No. 15 Vanderbilt Baseball, in the second game of its home series against St. Mary’s, defeated the Gaels 13-7. In stunning come-from-behind fashion, Vanderbilt’s offense rallied to score nine runs in the seventh inning and ultimately win the game.
“Everybody’s was mentally tough,” RJ Austin said postgame.
Before the seventh inning, Vanderbilt’s pitching struggled and put the team in a hole. Vanderbilt pitchers in total hit four St. Mary’s batters and walked seven. Ethan McElvain got his second start of the season and continued to struggle, giving up four earned runs in three innings. St. Mary’s starting pitcher Donovan Chriss went for five innings and gave up four earned runs.
“I thought the bullpen did a nice job. We had really gritty at-bats in the seventh inning and this was really a tale of two games,” said head coach Tim Corbin after the game.
Top 1st: Vanderbilt 0, Saint Mary’s 0
McElvain started the first inning with St. Mary’s leadoff hitter, Cody Kashimoto, who hit a flyout to center field for the first out. McElvain got Tanner Griffith to groundout and McElvain struck out Ryan Pierceto to quickly retire the top of the order.
Bottom 1st: Vanderbilt 0, Saint Mary’s 0
St. Mary’s starting pitcher Donovan Chriss took the mound and quickly got Austin and Rustan Rigdon to groundout before Riley Nelson ripped a two-out single into right field. Brodie Johnston flew out to right field to end the inning.
Top 2nd: Vanderbilt 0, Saint Mary’s 0
McElvain started the second inning by giving up a line drive single into right field to Eddie Madrigal. McElvain then hit Aiden Taurek with a pitch putting two runners on the bases. Jared Mettam attempted a bunt but was thrown out at first while two other runners advanced on the bases. McElvain soon settled in and struck out Brian Duroff before walking Ian Armstrong to leave the bases loaded. However, McElvain struck out Diego Castellanos to keep the game scoreless.
Bottom 2nd: Vanderbilt 0, Saint Mary’s 0
Chriss took the mound, facing Colin Barczi who ripped a line drive to third base that was impressively caught by St. Mary’s third baseman Ryan Pierce. Jayden Davis followed with a walk before Braden Holcomb hit a flyout and Jacob Humphrey hit a groundout to second base.
Top 3rd: Vanderbilt 0, Saint Mary’s 4
Starting with the top of the lineup again, McElvain walked Kashimoto after a full count. Griffith quickly grounded out into a fielder’s choice that Vastine attempted for a double play but overthrew, resulting in an error. With Griffith still on the bases, McElvain walked Pierce resulting in cleanup hitter Eddie Madrigal taking the plate. Madrigal hit a deep flyball to right field for an RBI-double. Another deep fly ball from Taurek led to another run for Saint Mary’s. Jared Mettam then hit a two-out home run, bringing in two runs. A quick flyout to right field by Duroff ended the inning.
Bottom 3rd: Vanderbilt 0, Saint Mary’s 4
Vastine was Vanderbilt’s first hitter in the third inning and he quickly hit a flyout to left field before Austin beat a throw by the pitcher on a groundball for a single. Rigdon hit a deep groundball that advanced Austin but got to first base in time. Nelson hit a line drive to the second basemen to end the inning.
Top 4th: Vanderbilt 0, Saint Mary’s 4
Hudson Barton came into the game for McElvain this inning and Ian Armstrong to groundout for his first out. Castellanos ripped a ground ball for a single before Barton faced the top of the lineup and Kashimoto hit a single putting two runners on the bases. An impressive catch in left field by Holcomb and a slider for a strikeout by Barton ended the inning.
Bottom 4th: Vanderbilt 4, Saint Mary’s 4
Johnston was Vanderbilt’s first hitter of the inning and hit a flyout before Colin Barczi hit a double off the left field wall bringing life to Vanderbilt’s offense. Jayden Davis then hit a flyout to center field that advanced Barczi to third base. Braden Holcomb hit a two out RBI-single into left field for Vanderbilt’s first run. The offensive rally continued with Jacob Humphrey hitting a single into center field advancing Holcomb to third base. Veteran Jonathan Vastine came up to the plate working a walk and leaving the bases loaded with two outs for Austin, who hit a three-RBI double off the left field wall that tied up the game. Rigdon followed Austin with a pop up to end the inning.
