Ad Disclosure
Vanderbilt takes series win over Alabama with walk-off HR from Braden Holcomb
Published:
Vanderbilt looked dead in the water on Sunday in Nashville against SEC rival Alabama. Then the late innings arrived and everything changed.
The No. 15 Commodores scored 3 runs in the 8th inning to get within 7-5, then put up 4 more runs in the 9th, capped by Braden Holcomb’s walk-off homer in a pulsating 9-7 victory. Vanderbilt pulled out the game and took the weekend series, too, after winning Friday’s opener and losing Game 2 on Saturday to the 18th-ranked Crimson Tide.
That outcome didn’t look at all possible in the 8th inning when Vanderbilt trailed 7-2. Things changed quickly, though, and they got downright crazy in the 9th inning. Holcomb’s walk-off blast came with 2 outs and a runner on second. Holcomb jumped on a 1-2 pitch and drove it over the center-field wall, so Alabama was 1 strike away from getting out of dodge in the 9th and sending the game to extra innings.
But Holcomb wouldn’t allow that. Here is the video of his dramatic shot heard around Nashville:
RELATED: Be sure to track the College World Series odds ahead of the postseason through your favorite Tennessee betting apps.
Holcomb’s homer was great and all, but that was merely the finishing blow. Before that, Vanderbilt was down to its last out with runners on second and third. It was a situation Brodie Johnston handled with the ultimate poise, driving the first pitch to left-center field for a 2-run double that suddenly tied the game at 7-7 and set up Holcomb’s heroics.
Here is Johnston’s hit that kept the game going:
Vanderbilt improved to 34-14 overall and 14-10 with the magical win, while Alabama fell to 36-12 and 13-11 in the league with the crushing loss.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
