Vanderbilt and Missouri each claimed a win on May 10 after splitting the first two games of their baseball series, both of which went to extra innings. The teams played at Taylor Stadium, with Friday’s suspended game resumed before the second contest on Saturday.
The results mean the series will be decided in a final game on Sunday. Both teams demonstrated resilience as they battled through delays caused by weather and heavy fog.
In Game 1, Vanderbilt built an early lead with strong performances from Connor Fennell, who struck out eight batters over seven innings while allowing only one run. Rustan Rigdon contributed multiple runs batted in (RBIs), and Braden Holcomb hit his 14th home run of the season, setting a new program record for Vanderbilt with their 101st homer. Despite this effort, Missouri rallied with six runs in the eighth inning to take a late lead. As fog settled over the field, visibility became an issue; after review, umpires upheld a ground-rule double that allowed Vanderbilt to tie the game at seven runs each. The Southeastern Conference released a statement saying that “the umpires ruled that the play was a ground-rule double, scoring the runner from second base. After video review, the call on the field was upheld as no video evidence was available to overturn the call due to low visibility.” Play was suspended until Saturday when Missouri secured an 8-7 victory in ten innings.
Game 2 saw Vanderbilt again jump ahead early before Missouri responded with eight unanswered runs by the fourth inning. However, Vanderbilt chipped away at this deficit behind home runs from Tommy Goodin and Logan Johnstone and key hits from Rigdon and Ryker Waite. After another weather delay lasting just over an hour, Alex Kranzler provided relief pitching for Vanderbilt with four-and-two-thirds scoreless innings and seven strikeouts. The Commodores tied it up in regulation before Waite hit a go-ahead home run in extra innings; Johnstone added insurance RBIs for an eventual 11-8 win after eleven frames.
Johnstone finished Game 2 going three-for-five at bat with four RBIs while Waite collected three hits including his crucial home run.
The deciding game between Vanderbilt and Missouri is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
