Latest news with #GriffenPaige
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Wright St. upsets No. 1-seed Vanderbilt in NCAA Regional
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WDTN) – Wright State baseball advanced to its first NCAA Regional Final after upsetting overall No. 1-seed Vanderbilt in Sunday's elimination game. The Raiders beat the Commodores 5-4 to end their season. This marks the first time since the inception of the NCAA Regional format that the No. 1 seed did not make the regional final. It's also the first time since 2016 that the nation's top seed did not advance to Super Regionals. Wright State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning after an RBI base hit by Gus Gregory and back-to-back home runs by Boston Smith and Luke Arnold. Smith's home run was his 26th of the season and third of the weekend, increasing his Horizon League single-season home run record that he set in Friday's loss to Vanderbilt. Griffen Paige pitched a dime against the nation's top team, going eight innings, allowing just one hit and two runs with three strikeouts. Paige was relieved in the top of the ninth inning after walking his first batter. Warren Hartzell was brought in to close for Wright State with one out and runners on second and third. Vanderbilt scored three runs in the final frame to pull within a run before Hartzell induced a fly-out to end the game. With the win, the Raiders advanced to their first NCAA Regional Final appearance since 2016. Wright State will face Louisville, which has not lost yet this weekend. The Raiders and Cardinals square off at 9 p.m. Sunday. A Louisville win sends the Raiders home for the season, while a Wright State win forces a second if-necessary regional final on Monday at a time TBD. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
What a weak, embarrassing end to No. 1 Vanderbilt's strong baseball season
What a weak, embarrassing end to No. 1 Vanderbilt's strong baseball season If you happen to see the Vanderbilt baseball team from the past few weeks, the one that won an epic series in Knoxville, swept through the SEC Tournament and earned the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed, please notify someone on campus. People are looking for those Commodores. Most of them weren't at the NCAA Regional at Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tennessee. Most of the Commodores hitters who did show up in their uniforms to lose two games in three days, ending a strong season in the weakest of fashions, were strangers. They didn't just play poorly. They played tight and timid and terrified of the moment. The opposite of this season's famously clutch performances, these Commodores wanted zero smoke. They wilted in the hazy pressure, and it only got worse as that pressure increased. A weekend that started alarming, with a close call in a 4-3 comeback victory over Wright State, turned disappointing with a 3-2 loss to Louisville, dropping Vanderbilt into the losers' bracket. Then it just got embarrassing the next afternoon, with Wright State plating four runs in the first inning and withstanding a late rally to hold on for a 5-4 victory in an elimination game, putting Vanderbilt out of its misery. NCAA BASEBALL BRACKET: National seeds, regional matchups in 2025 tournament And, truly, this was misery for any Vanderbilt fan unfortunate enough to be there to witness it. The top-seeded Commodores played 27 innings, and they trailed in all but one. Their pitching and defense, for the most part, was solid enough. But offensively? Haha. In the opener, the Commodores were no-hit for six innings by a Wright State pitcher, Cam Allen, with an ERA above 5. Against Louisville, they didn't have an extra-base hit or an RBI. Then, in the saddest of them all, Vanderbilt was silenced by another Raiders pitcher, Griffen Paige, who opened the game with an ERA of 8.90. Paige allowed one hit – ONE! – in eight innings. For the regional, Vanderbilt batted .132 and didn't get its first hit of the regional with a runner in scoring position until down to its final out in the final game. Prior to that, Vanderbilt started the regional 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Bad luck. Bad at-bats. Bad swings. Bad everything. Such a thorough humbling for the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, while stunning, would've been even more so if it didn't continue a rough narrative for the home team. SUPER REGIONALS: Which teams have advanced in NCAA baseball tournament This NCAA Tournament is no longer the Commodores' playground. It's now their house of horrors. Since losing in the College World Series' final game in 2021, Vanderbilt has failed to make it out of an opening regional for four consecutive years and counting. Its record in NCAA games the past three years is 2-6 (four losses were at Hawkins Field) and there are losses to Xavier, High Point and Wright State. Last season's 0-for-2 showing in an NCAA regional (including that High Point loss) seemed a turning point for a declining Vanderbilt program that appeared to get its act together in 2025. These Commodores were a good team that had some good moments. Most notably, they regained control of the in-state rivalry against Tennessee, punctuating it with a blowout win over the Vols in the SEC Tournament. The No. 1 seed was a nice, surprise bonus, too. But in college baseball, none of it means much without success at the end of the season. And that is when Vanderbilt's baseball program has picked up a habit of shrinking from the challenge. This was a priceless opportunity to change the narrative by proving otherwise. Instead, with Vanderbilt's regional embarrassment of 2025, that narrative is stronger than ever. And it's impossible to dispute. Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@ and hang out with him on Bluesky @
