Instant Analysis: Wright State Baseball 5, Vanderbilt 4 In Elimination Game: Nashville Regional At NCAA Tournament

Vanderbilt’s offensive struggles continued into Sunday and ultimately became too much to overcome as Wright State pulled off the 5-4 upset over the Commodores and them from the NCAA Tournament.

The story of the game was Vanderbilt’s inability to counter Wright State’s strong start in the first inning.

Wright State got off to a 4-0 lead after the first inning and did not look back. The Raiders got an excellent start from starting pitcher Griffen Paige. Going into the game with a 8.90 ERA, Paige looked as if his ERA was less than a quarter of his actual ERA. 

Paige went 8.0 innings and only surrendered on hit against a Vanderbilt offense that was on fire just a week ago. Brodie Johnston’s home run was the lone hit for Vanderbilt until the ninth inning.

On the second consecutive night, Vanderbilt could not get the hit when it mattered most. Although Alex Kranzler and Miller Green gave strong showings out of the bullpen for the final seven innings of the game and kept the Commodores in the game, the bats could not provide enough run support.

Vanderbilt looked as if they were going to pull off some magic in the top of the ninth. Wright State walked the bases loaded for the ‘Dores in the ninth with one out and Mike Mancini hit a two-out single that brought home two runs. 

The next batter, Rustan Rigdon, hit one all the way to the wall in right center field and the Commodores seemingly had tied the game as Mancini rounded third en route to home plate. But a ground-rule double ended up holding Mancini at third base and dashing Vanderbilt’s hopes of a comeback.

"They played tough, they played with energy and they came out and got us in the first inning," Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said. "By no means did we think the game was out of play, but it was a pretty good gut punch. After that inning, we pitched really, really well. Kranzler was outstanding. He fought, battled and kept the game right where it was, and Miller [Green] after him. Offensively it was just hard, hard to come by. It felt tough, it felt heavy, the guys were trying. I feel that I didn't equip them properly in some way."

With the loss, Wright State moves onto the regional final against Louisville, but Vandebilt’s offseason now begins. The Commodores became the first top-seeded team to be eliminated before a regional final.

After winning a SEC Tournament Championship one week ago, the Commodores season came to a disappointing and abrupt end Sunday.

Watch the above video as Vanderbilt On SI analyst Graham Baakko breaks down Vanderbilt baseball's Nashville Regional loss to Wright State as Vanderbilt’s season ends.. Graham discusses the game, what went wrong and what is next for the program.

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