Vanderbilt baseball's late-inning heroics lead to series win over Florida

Vanderbilt needed every ounce of late-inning heroics it could get and then some in its weekend series against Florida. Both teams came into the weekend reeling, having sputtered in SEC play with young squads.

The Commodores played from behind all three games, but came back to take the first two, walking off Friday's game, 5-4, in the ninth inning and taking Saturday's contest, 6-4. On Sunday, Vanderbilt came back to tie the score in the ninth after being down to its last strike two separate times, but the Commodores dropped the finale after giving up a home run in the 10th, 4-3.

Still, it was a much needed series win for the Commodores (25-10, 7-8 SEC), who now have a chance to turn their season around with series against Kentucky and Texas A&M up next.

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Jack Bulger emerges

Bulger, who was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in 2021, struggled in the early season. He wasn't hitting for average or power. But he began to emerge in the Auburn series April 8-10 and continued that in against the Gators, becoming the hero in both the Friday and Sunday games. On Friday, he hit the game-winning walk-off single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, and on Sunday, he blasted a game-tying home run on an 0-2 count in the ninth. In the series, he was 4-for-10 with four walks and did not strike out.

If Bulger can continue his hot streak, he could give Vanderbilt another dangerous option in the lineup behind Spencer Jones and Dominic Keegan. Jones and Keegan, two of the top hitters in the SEC, were stellar against Florida, but too often the team has relied on them. This weekend, Bulger gave Florida another tough out.

Patrick Reilly, Thomas Schultz and Bryce Cunningham step up

Vanderbilt's starting rotation has struggled throughout SEC play, and that continued against the Gators, as both Carter Holton and Chris McElvain lasted just four innings and gave up four runs in their starts. But the Commodores were able to win the series thanks to big outings from several relievers.

Sophomore Patrick Reilly, who got Sunday starts the past two weeks, came out of the bullpen on Friday and pitched 3⅓ innings of scoreless relief, walking three and striking out five. Vanderbilt trailed by two when Reilly came in the game, but his outing allowed the Commodores to make a comeback. By the time he exited, the score was tied.

"He changed the momentum," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said Friday. " ... Initially they did nail down that inning and and get us back in the dugout quick, and then the offense responded with two runs. ... It opened the door again for us, and that's really what we needed."

Reilly has pitched in relief with Vanderbilt trailing four times this year. All four times, he allowed one run or fewer, and the Commodores came back to win the game in three of them.

Junior Thomas Schultz also came up big on both Friday and Saturday, pitching on back-to-back days for the first time this season. Schultz tossed 1⅔ scoreless innings on Friday and two scoreless innings on Saturday, locking down Florida as Vanderbilt made its comebacks.

On Sunday, Corbin gave the start to freshman Bryce Cunningham. Cunningham had started a game as an "opener" and pitched in long relief this season, but never had gone more than 3⅔ innings or thrown more than 55 pitches. But Corbin opted to leave Cunningham in the game through six innings and 87 pitches, during which he allowed three runs (two earned) and struck out three. Cunningham looked sharper as the game went on, getting several swings and misses in his third time through the order as his velocity ticked up into the mid-90s.

"Obviously, just helps us," Corbin said. "We need to find three quality, four quality starters, and we got to get better in that area. ... So he gives us a chance to do that. He's got to get better too."

Vanderbilt hasn't had anyone step up in the Sunday role this season. If Cunningham can prove a viable option, it could go a long way to solving some of the Commodores' pitching woes.

Roller-coaster offense

In nine consecutive SEC games, Vanderbilt's opponent has scored first. That's partly on the pitching staff and partly on the offense, which has had trouble getting anything going early. But the bats got going later in the game on Friday and Saturday. Keegan, Bulger and second baseman Tate Kolwyck had multi-hit games on Friday, and Keegan, Jones, Kolwyck and Enrique Bradfield did Saturday. On Sunday, though, Vanderbilt had just five hits, two of which were homers (one from Bulger and one from first baseman Parker Noland).

Still, the offense showed more fight in its comebacks than it had the past three weekends.

"It just shows us where we're at as a team," Bradfield said Saturday. "We've been in spots where we easily could have folded in this game and we've folded in the weekends past and just making sure we don't give up, we don't give in, because we're a good team and we're just gonna keep getting better every day."

Getting healthier

Two key players came back from injuries in the past week; Kolwyck returned in Tuesday's midweek game against Western Kentucky after missing five games with soreness, and right-hander Nick Maldonado returned against the Gators after missing six weeks with an oblique injury.

Maldonado pitched one inning in Saturday's game and gave up the game-tying home run, one of three on the day for Florida catcher BT Riopelle. But Maldonado's return gives the Commodores even more bullpen depth as he eases back into a bigger role.

Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt baseball wins series over Florida with late-inning heroics