A Vanderbilt Baseball Bottom of the 9th for the Ages

It was the Miracle in Omaha. The Immaculate Inning. Divine Intervention. You can give it any superlative you want and you would be correct in your moniker.

The Vanderbilt Commodores, down 5-4 and facing 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th with the bases empty and with Javier Vaz up with 2 strikes against him and tough Stanford closer Brendan Beck on the hill, who looked un-hittable, looked on the brink of elimination in the College World Series. But I said to my wife I thought Javy was going to find a way to get on, and at least keep the inning alive. Javy hung tough and coaxed a walk. Then, Spencer Jones pinch hit for Jay Gonz, and hit a grounder to deep short which the shortstop, instead of holding on to the ball because he was not going to get Javy out at second and Spencer can run and it would be a longshot to get him at first, decided to try and throw out Spencer at first. I don’t blame him. He wanted to close out the game. But he threw the ball away and Javy advanced to third. Then the great Enrique Bradfield, who had already singled twice on the night, hit a line shot that dropped in right field to drive Javy in and move Spencer over to third. We were all tied up at 5. Then, with Carter Young at the plate, Beck unloaded a fastball over the catcher’s head and Spence raced home to secure the improbable 6-5 victory for our special team before 22,804 fans at TD Ameritrade Park.

We were down 4-zip, and Dom Keegan drilled a 2 run homer to left field in the bottom of the 4th to cut the lead in half at 4-2. We were down 5-2 in the bottom of the 6th when Tate Kolwyck, good to see him back hope he can start on Friday, and Parker Noland, had run scoring singles to cut the lead to 5-4. And then came the majestic bottom of the 9th. We committed 3 errors on the night and that’s not us, so we HAVE to clean that up Friday. I’d like to see Tate get back in the lineup at 2nd. He looked healthy and energetic last night. We need his stellar leadership and ability in our lineup. Spencer Jones may have very well earned DH duties for Friday after his base hit last night. Our bullpen was superb. Nick Maldonado went 3, gave up 4 hits, with a run, 1 walk and 3 K’s. Nick had some tough luck with a ground ball that should have been a double play, but was an error on Carter. Not like Carter. But Nick pitched very well. Chris McElvain pitched 1.2 innings of 2 hit ball with 0 runs, 1 walk and 3 K’s. And Luke Murphy was spectacular and was a major reason we won, coming in with the bases loaded in the top of the 8th and 2 outs, and striking out the Stanford hitter. Then Luke had a 1-2-3, 9th inning. He gave up 0 hits, 0 runs with 0 walks and 3 K’s. Wow, Luke is a talent. Proud of him for his mental toughness for keeping the score where it was. That was really clutch pitching.

Then, the amazing bottom of the 9th. What a victory. Corbs made all the right moves with the bullpen, and with pinch hitting. I loved the moves of putting Nick in early for Christian Little, who was very unlucky, as the fielding behind him, besides Javy’s awesome diving catch in left field, was not up to our standards. it was a tough night for Christian, but I still believe in him. Nick was super, then putting Chris in, trying lefty on lefty with runners on 2nd and 3rd with Hugh Fisher against that awesome hitter for Stanford, centerfielder Brock Jones, who was 3 for 4 on the night with his 18th homer of the season and 3 RBIs. Hugh walked him to load the bases, then Corbs immediately went to Luke, who struck out Kody Huff, another power hitter for Stanford. Pinch hitting Tate in the bottom of the 6th was an excellent call, then pinch hitting with Spencer in the bottom of the 9th was perfect. Awesome job by the head man. Pitching Coach Scott Brown and Christian got into it. Christian was frustrated with the defense and was vocal about it in the dugout after the first inning and Brownie, in no uncertain terms, told him to calm down, get his act together and help his team. Christian probably learned that it’s not going to always go his way, but he still has to keep his head down and focus on the task at hand and not blame teammates. He’s still 17, won’t be 18 till July as he reclassified to the 2020 class, coming to the West End a year before he was supposed to, so he learned from this. We may need him again before this is over, so we need his head in the game. He’s going to be a stellar pitcher for us.

What a team. They’re special. Now we have NC State Friday at 1 PM CT on ESPN2. I’m fully expecting Kumar to be on the hill for us. He’s 13-3 with a 2.58 ERA with 36 walks and 162 K’s. Jack now has 171 K’s to lead Kumar and Andrew Abbott, the Virginia pitcher, who has 162 as well. Abbott is possibly pitching for Virginia tonight. He threw 104 pitches Sunday, so that’s kind of risky, but Virginia is in a do or die situation with Texas, so he may be out there. Doubt it though. That game is tonight at 6 on ESPN2. Nick Savino for UVA has 10 starts and a 3.86 ERA, so he may get the call. Not sure about the Longhorns. Should be a terrific game.

Kumar is still the man in these moments, so absolutely trust him on the hill. I would think North Carolina State would go with Reid Johnston, their junior right hander, who is 9-3 with a 4.47 ERA with 23 walks and 96 K’s. He went 6 innings last Saturday against Stanford, throwing 75 pitches, giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned with a walk and 5 K’s. Their freshman right hander, Sam Highfill, who went 7.1 innings against us Monday Night, giving up only 2 hits, 0 runs with 2 walks and 7 K’s, threw 100 pitches. They may use him in short relief, and they’ll definitely have their stud closer Evan Justice, 5-2, 3.77 ERA, 25 walks, 74 K’s, ready against us. He threw 28 pitches Monday Night giving up 0 hits, 0 runs, with a walk and 2 K’s. So, if we have to face him, we need to figure out ways to get on base and score a run or 2 because it’s going to be a tight game. I see Kumar pitching well. Facing maybe his last game as a starter at Vanderbilt, Kumar is going to refuse to go down without a major battle.

So, Friday at 1 PM CT on ESPN2 in a game we must win to make it to a game Saturday against NC State. That would be at 1 PM also and ESPN will televise. If we win, will confirm our game time Saturday in postgame column. It could be at 6 PM CT Saturday Night on ESPN2, but I’m pretty positive it would be Saturday at 1 PM CT on ESPN2. Just gotta get the job done Friday. Anchor Down, what a performance. Have a super day.