In what has become an all too familiar refrain towards the end of this season, the Cardiac Commodores pulled off a come from behind victory to stave off a feisty Wright State team.
In the top of the first inning things already started to go downhill for the ‘Dores. JD Thompson issued a 4 pitch walk and then gave up a double that was just inches away from being a home run on the next pitch. This promptly set the ‘Dores at a 1-0 deficit and sucked all the energy from what had been an electric Hawkins Field environment.
In the bottom of the first, the Commodores got a taste of what would become the story of the first 6 innings: Wright State pitcher Cam Allen was absolutely dealing and the Wright State defense was elite. Allen struck out Rustan Rigdon and RJ Austin before Riley Nelson blasted a ball to the right-center field gap, only to have extra bases robbed by an outstanding sliding catch by center fielder Conlan Daniel.
In the 2nd, JD Thompson got 2 quick strikeouts before Daniel made his presence felt once again with a fly ball that caught the wind and just kept carrying past the right field wall. In the bottom the ‘Dores once again went 1-2-3 as Allen kept looking unhittable.
After a scoreless 3rd inning where it looked like Thompson was settling in, Wright State catcher Boston Smith hit a moonshot to right-center field to put the Raiders up 3-0. Frankly, that deficit felt insurmountable the way Cam Allen was pitching.
The game then turned into a pitchers duel. Both Thompson and Allen exchanged scoreless innings in the 5th and 6th, with Thompson getting up to 11 strikeouts while Allen carried a no hitter through 6 innings. The score looked deadlocked at 3-0 and Vanderbilt appeared to have no hope left as long as Allen was still in the game.
Then, it happened. Wright State skipper Alex Sogard inexplicably decided to pull Cam Allen after 6 hitless innings and only 74 pitches. In his place came Warren Hartzell, the runner up for top reliever in the Horizon League.
Brodie Johnston promptly greeted Hartzell with an absolute rocket over the Monster for Vanderbilt’s first hit and first run of the game. What had felt hopeless mere moments ago now felt doable. That one swing was enough to inject all of Hawkins field with life. The dugout became animated, the fans began to stir, the whistle came every at bat instead of only with runners on. Hawkins field came alive in just one moment.
While Vandy was unable to put any more runs on the board in the 7th, that changed in the 8th inning. After yet another scoreless half inning from Thompson, Mike Mancini came up to bat. In what continued a strong late-season resurgence, he blasted a home run to straightaway center field that cut the deficit to just one run. After him, Rustan Rigdon hit a seeing-eye single back up the middle before a fielder’s choice from RJ Austin got there to be 1 on with 2 outs for Riley Nelson.
Nelson didn’t waste his shot. He blasted a 429 foot home run down the right field line to give Vanderbilt a 4-3 lead, their first of the day.
This was not without some controversy, though. The 1st base umpire had initially called the home run ball foul before the home plate umpire initiated a conference and overturned that ruling, deeming it a 2 run home run. Wright State challenged the home run and after a lengthy review where nobody could tell what the call would be the home run was upheld, sustaining Vanderbilt’s slim lead.
In the 9th inning Tim Corbin elected to bring in Sawyer Hawks to close and he did what he does best. He struck out the side to hold on to that slim lead and give Vanderbilt their first postseason win since 2023.
Final score: 4-3 for the Cardiac Commodores.