Top 5th: Vanderbilt 4, Saint Mary’s 5
Barton started the inning with Madrigal, who got on base after getting hit by a pitch followed by Taurek working a walk to put two runners on base before Mettam grounded out to third. However, both runners advanced, prompting to Brendan Seiber to come into the game for Barton. Seiber then threw a wild pitch that brought in a run before striking out Petit. Armstrong grounded out to end the inning with St. Mary’s back in the lead.
Bottom 5th: Vanderbilt 4, Saint Mary’s 5
Nelson started it off for Vanderbilt in the fifth inning and grounded out to first followed by Brodie Johnston who grounded out to second before Colin Barczi struck out looking.
Top 6th: Vanderbilt 4, Saint Mary’s 7
Jakob Schulz came into the game for Seiber and started with Castellanos, who struck out. Kashimoto then came up to the plate and Schulz walked him before hitting Griffith with a pitch. Schulz then walked Pierce and faced cleanup hitter Madrigal with the bases loaded and one out. Madrigal got hit by a pitch to bring in a run for St. Mary’s. England Bryan then replaced Schulz and got Taurek to groundout but St. Mary’s still brought in another run before he struck out Mettam to end the inning.
Bottom 6th: Vanderbilt 4, Saint Mary’s 7
Saint Mary’s starting pitcher was replaced by John Damozonio. The inning quickly went 1-2-3 with a groundout and two flyouts.
Top 7th: Vanderbilt 4, Saint Mary’s 7
Matthew Shorey came in for Bryan and after a groundout and a strikeout, an error by Nelson resulted in Castellanos getting on base. A walk got Kashimoto on base before Griffith struck out to end the inning.
Bottom 7th: Vanderbilt 13, Saint Mary’s 7
With Damozonio on the mound,Vastine grounded out before Austin got on base with a walk and stole second base. Rigdon also worked a walk that put the tying run at the plate with Nelson. Nelson, on a full count, ripped an RBI-single into center field and an error by the third baseman resulted in another run scored as Nelson moved to third. Damozonio was then replaced by Diego Emerling. Emerling faced Johnston, who hit a ground ball to third that was thrown home and got Nelson out. Barczi then hit a two-out single that advanced Johnston to third base. Rose came in as a pinch hitter and St. Mary’s changed its pitcher to Garret Plata. Rose ended up hitting ab RBI-single to shortstop that tied the game. Holcomb came up to the plate and worked a full count for a walk and loaded the bases. Another pitching change by Saint Mary’s brought up Noah Waldeck to the mound. Humphrey then hit a clutch two-RBI double to center field and gave Vanderbilt its first lead of the game. Vastine added to the offensive rally with another single that brought in a run, followed by another single from Austin. Rigdon then took a walk to load the bases. Nelson hit a grounder that resulted in an error by St. Mary’s’ third baseman, bringing in two runs.
Top 8th: Vanderbilt 13, Saint Mary’s 7
Miller Green came into the game for Shorey and Mike Mancini came in for Davis at second base. Green went three up, three down with a strikeout, groundout and flyout.
Bottom 8th: Vanderbilt 13, Saint Mary’s 7
Waldeck stayed on the mound for the eighth inning and faced Barczi who grounded out before Mancini hit a ball of the wall in center field for a double. Holcomb and Humphrey then struck out to end the inning.
Top 9th: Vanderbilt 13, Saint Mary’s 7
Green returned in the ninth inning to close the game out. An error by Mancini on a groundball put got Mettam on base. Green then struck out Heffler before Makoa Sniffen came in as a pinch hitter. Sniffen hit a groundball that was fielded for the second out of the inning before Micah Nicholson came into the game and worked a walk. St. Mary’s continued to use its bench with Barrett Ronson coming in to pinch hit but he struck out to end the game.
Vanderbilt will look to sweep the Gaels on Feb. 23 at 12 p.m. CST.
