A wild game at Hawkins Field against went the way of Tennessee Friday night, as the Volunteers won the series with a 7-6, extra-inning victory over Vanderbilt.
The Commodores lost despite may golden chances to score, including one to win it in the bottom of the ninth, and remain one win or one Kentucky loss away from clinching a spot in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
"It was there for the taking," said Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin.
Blake Forsythe hit a chopper over third base off reliever Nick Christiani to drive home Kentrail Davis for the winning run in the top of the 10th. Richie Goodenow took the loss as Davis had singled off him earlier in the inning.
Baserunning blunders and wasted opportunities hurt the Commodores all night.
Vanderbilt had come back from a three-run deficit and was two outs away from a victory in the top of ninth before blowing the lead. In their half, the Commodores (31-23, 12-16) loaded the bases with one out, but Aaron Westlake and Joe Loftus struck out to end the threat.
"That'll be the story of the game," Corbin said. "Not being able to put the ball in play with people at third base, not being able to close out the game."
Jonathan White flew out to end the game with the bases loaded against Tennessee (25-29, 10-19) Thursday night but made the most of the opportunity on Friday to momentarily give Vandy the lead.
Trailing by one in the eighth and with the bases loaded, White drove in two runs with a single to center to give the Commodores a 6-5 advantage, their first of the night, capping a four-run rally.
"That's why you'd want to finish it off," Corbin said. "You'd want a kid like that who's spent five years in our program to have a celebratory moment. It's a shame because it was a big, big hit."
Tennessee bounced back in the top of the ninth against closer Russell Brewer. Charley Thurber doubled and was driven in on a base hit by Zach Osborne to knot things up at 6.
Forsythe's towering two-run home run off Vanderbilt starter Mike Minor in the eighth gave Tennessee a 5-2 lead. Forsythe's shot bounded off the top of the lights in the left field bleachers for his 15th round-tripper of the year.
Minor finished with 7 2/3 innings pitched, allowing five runs on 10 hits while striking out seven and walking two.
Thurber and Osborne were a thorn in Vanderbilt's side all night. In addition to the tying hit in the ninth, Osborne drove in Thurber in the third and fifth innings.
The Commodores came back in their half of the fourth and fifth from one-run deficits. Steven Liddle led off the fourth with a single and Curt Casali walked. Westlake hit a sharp grounder to short that was mishandled, and Liddle rounded third, stopped in his tracks, and couldn't make it back before being tagged, a crucial first out.
"The early opportunities, we didn't execute, which led to us losing the ball game," Liddle said.
Casali advanced to third on the play though, and Andrew Giobbi drove him in with a sacrifice fly to even the score at 1-1.
Vanderbilt struck back in the bottom of the fifth when trailing 2-1, when Brian Harris smashed a double off the left field wall to score White, who had singled and was sacrificed over by Jason Esposito.
Sure enough, the Volunteers took back the lead in the top of the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out and Davis scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Hamaker to make it 3-2.
Other than the lead that didn't last more than half an inning, the Commodores trailed or tied the Volunteers the entire way.
"We're not swinging at good pitches and not putting the ball in play," Liddle said. "We've got to come out and get on top early and try and get that momentum in our direction right off the bat."
