Vanderbilt couldn't find any last-minute magic, but its magic number to reach the Southeastern Conference tournament still reached one Thursday night.
Tennessee closer Matt Ramsey pitched out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the ninth inning, and Vanderbilt fell 8-6, just its second loss to the Volunteers (24-29, 9-19) in their last 10 meetings. Kentucky lost to Florida 10-3 though, meaning one more Commodore victory or Wildcat loss will secure Vanderbilt a spot.
Jonathan White flew out to the left field wall to end the game with the bases loaded.
Joe Loftus led Vanderbilt with two hits, two runs and an RBI, while also contributing an outfield assist.
Still, the lost opportunity stung for the Commodores (31-22, 12-15).
The inning began promisingly, as Steven Liddle and Curt Casali legged out infield singles, and Aaron Westlake, trying to sacrifice the runners over, bunted perfectly toward second base and reached first to load the bases. Ramsey relieved starter Nick Hernandez and got Andrew Giobbi to fly out to shallow center and struck out Jason Espoito before retiring White to earn his second save.
"We're better than that as a team. If there's a guy on third base with less than two outs, we should be able to do our job, get him in," Westlake said. "We'll have to come out tomorrow with a better approach and I think we'll do that."
Ramsey's fastball topped out in the upper 90's.
"Ramsey's a hard-throwing kid, had a lot of adrenaline going," said Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin. "I thought Johnny White's had enough. Just not enough leg."
Hernandez finished with eight innings pitched, allowed six runs, three earned, while striking out seven and walking five. He earned his fourth win, pitching in and out of trouble all night, much of it caused by errors behind him.
Cody Hawn got things going early for Tennessee early, hitting a two-run home run in the first inning off starter Sonny Gray and adding a solo shot in the third to put the Volunteers up 4-0.
Vanderbilt took advantage of Tennessee errors in the third and fourth innings to rally back. With the bases loaded and none out in the third, Liddle grounded out to score Loftus, and Casali hit a sacrifice fly to score Brian Harris from third. Riley Reynolds scored all the way from second after a throwing error by Kentrail Davis to get the Commodores within one.
It got worse for Tennessee and Hernandez in the fourth. Catcher Blake Forsythe dropped the third strike on Esposito and then threw too high to first base. White sacrificed him to second, and Loftus doubled off the left field wall to score Esposito. Harris then hit a sharp grounder to third that went right under Mike Hornsby's glove to allow Loftus to score.
The Commodores added a run in the fifth to go up 6-4 when White hit a bloop double to score Giobbi.
Loftus also had a highlight on defense, throwing out P.J. Polk at the plate from left field for the third out of the fourth inning after a single by Zach Osborne. That was the last batter Gray faced in his second career start, as the freshman struggled through four innings, allowing eight hits and four runs, while striking out four.
"His stuff was average and they hit it," Corbin said. "They got him out of the game. Credit their hitters."
Grayson Garvin relieved Gray in the fifth and retired the side, but his control hurt him in the sixth, which saw the Volunteers score three runs and bat through the order. A walk, a hit batsman and two singles scored two runs for the Vols, and Cody Grisham greeted Vanderbilt's next pitcher Chase Reid with a hard single up the middle on the first pitch to give Tennessee a 7-6 lead.
Garvin (0-1) took the loss.
"The home runs, they're one thing," Corbin said. "That's hard to swallow, giving (them) three runs."
Reid struck out Hornsby but then walked Davis to bring up Hawn with the bases loaded. Southpaw Richie Goodenow came in and struck him out on three pitches to end the threat.
"That was clutch," Corbin said. "That was a key part of the ballgame because I thought that gave us a chance."
Tennessee added a run off Goodenow in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Polk to score Forsythe. He shut down the Volunteers the final two stanzas though, allowing just one run in 3 and 1/3 innings of work.
The Commodores will be back at it tomorrow at 6 p.m., needing one win to reach the SEC Tournament and improve their NCAA hopes. Vanderbilt hopes to feed off the positive vibe of the ninth inning, even if the comeback didn't come to fruition.
"Come out with that energy at the beginning of the game tomorrow," Westlake said, "and if we do that I think we'll be successful for the rest of the weekend."
