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Vanderbilt Rallies Past Florida, 8-6
Hoover, Ala. -
Vanderbilt rallied in the ninth inning to stun No. 2 Florida 8-6 on
Saturday afternoon at Regions Park and advance to the Southeastern
Conference Tournament Championship Game.
The Commodores
(33-25) entered the ninth inning trailing the Gators (42-18) 4-3 after
the teams traded runs early in the game. Freshman Connor Castellano led
off the inning with a double into the right field corner and moved to
third base on Andrew Harris’ sacrifice bunt. Florida closer Austin
Maddox then hit Tony Kemp to put runners on the corners with one out
for Mike Yastrzemski. The junior dropped down his second squeeze bunt
of the tournament to score Castellano and tie the game. The Commodores,
however, were not finished. Gators’ catcher Mike Zunino nabbed
Yastrzemski on the back end of a double steal for the second out of the
inning. Anthony Gomez produced a clutch single through the left side to
score Kemp and put Vandy back in front for the first time since the
third inning.
Vanderbilt then cranked up the running
game against Maddox with Gomez stealing second. An intentional walk to
Conrad Gregor put two runners on for Spencer Navin. Gomez and Gregor
stole second base and third base with the Gators countering with
another intentional walk, this one to Navin to load the bases. The
Dores then pulled off one of the greatest plays in school history with
a triple steal, with Gomez stealing home before the pitch reached
Zunino. Gomez’s run put Vandy up by two runs and the triple steal tied
a SEC Tournament record for steals in one inning with six. Will Cooper
lined a single into right field to cap the rally at five runs and give
the freshman his first two career RBI.
The Gators
battled back in the ninth, scoring two runs and putting the winning run
on base before Drew VerHagen entered and picked up a one-pitch save,
getting Justin Shafer to fly out to right field. The win sends
Vanderbilt to the title game for the sixth time in nine trips under
Head Coach Tim Corbin and marks the second straight year the Dores will
play for the title.
VU scored twice in the first inning to
claim an early lead. Kemp led off the game with a double and came
around to score on a wild sacrifice bunt with two errors by the Florida
defense. Gomez then knocked in Yastrzemski from third on a groundout to
shortstop. A RBI-double from Connor Harrell in the second made it 3-1
before Florida scored two in the third to tie it. Nolan Fontana gave
the Gators the lead in the fourth with a RBI-single
Nine
different Commodores had at least one hit in the win with Yastrzemski,
Gomez and Harrell all picking up two hits. Brian Johnson led Florida
with two hits and two RBI. Will Clinard (7-2) earned the win despite a
shaky ninth with Maddox (3-3) taking the loss.
Vanderbilt has now won a season-best nine games, including eight games against ranked opponents.
The Commodores will meet Mississippi State in the championship game tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
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