Jonathan White's been playing for the Commodores for a long time so he knows the meaning of patience.
He needed to demonstrate that at the plate to lift Vanderbilt to the Southeastern Tournament semifinals, working a nine-pitch walk with the bases loaded for the winning RBI to give the Commodores a 5-4 victory over South Carolina Thursday night.
The fifth-year senior had struggled at the plate all season, but hot hitting of late moved him up to the No. 2 spot in the line-up by Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin.
"I'm just happy for him," Corbin said. "He deserves it because he has really worked hard. He hasn't had a lot to show for it until now."
With one out in the ninth and Riley Reynolds on first, Jason Esposito reached on a throwing error. Joe Loftus pinch hit and slapped a 2-2 pitch into left field for a base hit to load the bases on Michael Roth (1-1). After Brian Harris struck out swinging for the second out, White fell behind 0-2. He worked it to a full count and finally took ball four to score Reynolds for the go-ahead run.
"He had a great at-bat at the end of the game," Corbin said. "To get us into the situation where we could work the count to 3-2 was great."
Vanderbilt (33-24) sweated out the ninth inning to win the game, but Chase Reid came in with the bases loaded and one out and got out of the jam. With the tying run at third and needed only a deep fly ball to score, Reid got Nick Ebert to pop out to second and struck out Justin Dalles to seal the dramatic win that virtually sealed the Commodores' hopes of going to the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks (38-20) fell into the loser's bracket and face LSU, who Vanderbilt defeated Thursday.
It also marked the fourth year in a row that the Black and Gold advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. Richie Goodenow (1-1) got the win after recording the final out in the eighth inning.
Sonny Gray made his third career start for Vanderbilt and pitched well, going seven-plus innings and striking out 11, both career highs, while allowing four earned runs.
"He was really good," said Gamecock coach Ray Tanner. "The young man had great stuff, and he is a power pitcher in the mid-90's, and he could get his breaking ball over at times."
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth, the Commodores got a leadoff single from White and a double by Steven Liddle to put runners on second and third with none out. Aaron Westlake grounded out to score White, and Giobbi doubled home Liddle to give the team a 2-1 lead.
Vanderbilt scored two more after South Carolina had tied it when Westlake and Giobbi hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning.
Giobbi finished with a 4-4 performance at the plate and two RBIs, including the leadoff hit in the ninth to help get the winning rally going.
"I didn't change my approach or anything," Giobbi said. "It was just about going after the right pitches and it's been paying off."
The Commodores get a day off now and will know their next opponent by Friday night.
