How No. 11 Vanderbilt took the weekend series over No. 15 Tennessee

Vanderbilt traveled to Knoxville against their in-state rival over the weekend and came away with a crucial series victory. Despite dropping the first game of the series, here is what contributed to the Commodores’ series comeback.

Offense

Vanderbilt put up 17 runs between the final two games of the series and needed every one. In Saturday’s game, the Commodores offense found a rhythm off the bat of Braden Holcomb as he hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning that put Vanderbilt in the lead.

Both Holcomb and RJ Austin led the way with three RBIs each and Riley Nelson added to the offense with three hits of his own as Vanderbilt scored all 10 runs in the first six innings.

In Sunday’s game, Vanderbilt and Tennessee went back-and-forth through the first five innings. It was back-to-back home runs from Colin Barczi and Jonathan Vastine that gave Vanderbilt a much-needed three run advantage. 

Barczi’s two home runs in the game was the difference as he totaled three RBIs in the Commodores 7-5 victory. Not to mention, Mike Mancini delivered an insurance run in the ninth with a solo shot to left field. 

Bullpen Pitching

In a game like Saturday where offense was the overarching theme of the day, Vanderbilt’s bullpen stepped up when it needed to. Starting pitcher Cody Bowker allowed four runs through just 4.2 innings, but his teammates backed him up in relief

The Commodores used four different pitchers through the last 4.1 innings Saturday, with three of the four relievers shutting out the Volunteers. Luke Guth and Ethan McElvain both threw perfect innings in the sixth and ninth innings respectively to help close the door and Miller Green worked himself out of the fifth inning jam after surrendering two hits.

Sawyer Hawks was the only reliever to give up runs as he allowed back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning in his two innings of work. 

It took six relievers to hold off Tennessee on Sunday. Once again it was Guth, Green and McElvain who led the way as the three combined for 3.1 shutout innings against the Tennessee offense. 

The Commodore relievers also did their job in crucial situations. In the fifth inning, Guth came in the game with a Volunteer runner on third base and forced a groundout to end the inning. In the seventh inning, Tennessee had runners on first and second with two outs and Green got Tennessee to fly out for the final out of the inning.

Then with the fate of the series in his hands in a bases loaded situation with two outs, McElvain struck out Cannon Peebles for the final out of the game and came up with the series victory. 

In total, Tennessee finished the series finale leaving 12 runners on base. 

Vanderbilt will look for another series victory on the final weekend of the regular season against Kentucky.

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