UPDATE: Jeff Lockridge's piece in today's Tennessean about last night's game
The Commodores needed 2 bottom half of their last inning rallies before beating #8 Louisville 11-10 in the 17th inning. Jason Esposito's 2 out blast to left field ended the log-jam, and approximately 5 hour and 37 minute game. Vanderbilt was down 2 runs in the 9th, and the 14th, but were able to even it up both times. Even better than the win, the Commodores' "flood relief" game raised over $20,000 to help the American Red Cross' recovery effort in Middle Tennessee.
With the team's trip to Starkville this weekend, the Commodores have a chance to really help themselves headed into their final series at home against SEC west leading Arkansas and the SEC Tournament in Hoover. Mississippi State (5-19 in conference play) is a team Vanderbilt needs to take advantage of. After tonight's theatrics, Commodore fans have to like what they've got in Tim Corbin's squad.
Going back to tonight's victory for just a minute, don't be surprised if these two teams don't see each other again come tournament time (especially in light of how the game ended). This is a very big win for Vanderbilt, and will certainly help when the selection committee is seeding the Commodores. An added story, Louisville was apparently unhappy with the celebration, and refused to shake the Commodores hands. While I was only able to make it through 12 inning at Hawkins and didn't see the celebration, whatever "exception" the Cardinals might have taken is pretty bush league. As Joe Fisher said, "That's OK, they can get on the bus." From our friend's at Anchor of Gold's Twitter feed: "Classy move by the UofL coach to prevent his team from shaking hands after losing in a charity game. Enjoy the ride home, we'll enjoy the W." I-65 North is lovely this time of night anyway.
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3 comments:
Great win!! Clutch plays!
I-65 sucks at night.
So does american idol.
Andy Katz snubs Vandy in pre-season top 25. In fact, we're not even 10 "on the cusp".
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=5179956
There was nothing "bush league" about not shaking hands... notice where Esposito's bat was during the video of the celebration. Espo threw his bat out toward the mound in his celebration. It nearly hit the pitcher. Their players were visibly upset about this as Espo rounded the bases, and the Louisville coach made a quick decision to not shake hands. You can see in the video that he immediately runs out to Corbin to explain himself. The coaches all shook hands. There was nothing unclassy about this move.
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