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wright State hangs on late to win 5-4, knocks No. 1 national seed Vanderbilt out of NCAA regionals
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Griffen Paige gave up one run on one hit across eight innings, Boston Smith and Luke Arnold hit back-to-back homers early, and Wright State held off Vanderbilt in the ninth to knock the No. 1 national seed out of the NCAA Tournament with a 5-4 victory in the Nashville Regional on Sunday. The Commodores (43-18) became the first No. 1 national seed to fail to reach their regional final since the tournament went to its current format in 1999. Advertisement Wright State (39-20), the No. 4 regional seed out of the Horizon League, play Louisville in the final Sunday night. The Raiders would have to beat the Cardinals in that game and again Monday to reach a super regional for the first time. Paige (2-3) walked six, struck out two and allowed Brodie Johnston's second-inning home run during his 113-pitch outing. 'Biggest game I've ever pitched in, and I showed up and went out there trying to get guys out, one out at a time, one pitch at a time. You can't do anything else,' Paige said. He went out to start the ninth but issued a four-pitch walk to start the inning. That's when things got interesting. Max Whitesell walked the bases loaded with one out to bring on Warren Hartzell, who had allowed three homers as Vanderbilt rallied late to beat the Raiders 4-3 in Friday's regional opener. Advertisement Hartzell got a pop-out for the second out before Mike Mancini singled up the middle to cut the lead to 5-3. Rustan Rigdon then sent a ball deep to right center that bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double. Had the ball not left the field, Mancini likely would have scored the tying run on the play. But he was required to go back to third, and RJ Austin then flew out to right to end the game. Austin Nye (2-1) faced only seven batters, with Smith and Arnold taking him deep with two outs in the first for a 4-0 lead. Vanderbilt was the fourth national seed to be eliminated and became the first No. 1 to get bounced out in regionals since UCLA in 2015. ___ AP sports:
Washington Post
4 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Wright State hangs on late to win 5-4, knocks No. 1 national seed Vanderbilt out of NCAA regionals
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Griffen Paige gave up one run on one hit across eight innings, Boston Smith and Luke Arnold hit back-to-back homers early, and Wright State held off Vanderbilt in the ninth to knock the No. 1 national seed out of the NCAA Tournament with a 5-4 victory in the Nashville Regional on Sunday.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Wright State hangs on late to win 5-4, knocks No. 1 national seed Vanderbilt out of NCAA regionals
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Griffen Paige gave up one run on one hit across eight innings, Boston Smith and Luke Arnold hit back-to-back homers early, and Wright State held off Vanderbilt in the ninth to knock the No. 1 national seed out of the NCAA Tournament with a 5-4 victory in the Nashville Regional on Sunday. The Commodores (43-18) became the first No. 1 national seed to fail to reach their regional final since the tournament went to its current format in 1999. Wright State (39-20), the No. 4 regional seed out of the Horizon League, play Louisville in the final Sunday night. The Raiders would have to beat the Cardinals in that game and again Monday to reach a super regional for the first time. Paige (2-3) walked six, struck out two and allowed Brodie Johnston's second-inning home run during his 113-pitch outing. 'Biggest game I've ever pitched in, and I showed up and went out there trying to get guys out, one out at a time, one pitch at a time. You can't do anything else,' Paige said. He went out to start the ninth but issued a four-pitch walk to start the inning. That's when things got interesting. Max Whitesell walked the bases loaded with one out to bring on Warren Hartzell, who had allowed three homers as Vanderbilt rallied late to beat the Raiders 4-3 in Friday's regional opener. Hartzell got a pop-out for the second out before Mike Mancini singled up the middle to cut the lead to 5-3. Rustan Rigdon then sent a ball deep to right center that bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double. Had the ball not left the field, Mancini likely would have scored the tying run on the play. But he was required to go back to third, and RJ Austin then flew out to right to end the game. Austin Nye (2-1) faced only seven batters, with Smith and Arnold taking him deep with two outs in the first for a 4-0 lead. Vanderbilt was the fourth national seed to be eliminated and became the first No. 1 to get bounced out in regionals since UCLA in 2015. ___ AP sports:
