HOOVER, Ala. – No. 19 Vanderbilt was eliminated from the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday with a 7-2 loss to No. 10 Ole Miss at The Hoover Met.
For the third time in three games the Commodores (41-18) scored first, scratching out a run in the first inning. The Dores worked a little two-out magic to get the run thanks to Bryan Reynolds beating out an infield single. Zander Wiel followed with a walk and Vince Conde singled up the middle for a 1-0 Vandy lead after one. Conde’s single, however, was the only hit the Dores’ collected with runners in scoring position as the Commodores went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the loss.
Ole Miss (41-17) tied the game in the second inning but the game turned in the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth. Both the Commodores and Rebels had runners reach third base on failed pick off attempts. For the Dores, Dansby Swanson worked a one-out walk and raced around to third when Ole Miss starter Jeremy Massie’s throw to first sailed wide. The Rebels brought in Aaron Greenwood, who battled back from a 3-0 count to strikeout Xavier Turner and got Reynolds to ground out to third to end the threat. The Rebels, however, cashed in on the opportunity when Austin Anderson drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on Tyler Beede’s wild throw to first. Sikes Orvis hit a deep fly ball to center field to score the run on a sacrifice fly.
The Rebels blew the game open in the seventh when Beede lost control to open the frame. The right-hander hit the first two batters of the inning to end his day. Brian Miller entered and gave up a pair of singles to push the Ole Miss lead to 6-1.
Beede took the loss allowing four runs, three earned, on three hits and five walks over six-plus innings. The right-hander battled command late in his outing, walking four over his final three innings. The Vanderbilt bullpen struggled in the loss with Miller, Ben Bowden and Adam Ravenelle combining to allow three runs on four hits with three walks and no strikeouts over the last three innings. Greenwood picked up the win giving up one run in his 2.2 innings of relief.
Reynolds and Rhett Wiseman paced the Commodores with two hits each. Anderson and Auston Bousfield had two hits apiece and combined for three RBI for Ole Miss.
The elimination from the SEC Tournament is the earliest for Vanderbilt since 2010 when the Commodores also went 1-2.
The NCAA will announce the 16 Regional hosts on Sunday and the entire 64-team field on Monday on ESPNU.
Postgame Quotes
Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin
On Jeremy Massie’s performance:
“He changed rhythms pretty well. The lefthander stayed off the plate and moved onto the other half of the plate. We weren’t able to really capitalize or tag-team some at bats together. He did a nice job. I have to give him some credit.
On missing strikes:
“It’s like not shooting the ball well from the foul line, you talk about it a lot, but the kids have to answer. You know it’s on their mind. It’s one of those things where you just try to execute as best you can, but you can’t take a hammer and just keep beating them on the heads about it. They’re good kids, and they know what they’re supposed to do.”
Tyler Beede, P
“Certainly too many free bases, too many walks, not striking guys out certainly cost us in the innings that they scored – in the third, sixth, and seventh. I certainly didn’t command myself well with getting those guys out and putting us in a position to win.”
“There were cases where I was just too erratic. My misses were just spraying everywhere so when I was throwing pitches they were border-line strikes. I just didn’t earn them.”
Ole Miss Assistant Coach Cliff Godwin
“Obviously anytime you win this time of year, it’s awesome. Vanderbilt is a quality club. We faced one of the best pitchers in the country today. Jeremy Massie pitched awesome, especially finding out he was going to pitch late last night. We had some quality at bats. We executed with runners at third base, less than two outs today, unlike yesterday. I think that was the difference in the game.”
Austin Anderson, 3B
“We executed a lot better today. Yesterday we had some opportunities, kind of shot ourselves in the foot. Today we executed. We were aggressive. We made (Tyler Beede) work. As you could see that in the game, he started falling behind and giving us free bases.”
Jeremy Massie, P
“What went through my mind was to just go out there and make pitches. First inning, I kind of struggled a little bit. Coach Bianco talked to me about getting the ball down. Once I started getting the ball down, we started getting ground balls. Austin (Anderson) made great plays.”
