Vanderbilt baseball beat Western Kentucky, 5-4, on Tuesday night on a walk-off single by RJ Austin shortly after Mike Mancini was robbed of a walk-off home run.
With the score knotted at four in the top of the 10th inning, Mancini led off the inning with a deep drive to right-center field, but the potential home run was robbed by Hilltoppers center fielder Ryan Wideman.
RYAN WIDEMAN OH MY GOODNESS 🤯@RyanWideman03 robs a walk-off homer with a #SCTop10 catch and we play on!
— WKU Baseball (@WKU_Baseball) April 2, 2025
📺 https://t.co/Yztn9AWxfQ (SECN+/ESPN+) pic.twitter.com/3Y6qnzUYmc
After that, Jacob Humphrey reached on a two-base error by the third baseman and Mac Rose singled to put runners on the corners. Pinch-runner David Mendez stole second, then Austin hit a grounder on a 3-1 cutter that the second baseman couldn't field cleanly to bring in the winning run.
RJ WALKS IT OFF!!! pic.twitter.com/Dgyxzf8Dj8
— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) April 2, 2025
"Guy was a cutter-heavy, I was sitting cutter," Austin said. "He didn't throw anything good. 3-0, he threw a fastball down the middle. But I wanted to be smart. Then 3-1 I got that cutter to the backside with it, got a run in."
Western Kentucky scored the game's first run in the first inning after an error and a double. But starter Austin Nye and reliever Brennan Seiber held the Hilltoppers scoreless until the eighth inning, when three straight one-out singles, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly tied the game.
Alex Kranzler took the mound for the ninth and got out of a jam with a runner on third and one out. He pitched a 1-2-3 10th inning to set up the walk-off in the bottom of the inning.
"Just win the damn game, find a way," Tim Corbin said. "Just find a way to get to first base. And we did eventually. And you know Mancini, I mean, that was, that was a charge that he put into that. ... I thought that was a good bad by (Rose) and then (Austin) just put the ball in play."
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter,
