TEMPE, Ariz. — Aaron Baker’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Oklahoma to a 11-10 win over Vanderbilt in an elimination game Sunday afternoon at Packard Stadium.
The Commodores (41-22) season ended with the loss while the Sooners (36-25-1) staved off elimination and will take on No. 1 seed Arizona State Sunday night.
“All I can say is the season is over,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.
Vanderbilt rallied from a 9-8 deficit with two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 10-9 lead.
Russell Brewer (4-3) got Mike Gosse to ground out to short for the first out in the ninth. Casey Johnson then walked on five pitches and Brewer had Aaron Baker down to his last strike before he belted a homer to right-center to win the game.
“I really wanted to win for the seniors and feel bad for them,” said first baseman Andrew Giobbi who led the Commodores with three hits on the day and nine in the tourney. “Our season was one of peaks and valleys and unfortunately we came up short.”
The Sooners took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first courtesy of Casey Johnson’s RBI double.
The Commodores stormed back for six runs in the third to take the lead. Andrew Giobbi led off with a triple to left and then scored on Shea Robin’s infield single to short. Jonathan White singled to right and advanced to second when the rightfielder threw to third to get Robin out. David Macias grounded to second to score Robin to give VU the lead. Pedro Alvarez doubled to right-center to score White and Dominic de la Osa tripled to right-center to make it 4-1. Alex Feinberg walked and Steven Liddle followed with a RBI single as the Commodores batted around. Giobbi had his second hit of the inning, a RBI single to left, to make it 6-1.
OU rallied back with a four-run fifth to cut the lead to 6-5. Matt Harughty’s RBI grounder plated the first run with Jamie Johnson adding a RBI single. Casey Johnson completed the rally with a two-run double to centerfield.
The bottom half of the order continued to deliver in the sixth as the No. 7 hitter Giobbi singled to lead off the inning and scored on Robin’s RBI triple into the gap in right-center. No. 9 hitter Jonathan White then singled up the middle on the first pitch from reliever Michael Rocha to score Robin to make it 8-5.
The Commodores 7-8-9 hitters had eight of the team’s 11 hits through six innings of action.
The Sooners plated four runs in the seventh to take a 9-8 lead. Mark Lamm hit Matt Harughty and Jamie Johnson singled to start the inning. Aljay Davis hit a RBI single for the first run and Aaron Baker added a RBI single for the second run. Richie Goodenow looked to get out of the inning with the lead intact, but Jarod Freeman’s routine ground ball to second baseman Alex Feinberg took a wild hop over his head to plate the go ahead run.
Pedro Alvarez singled to lead off the ninth and then moved to third on Ryan Flaherty’s single to right-center. Dominic de la Osa’s fielder’s choice RBI tied the game at 9-9. He would steal second and score on Alex Feinberg’s RBI single up the middle to give the Dores a 10-9 lead.
The loss ended the careers of eight seniors including starters David Macias, Dominic de la Osa, Alex Feinberg, Shea Robin and Jonathan White.
The Commodores will head back to Nashville Monday morning.
Vanderbilt 006 002 002 -10 15 0
Oklahoma 100 040 402 -11 12 0
Christiani, Lamm (6), Goodenow (7), Brewer (9) and Robin. Anderson, Mottern (3), Rocha (6) and Wise. W-Rocha 4-3, L- Brewer 4-3. Sv-None HR: Baker (9).
