Nashville, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech held off a ninth inning rally to down No. 2 Vanderbilt 10-9 Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores (33-5) trailed all night after falling in a 6-0 hole early in the game but the home team had one more rally for the ninth inning. Down 10-8 in the bottom of the ninth, Xavier Turner worked a one out walk and Conrad Gregor walked to put runners on first and second for Connor Harrell. The senior delivered with a single up the middle to score Turner from second and trim the Golden Eagles’ (27-10) lead to one run. The tying run was pushed to third base when Mike Yastrzemski was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Vince Conde. But Tennessee Tech closer Seth Lucio finished the job, getting Conde to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game and snap the Dores’ 14-game winning streak.
The Vanderbilt offense pulled the team back into the game in the third inning when freshman Rhett Wiseman lifted a solo home run into the right field bleachers. Conrad Gregor capped a three-run third with a run-scoring single. Wiseman played long ball again in the fourth inning with a two-run shot off the scoreboard in left field to close the gap to one run. The Golden Eagles, however, would not be denied adding two runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth. Tennessee Tech scored eight runs with two outs in the victory.
Wiseman led the way for the Dores with three hits and his first two home run game of his career. Harrell added a mammoth solo home run over the light tower in left field for his team-best eighth homer of the year. Tony Kemp extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the third and Xavier Turner pushed his hitting streak to 10 games with a RBI-single in the seventh. Dylan Bosheers and Michael Morris each had three hits to lead the Golden Eagles.
David Hess (4-2) picked up the win in relief for Tennessee Tech pitching the team out of a jam in the seventh inning. VU starter Tyler Ferguson (3-1) took the loss allowing three runs on five hits over 1.1 innings. Both teams used six pitchers in the game.
The Commodores return to action Friday night at Georgia with first pitch set for 6 p.m. CT. The Commodores and Bulldogs play Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on CSS and wrap up the series at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday.
