NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 5 Vanderbilt rallied late to claim the first game of a doubleheader against Arkansas 8-7 in 12 innings and then hammered the Razorbacks 9-1 to finish the Saturday sweep at a rainy Hawkins Field.
In the first game of the day, the Commodores (15-4, 2-0) entered the ninth inning trailing 7-3 but the home team quickly mounted a rally when Arkansas’ (9-7, 0-2) reliever Zach Jackson lost control walking the bases loaded. Bryan Reynolds reached on an error to score the first run before Tyler Campbell’s clutch two-out, two-run double brought the Dores within a run. Reynolds tied the game up the very next batter, crossing the plate on a wild pitch.
Vandy looked to have the game won in the 10th inning when Tyler Spoon caught Zander Wiel’s foul ball down the right field line. Ro Coleman raced home from third but was tagged out at the plate after initially dodging the tag. Coleman, however, scored revenge in the 12th when he worked a one-out walk in front of Rhett Wiseman, who delivered the walk-off win ripping a triple into the right field corner to chase Coleman home for Vanderbilt’s fourth walk-off win of the year.
Ben Bowden picked up the win in relief with three scoreless innings and six strikeouts. Carson Fulmer allowed a career-high five runs on five hits with seven strikeouts over six innings in a no decision.
In the nightcap, Walker Buehler blew the Razorbacks away with six stellar innings for his first win of the season. The right-hander dominated from the first pitch allowing only a solo home run in his third start of the season. Buehler scattered four hits and allowed no other Razorbacks to reach scoring position, not allowing multiple base runners in any of his six frames. John Kilichowski worked three scoreless innings with six strikeouts for his first career save.
The Vandy offense jumped on Arkansas starter Dominic Taccolini in the second inning for two runs on a Jeren Kendall two-run double before busting the game open with a five-run fifth. Wiseman again was in the middle of the action, this time with a RBI-double. Reynolds added his first home run of the season in the sixth as part of a two-run inning to finish the night’s scoring.
Wiseman’s big day started with a two-run homer in the first game as part of a six-hit day that saw him drive in five runs and raise his batting average to a team-best .462. His three hits in the nightcap also pushed his hitting streak to 13 games. Dansby Swanson’s 12-game hitting streak came to an end in the second game despite him reaching base three times. Zander Wiel chipped in four hits on the day, including a double.
Arkansas’ Jacob Stone took the loss in the series opener allowing one run on two hits over the final 2.2 innings. Taccolini was pinned with the second loss after giving up seven runs, three earned, on eight hits over 4.2 innings.
The Commodores wrap up the first SEC series of the season tomorrow at noon. Jordan Sheffield gets the ball against Razorback’s right-hander Trey Killian.
