From earlier games this weekend, Vanderbilt had won game one over the Cardinal, 11-6, and then Stanford won Saturday night with a score of 5-4 over the Commodores, forcing a sudden death game 3 matchup today.
The Commodores started things off with a bang, getting 5 runs in the top of the 1st inning. Second baseman Dansby Swanson started off with a single, stole second base, and advanced to 3rd on a ground out. Shortstop Vince Conde singled up the middle to score Dansby Swanson, then stole second himself. First baseman Zander Wiel doubled to score Vince Conde, and advanced to third base on a single by third baseman Xavier Turner. Right fielder Rhett Wiseman laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Zander Wiel and advance Xavier Turner to second. Xavier Turner scored on a single by Centerfielder John Norwood up the middle, and they weren't done, because John Norwood stole second and scored on a RBI single by Catcher Jason Delay.
Stanford responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the third inning, scoring two runs on a play with an error on Dansby Swanson. Taylor tripled to get the final RBI of the inning, but they couldn't bring home the tying run.
John Norwood started off the top of the 4th with a ground rule double, and then was brought home by a Bryan Reynolds single. Stanford responded in the bottom half, when Second baseman Brett Michael Doran scored an unearned run on a sacrifice fly. The run was unearned because of an error on a pickoff throw by the new pitcher Hayden Stone. But Stone locked in and shut down the Cardinal from there, giving up no more runs and striking out 8 in the final 6 innings. The Commodores added some extra runs to add to their 1 run lead, getting 4 in the top of the 7th and 2 more in the top of the 8th.
This will be the second time that Vanderbilt has made the College World Series, last time being in 2011. Vanderbilt went 2-2 in Omaha that year, beating North Carolina twice and losing to Florida twice. They would love to improve to make it to the Championship series this time around, and it will be largely based upon whether or not they will keep committing errors, and whether or not they keep walking opposing batters. Because that is what has been giving them issues so far at this point in the tournament. Look for the Commodores to make an impact in Omaha.