Tennessee and Vanderbilt provided an emotionally charged rubber match Sunday that required five hours and 28 minutes to complete inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
It was what the Commodores did right before and immediately after the two-hour weather delay that proved to be the difference in their 7-5 victory.
Moments before the stoppage that was caused by lightning and then heavy rain, Vanderbilt took a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning on Riley Holcomb’s two-out triple to right field and Colin Barczi’s home run to right in the ensuing at-bat. Both of those hits came on 0-2 pitches by Tanner Franklin, with Holcomb’s drive to the wall going in and out of Chris Newstrom’s glove.
After the delay, Jonathan Vastine homered to left to give the Commodores their biggest lead at 6-3 as they went on to earn their first series win over Tennessee since 2021.
“I told our guys that I thought they grew 10 years today,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin told reporters on the field afterward. “Win or lose, that game was going to do something for them later on. I don’t know if we’ve responded like that in quite some time.
“This was a different personality from us today that I was interested in seeing.”
The No. 10 Commodores improved to 36-16 overall and to 16-11 in Southeastern Conference play heading into the final weekend of the regular season. The No. 12 Volunteers fell to 39-13 and 15-12 after enduring a fourth consecutive series defeat.
(READ MORE: Vols suffer first home loss to Vanderbilt since 2021)
Andrew Fischer’s two-run homer to right later in the sixth pulled Tennessee within 6-5, and Vols relief pitcher Nate Snead kept things tight down the stretch by retiring six straight Commodores until Mike Mancini’s two-out homer to left in the ninth made it 7-5. The Vols loaded the bases off of Vanderbilt reliever Ethan McElvain with Hunter Ensley’s leadoff single to right-center, Dean Curley’s one-out single to left and Levi Clark’s two-out walk, but McElvain ended the game by striking out Cannon Peebles on three pitches.
Vanderbilt players raced to the mound to celebrate with McElvain and then had to be separated from Ensley, who was walking back from third, and a slew of Tennessee players who had bolted out of their dugout.
“Their guys are looking into our dugout as they high-five, but it was a fiery day all along, so are you going to blame them?” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference. “That was a super regional type of game. They made more plays than we did, and I don’t fault them for celebrating that victory.”
Said McElvain: “They want to beat us, and we want to beat them. Things get hostile, as you can see. We have some fun with it.”
(READ MORE: Doyle, Ensley shine as Vols take series opener against Vandy)
Vanderbilt’s Barczi and Tennessee’s Fischer each homered twice, with Fischer increasing his SEC-leading total to 20.
RJ Austin gave the Commodores a 1-0 lead in the first when he singled up the middle, took second on a failed pickoff attempt by Vols starter Tegan Kuhns, stole third, and came home when the throw up the line from Peebles sailed past Dalton Bargo at third and into left field.
The Vols tied the game in their half of the first on Fischer’s homer to right, with Fischer jawing at Vanderbilt players as he rounded the bases. The umpires warned both teams at that point, and Barczi’s homer to right in the second inning to make it 2-1 was devoid of any verbal conflict.
Tennessee pulled even again later in the second when Curley reached on a fielding error, took third on a Clark double into the left-field corner, then scored on a Peebles sacrifice to center.
The teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning to make it 3-3, with Mancini drawing a walk, stealing second and scoring on a Rustan Rigdon single to left for the Commodores. The Vols used three straight one-out singles by Ensley, Bargo and Curley off of Vanderbilt junior relief pitcher Levi Huesman, the son of former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman.
“We’ve got a group of guys who obviously have a little fight to them,” Vitello said. “I’m responsible for the guys playing and feeling confident, and that ultimately is a choice. You’ve got some guys whose wheels have been spinning.
“Trust me, everybody is trying about everything you can think of.”
Tennessee hosts Belmont (24-28) at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Lady Vols to host
Tennessee was awarded the No. 7 overall seed in the 64-team NCAA softball tournament Sunday night and will begin play Friday in the four-team Knoxville Regional, which has a double-elimination format.
The regional’s top-seeded Lady Vols (40-15) will face fourth-seeded Miami of Ohio (35-24) at 1:30 p.m., with that game televised by the SEC Network. Friday’s second contest will be between second-seeded North Carolina (40-15) and third-seeded Ohio State (43-12-1), with ESPNU scheduled to show that matchup at 4.
Texas A&M (45-9) is the NCAA tourney’s No. 1 overall seed, followed by Oklahoma (45-7), Florida (43-14), Arkansas (40-12), Florida State (46-9) and Texas (46-10). South Carolina (40-15) is the No. 8 seed, giving the SEC seven of the top eight seeds. The top eight seeds will each host a super regional provided they advance to next week.
This is the 20th consecutive NCAA tournament with a Knoxville Regional.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.