Vanderbilt started slowly, played from behind all day and saw a ninth-inning rally snuffed out, as San Diego topped the Commodores, 3-2, on Friday in the Corvallis regional of the NCAA tournament at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Ore..
San Diego scored a run in the first, third and fourth to take a 3-0 lead. Vanderbilt got solo home runs from Dominic Keegan in the seventh and Calvin Hewett in the eighth, but couldn’t capitalize on a scoring opportunity in the ninth.
San Diego starter Brian Mautz gave up one run in seven innings, picking up the win. He struck out five and allowed just five runners.
Vandy starter Carter Holton had a quality outing, striking out five in six innings while allowing three runs, but just two earned. However, Holton's control wasn't always there as he hit four batters while scattering five hits. Christian Little was outstanding in relief, allowing just one man to reach in three scoreless innings.
The Commodores fall into the loser’s bracket where they’ll face the loser of Friday night’s Oregon State-New Mexico game.
Vanderbilt got leadoff man Enrique Bradfield Jr. on with a walk to start the ninth, bringing up Javier Vaz. Vaz entered the game with a .398 on-base percentage and had already reached twice, meanwhile, Bradfield had succeeded in all 42 steal attempts this season (he had been picked off once). The Commodores elected to bunt Bradfield to second, giving their two best power hitters (Spencer Jones and Keegan) a shot to tie or win.
But Bradfield never got past second. Jones grounded out hard to third and after lefty reliever Ian Churchill intentionally walked Keegan, Jack Bulger lined out hard to right, where right fielder Angelo Peraza made a leaping grab to end the game.
That was typical of Vanderbilt's inability to string offense together. Mautz cruised through the Commodore lineup most of the day, firing 58 of his 75 pitches for strikes. Vanderbilt never sent more than four people to the plate in any inning until the ninth; it had five hits and reached base only eight times.
The Commodores had a disastrous start as Holton hit the game's first batter, then, a bunt back to Holton should have been an easy play. But the freshman instead air-mailed the throw past Keegan at first to put main on the corners after two pitches.
With one out, San Diego’s Caleb Ricketts then hit a potential double-play ball to Carter Young at second, which he dropped. A run scored, though a come-backer to Holton from next got an inning-ending double play.
Offensively, the Commodores ended each of the first two innings by grounding into double plays.
In the third, San Diego’s Dustin Allen led off with a single through third, got to third on a ground ball and a wild pitch and then scored when Ricketts hit a slow roller through second to beat the shift.
In the fourth, Vaz led off with a single but got picked off first. The Toreros added a run in the bottom of the inning when Jack Costello, who led off with a double to the gap in left-center, later scored on a Camden Vazquez ground-out.
Meanwhile, Mautz breezed through the Vandy lineup, retiring 10 straight hitters until Keegan launched a bomb to right-center for the Commodores' first runner since the fourth. Hewett led off the eighth with a long homer to left, but right-handed reliever Ryan Robinson (who allowed the homer to Hewett) then got the next three in order.
Bradfield fell behind 0-2 in the ninth and then worked a walk. But the Commodores couldn't capitalize and are now one loss away from their season ending.
