Vanderbilt baseball falls to Louisville, drops to losers bracket with hapless offensive performance

Vanderbilt baseball fell to Louisville, 3-2, amid a hapless offensive performance and will drop to the losers bracket in the NCAA Nashville Regional.

Like in the opener against Wright State, the Commodores did very little offensively. Vanderbilt's first run scored on a wild pitch and the second scored after a sequence of two errors. The Commodores had just five hits, all of them singles.

Cody Bowker pitched relatively well but took the loss as he gave up all three Louisville runs. Levi Huesman and Connor Fennell held the Cardinals in check through the middle and late innings.

In the bottom of the ninth, Colin Barczi was hit by a pitch and RJ Hamilton came in to pinch-run. But Jonathan Vastine and Jacob Humphrey promptly struck out. Mike Mancini singled to put runners at the corners but Rustan Rigdon grounded into a force out to end the game.

Louisville advances directly to the regional final June 1, while Vanderbilt will face an elimination game against the Raiders Sunday morning. Should the Commodores win that game, they would have to defeat the Cardinals twice to advance.

Cody Bowker pitches well but leaves trailing

Bowker gave up a solo home run to Matt Klein in the first inning. He settled in after that. He allowed one single in the second inning and then hit a batter in the fourth, but that batter was erased by a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.

Zion Rose homered to lead off the fifth inning and Tague Davis doubled then later came around to score on an error.

Bowker was pulled with one out in the sixth inning. He finished with 5⅓ innings pitched, three runs (two earned), no walks and six strikeouts. Levi Huesman replaced Bowker and stranded a runner on second.

Vanderbilt turns to Connor Fennell

Vanderbilt turned to swingman Connor Fennell in the seventh inning while trailing by one. Fennell has started games this season, including throwing a shutout against Ole Miss, but he has also frequently piggy-backed with Bowker. However, the usage of Fennell leaves the Commodores with just one more available starter for the remainder of the regional, Austin Nye.

Vanderbilt's offense struggles

Vanderbilt got little going the first time through the order, including stranding a runner at third with one out in the bottom of the first. The Commodores finally got on the board in the third inning as Mike Mancini walked, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch.

Vanderbilt manufactured another run in the fifth inning when two errors by Louisville allowed a run to score.

In the sixth inning, the Commodores couldn't score despite getting runners on second and third with nobody out.

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

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt baseball falls to losers bracket of NCAA Nashville Regional