Taylor Hill saw his first action today since regional play, and he held it down for the Commodores for 7 innings as the team eliminated North Carolina from the College World Series. Vandy dominated the Tar Heels’ pitching early with 5 runs in the first 3 innings on their way to a 5-1 win.
Tony Kemp got the bats started with a triple to lead off the game, and he went on to score the only run in the first inning off the Anthony Gomez sacrifice fly. Connor Harrell then went on to blast his second homer of the CWS in the following inning, which stretched the Vandy lead to 4-0. And Curt Casali added to the early lead with a home run of his own in the third inning, which went on to be the final score for the Commodores.
Taylor Hill gets the win with 4 strikeouts and only 1 run allowed. My personal favorite moment of the game was when he celebrated after working himself out of a tough 2 on base, no outs situation in the top of the fifth.
Vandy will now go onto play Florida for the sixth time this season in their next game. And since the first half of the CWS is double-elimination, the Commodores will need to defeat the Gators twice to advance to the championship series. Hopefully the guys can build off that same intensity they had in today’s game and get themselves a win.
Sadly, this will be the last game I will be able to report for the remainder of the season. I am going on vacation and will not have access to a computer, but you can bet I will be doing my best to keep up with the team. I will write up a summary of whatever happens when I get back.