Vanderbilt Baseball Wins Series Over No. 2 Arkansas, Securing Bye In SEC Tournament

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Nick Maldonado. Photo: Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics

After a tough few weeks, which included getting swept by Florida, Vanderbilt baseball put on an amazing performance against No. 2 Arkansas, winning two of the three-game series to finish the regular season.

The series win over the powerhouse, not only gives Vandy a No. 4 seed in the SEC Baseball Tournament but a huge morale boost as well as momentum going into the postseason.

They dropped the first game of the series 8-2, which seemed to a preview of what Arkansas was going to unleash on the already wounded Commodores. However, Vanderbilt rallied and showed life and resilience by scoring eight runs in the eighth inning, giving them a massive 10-8 victory.

It started with a flyout by Enrique Bradfield Jr., which scored a run, and then working the pitcher, forcing him to go longer into at-bats until he eventually loaded the bases and hit RJ Shreck with a pitch, forcing a run in, making it 8-4.

Another walk scored the fifth run until Jack Bulger stepped up to the plate and hit a two RBI single cutting the Razorbacks lead to 8-7. Then Troy LaNeve, who had less than 20 at-bats all season, hit a three-run home run to give Vandy the lead and the eventual win.

Troy LaNeve. Photo: Courtesy of Vanderbilt Athletics

In Game Three, LaNeve showed up once again, hitting another three-run home run in the second inning giving the Commodores a 3-2 lead.

From there it went back-and-forth, as the teams tied and Arkansas retook the lead in the fifth inning 6-4. A few blunders by Arkansas and some great base running led to Vandy taking, and holding on to, the lead. Bradfield stole both second and third, and another balk brought him home as they took a 7-6 lead. He now ranks third in SEC history with 127 career stolen bases.

Ryan Ginther earned the start and turned in four strong innings to match his career high. Ginther didn’t allow an earned run and struck out five batters. David Horn threw 2.1 scoreless innings and Nick Maldonado closed the door for his eighth save of the season.

The Commodores finish the regular season with a record of 37-17 and a conference record of 19-11. Notably, they had a record of 25-6 when playing at Hawkins Field.

Vanderbilt will be the No. 4 seed at next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, where they will play in the fourth game on Wednesday, May 31 and face the winner of the No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed matchup.

Steven Boero
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