NASHVILLE — Elijah MacNamee drilled a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to lift Mississippi State to a 10-8 win over Vanderbilt in Game 1 of the NCAA Nashville Super Regional on Friday.
Mississippi State (36-26) took a one-run lead on a two-out single from Jake Mangum in the eighth. The Commodores, who were the designated visiting team, squared things up in the ninth as Pat DeMarco tagged a two-out triple into left and raced home on an errant throw.
Hunter Stovall reached on a one-out single up the middle, setting the stage for MacNamee, who sent an 0-2 pitch into the left field bleachers. The Bulldogs now have a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series, with a trip to the College World Series on the line. Vandy looks to even things up on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Vanderbilt (34-26) overcame a five-run deficit, scoring five times – including three times without a swing of the bat – in the fifth inning. A throwing error, wild pitch and passed pall plated three before Pat DeMarco crushed a two-run homer to knot things up.
The Commodores finished just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and permitted 11 hits in the loss. Zach King (1-4) drew the hard-fought loss, allowing four hits and three runs (two earned) with two strikeouts and no walks in four innings.
Vandy totaled 10 hits including three from DeMarco (3-for-5) who finished a double shy of the cycle and scored two runs. Stephen Scott (1-for-4) drove in one and scored two runs while Austin Martin (2-for-5) doubled and logged his 19th multi-hit performance.
Riley Self (5-0) picked up the win for the Bulldogs, allowing a hit and one run (none earned) in one inning of work. MacNamee (3-for-5) led the way with five RBIs while Stovall (3-for-5) scored three runs and drove in one.
