On Thursday, two-time national champion manager Tim Corbin brought his Vanderbilt Commodores into Taylor Stadium for an SEC battle with the Missouri Tigers to kick off an Easter Weekend series. While Vanderbilt was still yet to lose in SEC play, the Tigers had lost their last six in league play but were still yet to lose at home to an SEC foe.

Despite a furious rally in the 8th, Missouri could not complete the comeback as they fell 7-6 at home.

Logan Lunceford’s second start for Mizzou began strangely as Vandy star and leadoff man Enrique Bradfield Jr. took the first pitch right off the third base bag and into left field. Bradfield’s speed got him into second base.

After a balk and an RJ Schreck sacrifice fly, Bradfield would come across to score as he had done 36 times prior this season. Bradfield would mark the only damage in the top of the first.

The leadoff man for Mizzou, Luke Mann, answered in kind as he took the second pitch in the bottom of the first high over the right field line for a home run, his 39th of the season, to even the score at 1-1. Commodore starter Bryce Cunningham would also escape his first inning with only 1 run on 1 hit.

After six straight strikeouts in the 2nd and 3rd innings, three walks from Lunceford put Catcher Chris Maldonado up to bat. Maldonado would lace one right back up the middle to drive in two runs to put Vanderbilt back in front 3-1. 

Despite having runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out, Lunceford and his defense left the second inning down just two runs after a rundown and a flyout.

Mizzou went into the 5th, having gone three straight innings without a hit. It looked like Cunningham’s dominance would continue into the 5th with a leadoff punch out.

A dribbler from Ty Wilsmeyer down the first baseline brought Mann up to bat. With the hit and run activated, Mann took one deep to left-center field for an RBI double to cut the Vandy lead in half.

After a pickoff error allowed Mann to get to third with only one out, Cunningham would face his final batter of the day as he got a shallow flyout from JuJu Stevens, holding Mann at 3rd. After 4.2 innings, Cunningham’s day would be done.

New pitcher Ryan Ginther wasted no time as he collected a grounder from Dalton Bargo and flipped it to 1st base for the final out of the inning. Mizzou stranded one on 3rd, but cut the lead to 3-2.

It was baptism by fire for Missouri reliever Daniel Wissler in the top of 6th. After First Baseman Hank Zeisler could not scoop a low throw from Shortstop Justin Colon, and a Maldonado single put runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs and chaos ensued.

Once again, Zeisler could not quite scoop a low throw from one of his infielders, which allowed Jack Bulger to cross the plate. Zeisler would redeem his error with a heads-up play as he tagged Vandy’s Parker Noland on the first baseline after Noland had turned inside, which ended the inning.

After his offense stranded runners on 2nd and 3rd in the bottom of the 6th (an all too familiar refrain for this team), things would go from bad to worse for Wissler. 

A Matthew Polk homer increased Vandy’s lead to 5-2. After a JuJu Stevens error and a sacrifice bunt, Wissler found himself with a runner on 3rd and only one out. This prompted Bieser to go to his bullpen for the second time and bring in righthander Brock Lucas.

Lucas looked to have gotten his first batter, but Dylan Leach could not handle the third strike for a passed ball behind the plate allowing Jonathon Vastine to score and Davis Diaz to reach, increasing Vandy’s lead to 6-2.

Vandy would tack on one more in the top of the 8th with an RBI single from Calvin Hewett, making the Vandy lead 7-2. 

Down to their last 6 outs, Missouri needed to get the bats going in a hurry. A leadoff double from Zeisler would set the tone for the inning.

Leach would follow suit with a single to advance Zeisler to 3rd. After a Colon strikeout, Freshman Jackson Lovich stepped up with an RBI single to score Zeisler, cutting the lead to 7-3. 

Wilsmeyer kept the momentum going with a rocket over the left field wall to put the Tigers within one. Seeing his lead dwindle from 5 to 1, Corbin went to his bullpen for the second time to bring in Nick Maldonado.

It would be no easy task for Maldonado as his first at-bat would be against Luke Mann and a suddenly reenergized Mizzou crowd; however, he would step up and retire Mann to get Vandy’s 2nd out and, following a walk, would force Bargo to fly out to left field to end the inning.

With Mizzou needing to keep the deficit to 1, Bieser called for Austin Troesser to try and retire the side in the 9th. Bieser’s faith would be rewarded as Troesser would retire all three batters he faced in the 9th.

Down to their last three outs, the Tigers needed just one run to even the score and force extras.

Mizzou looked to have their leadoff runner aboard, but 3rd baseman Davis Diaz charged down the 3rd baseman and delivered a dart to the glove of Parker Noland to throw out Trevor Austin in the nick of time. Maldonado and Vandy would get their second out as Hank Zeisler would fly out to left field.

With the Tigers down to their last out, Dylan Leach battled at the plate to force a nine pitch at bat. He took the ninth pitch deep to left field. Hewett could not make the play at the warning track, which gave Leach a stand-up double. 

Leach decided to make the turn and head towards third. A frozen rope from Hewett seared into the glove of Davis Diaz, who would apply the game-winning tag to give the Vanderbilt Commodores the 7-6 win and improve their SEC record to 10-0.

Thursday marked yet another disappointing day for Bieser’s club as they fell short in a very close SEC contest. For Vanderbilt, Tim Corbin continues to show why he is among the best managers in the SEC. His team was by fat the more disciplined today, so Vandy could escape with the narrow win.

The series continues Friday with first pitch at 6:00.