But coaching decisions can’t be fairly judged in hindsight. Coaches don’t have the luxury of knowing the outcome, so this column isn’t second-guessing Corbin’s decision to use Fennell and save his bullpen for Sunday.
If Vanderbilt had scored one or two more runs, it’d have been the perfect move. This column would be about how Corbin’s gamble set up the Commodores up to start freshman Austin Nye in Sunday’s regional finale and the entire bullpen would be available to go if needed.
That’d be after either Wright State or Louisville had played its third game and would need two more wins to advance.
If you’re a baseball coach, wouldn’t that be a great situation to be in? Freshman pitcher with a bunch of successful starting experience to start the game and one of the nation’s best bullpens (that’s seen only two pitchers enter a game in the regional) almost entirely available. (Levi Huesman is the only regular reliver who may not be available, but he only threw 20 pitches against Louisville).
Corbin thought so and rolled the dice. The roll just didn’t come up in his favor.
Now, Corbin is facing a Sunday that could potentially be a double header and he’s used all three of his regular weekend starters. However, the potential for a second game Sunday won’t factor into any pitching decisions against Wright State at 2 p.m.
“I don't care about the second game” Corbin said. “All I care about is Wright State. That's it.”
We don’t know who Vanderbilt will start Sunday’s 2 p.m. game against the Raiders, whose one of the teams Vanderbilt needed a late game home run to beat.
It’ll likely be Nye (2-0, 2.90 ERA, 58 SO, 22 BB, 16 ER, .215 b/avg.) who starts the first game and Vanderbilt hopes its midweek starter can beat the regional’s No. 4 seed.
That would setup a bullpen game for Sunday night, if Vanderbilt beats Wright State, and if the Commodores win that game…who knows what happens Monday.
We'll see you tomorrow night.#GoCards pic.twitter.com/EyceWV2OTh
— Louisville Baseball (@LouisvilleBSB) June 1, 2025
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