Vanderbilt struggles with long ball, loses Game 1 of College World Series to Michigan
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The Vanderbilt Commodores entered the College World Series championship series as the favorites to beat Michigan and claim the title.
After all, Vanderbilt was the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, and Michigan was one of the last four teams to make the field of 64. That didn’t matter much on Monday night in Game 1, though, as the Wolverines used a couple of big home runs to take a 1-0 series lead.
This was the dagger — a two-run bomb by Jimmy Kerr in the top of the seventh inning after the Commodores cut the Wolverines’ lead to one:
JIMMY KERR IS A LEGEND.#CWS | @umichbaseball pic.twitter.com/UGzqTnOo0H
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 25, 2019
That made it 6-3, and this home run in the top of the eighth inning extended the lead to 7-3, Michigan:
Back… Back… Back… TOUCH THEM ALL, Joe Donovan! #CWS | @umichbaseball pic.twitter.com/LP5v1mmMFp
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 25, 2019
Vanderbilt scored one run in the bottom of the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough, as the Wolverines took home the victory with a score of 7-4.
The Commodores now have to win two-straight games to avoid elimination. Does that sound familiar? It should, because that’s what happened when freshman RHP Kumar Rocker took the mound in the super regional against Duke.
All he did in that game was throw a 19-strikeout no-hitter. Tuesday night’s game will take place at 7 p.m. Eastern time and can once again be seen on ESPN.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
