NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Presbyterian College baseball team mounted a ninth-inning comeback bid in an attempt to knock off the No. 1/2 Vanderbilt Commodores on Tuesday night at Hawkins Field, but the rally fell short as Vanderbilt held on for a 5-2 win.
PC moves to 23-26 and will host Longwood in the team's final home series of the season this weekend. The series begins at 3 p.m. on Friday and will include Senior Day on Saturday prior to a 2 p.m. first pitch. Vanderbilt improves to 42-6.
Down 5-0 in the ninth inning, Aaron Preston (Goose Creek, S.C.) drew a one-out walk. Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) then reached on the game's first error to move Preston to second and bring up Brandon Paul (Augusta, Ga.). The rightfielder laid down a perfect bunt to third base to load the bases for Robby Swab (Kernersville, S.C.), who smacked a 1-1 pitch to left field for a two-run single.
Unfortunately for the Blue Hose, the PC bats could not bring home any of the two remaining runners as Vanderbilt sealed the close victory.
Swab's two RBI lead the team in that category while Paul picked up two of the team's three hits. Tim Corbin (Murrells Inlet, S.C.) took the loss in his second career start, moving to 2-3 while trying to defeat former Presbyterian College and current Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. The Blue Hose southpaw threw six innings and struck out three batters, both career highs.
Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) made his fourth career start and first-ever at third base. The freshman drew a walk and played an error-free game on defense that included snagging several sharp line drives.
Paul kept Vanderbilt scoreless in the opening inning by gunning down a streaking Tony Kemp at home as the speedy second baseman attempted to score from third on a sacrifice fly.
Vanderbilt struck in the top of the second for its first run. The Commodores used a double to right field and a single to center for the game's first run and an early 1-0 lead.
The home side cashed in again in the third inning, scoring three runs on an RBI groundout from Mike Yazstremski and RBI singles from Connor Harrell and Zander Wiel to take a 4-0 lead.
Spencer Navin knocked a solo home run to left field to lead off the fourth but the Blue Hose kept the damage to the lone run, as Corbin and the PC defense forced Vanderbilt to strand a runner at third.
Corbin pitched two scoreless innings before Chad Sanders (St. Simons Island, Ga.) and Brett Byrum (Rowlett, Texas) each pitched one scoreless inning of relief to set the table for PC's comeback bid.
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Presbyterian College 000 000 002 - 2 3 0 (23-26)
Vanderbilt.......... 013 100 00X - 5 12 1 (42-6)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian College - CORBIN, Tim; SANDERS, Chad(7); BYRUM, Brett(8) and SWAB, Robby. Vanderbilt - TJ Pecoraro; Walker Buehler(4); Jared Miller(6); Adam Ravenelle(7);
Carson Fulmer(8); Brian Miller(9) and Spencer Navin; Chris Harvey.
Win-TJ Pecoraro(3-1) Loss-CORBIN, Tim(2-3) T-1:56 A-2473
HR VU - Spencer Navin (4).
Weather: Low 70s, clouds in the sky
