UC Irvine came into this game on a 4 game winning streak, and wanted to keep that alive to give them some rest and a major advantage in the upper half of the bracket at the College World Series. But, Vanderbilt had other plans and were able to ride a strong second half of the game to achieve victory in Omaha.
Vanderbilt started quickly, as they often have in the baseball playoffs. Getting a walk from leadoff man, second baseman Dansby Swanson, and then a single from left fielder Bryan Reynolds. Then their shortstop Vince Conde laid down a bunt, which it is not often seen that a team will send their 3rd batter into the game to bunt. Swanson came home on a single by first baseman Zander Wiel, and Reynolds came home when the next batter, third baseman Xavier Turner, laid down a sacrifice bunt to give the Commodores a quick 2 run advantage.
That advantage was quickly removed by the Anteaters though, when they got 4 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning. They were able to get most of those runs because of inaccuracy by starting pitcher Tyler Beede, who hit designated hitter Chris Munoz with a pitch, and then threw 2 other wild pitches, which either scored runs, or advanced runners who would later score. Third baseman Taylor Sparks had the key hit in the inning, hitting a 2 out, 2 RBI single to bring home the last two runs.
Vanderbilt was clearly not done yet though, and they were able to do some more damage in the top of the 5th inning. It started with Swanson getting a double, then Reynolds was able to get another single. Swanson scored on a groundout by Conde. Zander Wiel got ahold of the baseball better this time around, launching a double to left field to tie the game with Reynolds coming around to score. Then UC Irvine loaded the bases by walking the next batter, and then hitting another one with a pitch. Centerfielder John Norwood popped up to right and Wiel was able to score the winning run on that sacrifice. Right fielder Rhett Wiseman was able to tack on another run in the top of the 7th inning, hitting a double, taking 3rd on a wild pitch, and scoring on a Norwood single to give him another RBI in the game.
The hero of the game hasn't even been mentioned yet for the Commodores. That would be reliever Walker Buehler. Buehler came in and pitched the final 5.1 innings of the game, struck out 7 batters, allowed 0 hits, and only 2 walks. The Anteaters simply didn't have an answer for him after chasing Beede from the game. The Anteaters got all of their hits in the bottom of the second actually, when they scored those 4 runs.
Now the Anteaters have to go into a rematch against the Texas Longhorns, but both teams look to manufacture runs, so that will probably be a low scoring game when they play on Wednesday June 18th. The winner of that game will play a well rested group of Commodores at 3 PM EDT on Friday June 20th.