Vanderbilt baseball eliminated from SEC tournament with loss to Tennessee, awaits NCAA selection

HOOVER, Ala. — Vanderbilt baseball and Tennessee have gone back-and-forth this season.

The top-ranked Vols won the first two matchups between the teams at Hawkins Field two weeks ago before the Commodores took the third game. No. 8 seed Vanderbilt then beat top-seeded Tennessee on Wednesday in its second game of the SEC tournament.

But the Vols (49-11) got the better of their rivals again Saturday, as they advanced to the SEC tournament finals with a 6-4 win, eliminating the Commodores (38-21) in the semifinals.

Vanderbilt was down as many as four runs but made a comeback in the late innings, putting the tying runners on base in the bottom of the ninth. While a sacrifice fly cut the deficit to two, Davis Diaz flew out to end the game.

Despite the loss, Vanderbilt leaves Hoover having bolstered its NCAA tournament resume significantly and will await its selection fate Monday (11 a.m. CT, ESPN2).

Ethan McElvain, Jayden Davis make return for Vanderbilt baseball

After not pitching since April 14 due to a back injury, Ethan McElvain got the start and pitched the first inning of the game. Although he allowed a leadoff double and a walk, McElvain induced a strikeout and two pop-outs to escape the jam.

McElvain pitched just the one inning for a total of 18 pitches. He was replaced by Brennan Seiber, who had begun warming from the time McElvain took the mound.

Though it was a quick day of work for McElvain, he proved that he is healthy and that he is another option to potentially help stabilize a shaky bullpen in a regional.

Jayden Davis, who suffered orbital fractures in a game against Mississippi State on April 27, appeared as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. He drew a four-pitch walk and was lifted for a pinch-runner.

How Vanderbilt's bullpen handled game against Tennessee

After McElvain exited, there was a further opportunity for Vanderbilt to evaluate its bullpen options ahead of the regional.

Seiber allowed two runs (one earned) across three innings of work with no walks and three strikeouts. Luke Guth allowed three runs in two innings with no walks and one strikeout, with two of those runs coming on a Christian Moore home run that landed atop the batters eye.

David Horn Jr., who hadn't pitched since a May 7 outing against Louisville, threw 1⅓ innings and was charged with one run, walking two.

Alex Kranzler finished off the game with 1⅔ innings. He allowed one inherited runner to score but allowed no runs of his own. He struck out three and issued an intentional walk.

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Braden Holcomb homers for Vanderbilt baseball vs. Tennessee

After Tennessee took an early 2-0 lead on an error and a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, Braden Holcomb tied things up in the fifth with a two-run home run after Matthew Polk singled to start the inning. The blast was caught by a pitcher in Tennessee's bullpen.

Vanderbilt's offense struggled to get much going outside of the home run.

Polk recorded two hits and Calvin Hewett hit a triple in the eighth inning.

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

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt baseball eliminated by Tennessee in SEC tournament semifinals