Vanderbilt Commodores

Grand Slam Home Run Dooms Vanderbilt In Series Finale Against Auburn

Auburn's eighth-inning grand slam put the Tigers ahead of the Commodores and proved to be all the Tigers needed to pull off the win.

Taylor Hodges

Vanderbilt pitcher Cody Bowker handed off a three-run lead to its bullpen Sunday, but the Commodores ended up losing 7-6 to Auburn on Sunday.
Vanderbilt pitcher Cody Bowker handed off a three-run lead to its bullpen Sunday, but the Commodores ended up losing 7-6 to Auburn on Sunday. / Vanderbilt Athletic

A baseball coach must make a million different decisions during a game, but the coach doesn’t know which decision is most important until there’s nothing they can do.

For No. 16 Vanderbilt, that moment came in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game against No. 25 Auburn.

Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin made five pitching changes in the inning that began with the Commodores leading 6-3 and ended with the Tigers leading 7-6.

The Commodores’ starting pitcher Cody Bowker was relieved before the eighth inning after allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts. Matthew Shorey was his immediate relief and faced two batters, recording one out and allowing a hit. Brennan Seiber came in next and threw just one pitch, that hit a batter, before he was replaced by England Bryan.

Bryan struck out one batter and gave up one hit on six total pitches. Bryan would be replaced by Miller Green and that decision would go on to be the decisive moment of Sunday’s series finale.

Green faced an uphill battle with the bases being loaded and the Tigers one swing away from taking the lead. But with two outs, Green found himself one strike away from ending the inning. Instead, Auburn’s Cade Belyeu smashed a grand slam home run to right field that put Auburn ahead 7-6. Green would be relieved by Connor Fennell, who ended the inning with a pop-fly to second base.

In the top half of the final inning, three of Vanderbilt’s best hitters (RJ Austin, Brodie Johnston and Riley Nelson) struck out, giving Auburn a 7-6 victory and a SEC series win.

Vanderbilt will return to action Tuesday at home against Belmont (6 p.m., SECN+) before returning to SEC play with a weekend series at home against No. 19 Texas A&M.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Taylor Hodges is a staff writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI covering all-things Vanderbilt. Taylor brings more than a decade’s worth of award-winning sports writing, photography and video experience covering every level of sports — from Little League baseball to professional sports and other sports like hunting and fishing. Taylor is fueled by his lifelong passion for sports that began the same day Kirk Gibson hit his legendary World Series walk-off home run, Arkansas beat Texas in Austin and No. 4 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Miami in the Catholics vs. Convicts game.

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