Cardiac Commodores Pull Off Another Late Game Comeback to Start NCAA Regional

The Cardiac Commodores strike again.

Vanderbilt cruised through the SEC Tournament, but before that needed several late-game comebacks to get wins. That experience paid off in Friday’s NCAA Regional game against Wright State, but was certainly helped by a questionable pitching change-decision by the Raiders helped.

Cam Allen threw six hitless innings for Wright State with seven strikeouts, but three walks and a hit batter led to the Raiders going to the bullpen to start the seventh inning.

To be blunt, if you’ve been watching Vanderbilt baseball this season, what happened next wasn’t surprising. Three home runs to score four runs and the Commodores went into the ninth inning with a one-run lead. Sawyer Hawks came out, struck out three batters to pick up his eighth save of the season and the Commodores have a rematch against Louisville for Saturday night.

Here are the two biggest takeaways from the Commodores’ comeback win to start its NCAA Tournament play.

Like It or Not, this is Vanderbilt’s Offense

One of the biggest reasons Vanderbilt was so successful in the SEC Tournament was the pitchers it faced. The Commodores avoided Oklahoma’s Kyson Witherspoon in the first game, avoided Tennessee’s Liam Doyle in the semifinal round and faced an Ole Miss pitcher making his first start of the season in the final.

Throughout the season, the Commodores have usually struggled offensively against opposing team’s ace pitchers. Look at what they did after the Volunteers relieved Doyle. After getting three hits and striking out 12 times in seven innings, the Commodores scored two runs on three hits.

That’s the same formula Vanderbilt followed in several late-season games against Alabama and Kentucky (twice). And it worked again.

A lot of questions will be asked about the decision to take out a pitcher who had thrown only 76 pitches and was holding the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament hitless. But the outcome felt inevitable once Allen left the game because that’s just how Vanderbilt’s offense performed all year.

Vanderbilt’s Pitching is in a Great Position

Starter JD Thompson pitched eight innings and with exception of a couple of swings, was great. Two of the five hits he allowed were home runs and led to Wright State having a 3-0 lead. But he also struck out 12 batters and, more importantly, didn’t force Vanderbilt to dig too deep in its reservoir of great relief pitchers.

“It's very, very important on the very first night to stretch out like (Thompson) did and pitch in the manner that he did” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. “And then hand the ball to Sawyer (Hawks), and Sawyer managed to get three hitters out, so we reduced the pitch count for him, which is good. So, from a pitching standpoint, we're in good shape. We're right where we want to be.”

Hawks threw just 12 pitches against the three batters he faced and should be available in a short outing tomorrow, if needed. But rest of the Commodores’ bullpen is ready to go.