LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 11 Vanderbilt fell 5-4 to No. 20 Louisville in the 13th edition of the Battle of the Barrel on Tuesday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Commodores and Cardinals each finished with six hits but Louisville took advantage of three Vanderbilt errors, scoring three unearned runs, and four hit-by-pitches.
Vandy starter Austin Nye went 5.0 innings, allowing two runs while striking out five. Ethan McElvain, Luke Guth and England Bryan each got work out of the bullpen and didn’t allow an earned run over the final three frames.
Vandy’s pitching staff finished with nine strikeouts, coming up just short of its 14th consecutive game with double-digit strikeouts.
Rustan Rigdon scored twice on Tuesday. The freshman worked a leadoff walk in the first and reached third on a one-out double by Riley Nelson. A wild pitch then allowed Rigdon to come home for the game’s first run.
The Cardinals pulled even in the third and then took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
The score would remain 2-1 until the top of the sixth when Brodie Johnston turned on a pitch for a game-tying solo homer, his 10th long ball on the season.
Louisville used a two-out single with the bases loaded to score a pair of runs and go back in front in the home half of the sixth. A third run came home on an infield single as the Cards jumped out to a 5-2 lead. All three runs were unearned.
Vandy fought back in the top of the seventh as Mike Mancini led off the inning with a bunt single. Mancini stole second and Rigdon worked another walk. Mancini and Rigdon executed a double steal and the throw to second got away allowing both runners to advance with Mancini coming home on the play.
With Rigdon on third, Nelson brought him home with a sac fly to right, cutting Louisville’s advantage to a run, but the Cardinals would hang on to deny Vanderbilt a third consecutive win in the rivalry series.
The Commodores head to No. 15 Tennessee next for a three-game series beginning Friday in Knoxville.
