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College  | Story  | 5/26/2016

Upsets rule as LSU wins wild one

Matt Czechanski      Chris King      Patrick Ebert      Blake Dowson     
Photo: LSU Athletics




Perfect Game Top 25 | Conference Championships Hub | Field of 64 (May 18) | Video Vault
Conference Championship Recaps: Day 1 - Tuesday


SEC Tournament

No. 9 Vanderbilt 6, No. 2 Texas A&M 5

The Commodores eventually won a back-and-forth game that resulted in a 6-5 win to push them into the winners’ bracket. It was the power of a pair of freshman, Julian Infante and Walker Grisanti who each delivered a solo home run to give Vandy the lead.

Texas A&M sent out senior righthander Andrew Vinson who worked with a drop-and-drive delivery and a longer arm action with a slight stab. He worked well with his lower half getting a good hip load and finishing well towards the plate. He threw from a high three-quarters arm slot and filled up the zone with strikes and was only handed one earned run thanks to a defensive mistake.

Vinson’s fastball worked 89-91 mph with slight life and did really well to get to both sides of the plate. He mixed his fastball with an 11-to-5 shaped curveball that breaks up out of the hand, but still shows some depth. He also mixed in a flatter changeup at 82-83 mph, but maintained his arm speed well.

Ultra-projectable Vanderbilt shortstop Connor Kaiser stood out at the plate and in the field collecting a pair of hits and driving one of the runs in the third inning. He stands at 6-foot-4, 195-pounds with plenty of room to fill and add strength. Currently it’s a quick, short swing with a line drive plane and a good lower half throughout.

In the field he showed above average lateral quickness and a strong arm. It’s the quick first step that helps him show off his range in the field with a smooth transfer and footwork around the bag as well.

Vanderbilt’s starter was junior lefthander John Kilichowski who stands at a durable and still projectable 6-foot-5, 215-pounds. Also utilizing a drop-and-drive delivery, Kilichowski got good torque through his hips with a longer arm action creating good angle towards the plate. He showed average arm speed from a three-quarters arm slot with a crossfire delivery.

The junior did not miss many bats on the mound and that’s what ultimately hurt him. He failed to keep his fastball low and the Texas A&M hitters barreled him consistently. His fastball worked 89-91 mph and hit 93 mph. He showed a slider with 2-to-8 break around 80 mph that had shorter action, as well as a changeup that showed slight fade at 86 mph.

The Vandy pitcher ultimately earned the win was sophomore righthander Matt Ruppenthal who worked a heavy fastball/curveball mix on the mound. He threw from a high three-quarters arm slot with a longer arm action. He filled the zone and often relied on his 11-to-5 shaped curveball that flashed sharpness and depth.

As noted, the big hits for Vandy came via a pair of freshman. Julian Infante delivered his second home run in as many days to give them a one-run lead in the fourth, and then Walker Grisanti launched a pinch hit home run in the top of the ninth to give them the lead for good.

The offensive leader for Texas A&M was senior outfielder Jonathan Moroney who ripped a double in the second over the outstretched arm of Ro Coleman. Moroney also had a single in the game and collected a pair of walks. 


No. 10 Ole Miss 10, No. 7 South Carolina 4

The second upset of the day saw the Ole Miss Rebels take advantage of a very poor performance all the way around by the Gamecocks and come away with a big 10-4 win. There were a total of seven errors made in the game with several head-scratching plays as well.

The higher seeded Gamecocks tossed promising sophomore righthander Clark Schmidt. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound sinkerballer looked to advance USC to the winners’ bracket, but struggled with his fastball command and defensive support.


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