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Vanderbilt walks off against Stanford on wild pitch to survive elimination game

Andrew Olson

By Andrew Olson

Published:

Vanderbilt was down to its final out, trailing Stanford 5-4 in Wednesday’s College World Series elimination game. The Commodores are still alive, defeating the Cardinal 6-5 as a wild pitch allowed the winning run to cross home plate.

It all started with Javier Vaz reaching on a two-out walk. Spencer Jones followed with a single to short that allowed Vaz to advance to third on a throw to first that got away. Enrique Bradfield then brought Vaz home with a single.

Bradfield’s single moved Jones from first to third. Then the wild pitch happened, delivering the 6-5 walk-off win.

The game got off to a bad start for Vanderbilt. Commodore fielders had a rough night, committing 3 errors, including a pair in the first inning. A Parker Noland error allowed a runner to score from second base, giving Stanford the early 1-0 lead.

Third baseman Jayson Gonzalez helped make up for the early fielding miscues by throwing out a runner from third at home for the second out of the first.

Brock Jones extended the Stanford lead to 2-0 in the top of the third with a solo home run.

Vanderbilt starter Christian Little was pulled for Nick Maldonado in the top of the fourth with two on, nobody out.  Little’s final line was 3+ IP, 4 H, 4R, ER, 2 BB, 3 K on 70 pitches.

After Little’s exit, a third error and a bases-loaded walk brought in another Stanford run, making it 3-0. The Cardinal plated its fourth run on a two-out dribbler back to the pitcher, the throw to first was off the mark, and Jones picked up his second hit and RBI.

With the game 4-0, coach Tim Corbin gave the Vandy Boys a fiery pep talk in the dugout. It appeared to make a difference as two batters later, Dominic Keegan made it a 4-2 game with a two-run homer.

Jones struck again in the top of the sixth inning. He hit a two-out RBI double to make it 5-2 in Stanford’s favor.

Vandy pinch hitter Tate Kowlyck made it a 5-3 game with an RBI single to score Bradfield, cutting it to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth. The Dores weren’t done scoring in the sixth. Noland plated Keegan with another RBI single, making it a 5-4 game.

Maldonado did not come back out for the seventh inning. He finished with a line of 3 IP, 4 H, ER, 3K, WP over 51 pitches. After Maldonado, it was Chris McElvain’s turn on the mound. McElvain went 1.2 scoreless innings. Corbin was active in the eighth inning, pulling McElvain for Hugh Fisher and then, after a walk, Fisher for Luke Murphy. The moves paid off as Murphy recorded a strikeout, leaving the bases loaded.

Murphy hardly had a chance to catch his breath as the Dores went three up, three down in a quick bottom of the eighth. Murphy answered with his own 1-2-3 inning in the top of the ninth.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.

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