Walk-off homer leads Vandy to 4-3 victory
OMAHA, Neb. – Cal State Fullerton relief pitcher Tyler Peitzmeier looked as if his homecoming would be glorious and victorious. It was ruined with one swing of Jeren Kendall’s bat.
Peitzmeier, who grew up 25 miles west of Omaha in the small town of Yutan and walked on to Fullerton, had retired the first six Vanderbilt batters he faced and went into the bottom of the ninth inning with a two-run lead Monday.
But Bryan Reynolds hit an RBI double, and Kendall followed with a two-run homer to send the Titans to a 4-3 loss in the College World Series.
“It’s the College World Series, man,” Peitzmeier said. “Personally, it didn’t really mean anything – off the field it did. But once I got on the field, none of that made a difference. Yeah, it kind of spiraled out of hand fast at the end, but there were no personal feelings, emotions.”
Vanderbilt (48-19) advanced to a Bracket 2 winners game against TCU on Tuesday night. Before that, Fullerton (39-24) meets LSU in an elimination game.
The Titans, with ace Thomas Eshelman on the mound, were ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning when heavy thunderstorms Sunday night forced the suspension of the game until Monday afternoon.
Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook said he felt good in the bottom of the ninth because his scouting report showed Kendall struggled against left-handed pitching. He had gone a combined 1 for 5 in super regionals against Illinois standout southpaws Kevin Duchene and Tyler Jay, and he struck out in his first at-bat against Peitzmeier in the seventh.
In the ninth, Kendall fouled off a fastball before launching Peitzmeier’s 0-1 slider off the wall in the bullpen.
“We had the guy up we wanted up,” Vanderhook said. “Numbers-wise, everything dictates that guy doesn’t handle left-handers very well. He took a big at-bat in a big moment and did what he was supposed to do.”
Miami 4, Arkansas 3: Jacob Heyward singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to put the finishing touch on a huge game for him, and Miami eliminated Arkansas from the College World Series with a 4-3 victory Monday.
Heyward opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the fifth, scored the go-ahead run in the seventh after Arkansas tied it and delivered again after Willie Abreu doubled off the center-field wall to open the Miami ninth.
Heyward rounded first base and tossed his helmet high in the air as pinch runner Carl Chester scored.
The Hurricanes (50-16) move to a Wednesday game against Virginia or Florida. The Razorbacks (40-25) went two-and-out at the CWS for only the second time in eight appearances.
Bryan Garcia (6-2) earned the win after getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the top of the ninth. Zach Jackson (5-1) took the loss.