Wright State's Luke Arnold (24) is congratulated by Wright State's Cam Gilkerson (23) after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of the Nashville Regional NCAA Baseball Tournament elimination game at Hawkins Field Sunday, June 1, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Vanderbilt Baseball Stunned By Wright State As Commodores Season Ends

Originally posted on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI
By Graham Baakko | Last updated Jun 1, 2025 5:51 PM ET

Wright State pulled off the unthinkable Sunday as it took down No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt 5-4 in an elimination game.

Wright State separated itself right off the bat with a four-run inning in the bottom of the first. Hunter Warren led the game off with a leadoff double, but that was just the beginning of things to come in the inning.

Warren scored from third off a Gus Gregory sacrifice groundout for the first run. The Raiders then went on to score three more runs off two home runs from Boston Smith and Luke Arnold. Starting pitcher Austin Nye pitched just the first inning after putting his team in an early 4-0 hole.

Brodie Johnston responded in the top of the second inning with a solo home run to bring the deficit to three, but that was all the Vanderbilt offense could offer Sunday.

Gregory got his second RBI of the day to push the lead back to four runs with a single in the bottom of the third that scored Patrick Fultz.

In the ninth inning with the bases loaded, Mike Mancini delivered a two-run single to cut the deficit in half and Rustan Rigdon got ground-rule double to put runners on third and second in a 5-4 game, but it was not enough to complete the comeback.

In the end, Vanderbilt could not capitalize on any chances Wright State gave them. The Commodores went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base throughout the game. In Vanderbilt’s first two games alone in the regional round, the Commodores went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

With the loss, Vanderbilt became the first No. 1 overall seed ever to lose before the regional final of the Regional Round of the NCAA Tournament since the current tournament format was implemented in 1999.