A Louisville pitcher dominated early against Vanderbilt, striking out 10 and riding a strong outing into the late innings. He gave up one run, but an error and shaky defense let Vanderbilt tie it in the seventh. Louisville responded with aggressive baserunning and retook the lead on a misplayed infield hit. Fired up, the pitcher came back out in the eighth with some attitude, struck out the last batter, and let the Vanderbilt bench hear it.
That energy backfired quickly in the ninth. He walked a batter, Vanderbilt got back on the board, and suddenly it was tied. As the game heated up, the Vanderbilt bench chirped back, the umpire tried to manage the chaos, and emotions boiled over. Louisville’s coach pulled the starter, but the reliever didn’t fare much better. Two weakly hit balls found gaps, and Vanderbilt took the lead, piling on four total runs.
Louisville had a chance in the bottom of the ninth with a man on second, but couldn’t cash in. Vanderbilt closed the door with a strong defensive play. The early dominance, swagger, and celebration came back to haunt Louisville, who couldn’t hold the lead and walked off the field stunned.