Vanderbilt’s RO Coleman races down the line. Photo by David Cohen (BHEphotos)
OMAHA, Neb. – A two-run homer by Rhett Wiseman and a pair of RBI singles by Bryan Reynolds lifted Vanderbilt past TCU 7-1 and into the CWS Finals for the second straight year.
Vanderbilt (50-19) becomes the first defending champion to reach the Finals since South Carolina in 2012. The Commodores will meet the winner of Virginia-Florida on Monday at 7 p.m. in the first game of a best-of-three series.
The Vanderbilt offense steadily battered away at TCU’s pitching, scoring runs in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings before going quiet in the final two. The Horned Frogs were never able to mount any rallies of their own, thanks to strong pitching performances from Walker Buehler and John Kilichowski.
Buehler (5-2) earned the win after allowing one run on four hits through 6.2 innings and striking out eight. He retired the first 10 batters in the game. Kilichowski held TCU to one hit in the final 2.1 innings.
Tyler Alexander (6-3) took the loss for TCU. He gave up seven hits for three runs in just 2.1 innings to start the game.
Vandy struck right away in the first. Ro Coleman walked to lead off the game, and Reynolds drove him in with a single through to left field.
The Commodores added two more and nearly got a fourth in the third inning. Four straight singles, including another RBI single by Reynolds, made it 2-0. Jeren Kendall had the fifth hit of the inning to drive in another run. Jason Delay then hit a fly ball to center field, which Zander Wiel attempted to score on, but on appeal he was called out for leaving early.
Wiseman’s home run made it 5-0 in the fourth. He sailed a 1-0 ball the over the right field dugout to score two for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt added two more in the fifth. Reynolds had his third hit of the game, a triple into deep left center. Will Toffey hit him home with a single up the right field line. Kendall reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and came around to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Delay hit him home with a sacrifice fly to center.
Reynolds led the Commodores, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Wiseman scored two runs and drove in two. TCU avoided the shutout with a run in the seventh. Connor Wanhanen walked, and Derek Odell hit him home with a sac fly to left. Dane Steinhagen and Keaton Jones had both singled, but Kilichowski snagged a line drive to get out of the jam.
No. 7 seed TCU ends its season at 51-15.
