Vanderbilt Baseball’s Offense Continues to Shine in Series Win Over LSU – Sports Illustrated

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt pinch hitter Chris Maldonado looked directly in the eyes of LSU pitcher Ethan Plog. Maldonado ran the count to a 2-1 hitters’ count, took one good swing of the bat and launched the fourth pitch of the at-bat straight away over the center field wall for a three-run home run, his fourth of the season.
The home run blew the game wide open in Vanderbilt’s 11-3 win over No. 13 LSU. It was a moment that Maldonado had earned after all the hard work he has put into returning to Vanderbilt’s regular offensive rotation since suffering an injury two seasons ago.
“It’s been a challenge for sure, but I took it head on and I embraced the challenge and I went to work. That’s all it was, just making myself better as best as I can and put my head down and just working hard,” Maldonado said on what it has been like coming back the last two years from his injury. “When I am on the field and getting those opportunities, I’m trying to make the most of them. That was the biggest thing.”
But before Maldonado even stepped up to the plate, Vanderbilt had already started to build the first sizable lead of the game. The fifth inning as a whole is where Vanderbilt won the game over the Tigers to claim a series win to begin its conference slate.
The Commodores had loaded the bases early in an inning that started with a 2-1 lead. In short order, a flurry of scoring began. Vanderbilt capitalized off an LSU fielding error with the bases loaded for the first run of the inning before Braden Holcomb drew a bases loaded walk right after.
Then, with the bases loaded again, Mike Mancini hit a pitch to center that went deep enough to bring Brodie Johnston home. Before the Tigers could blink, Vanderbilt’s lead had ballooned to 5-1. 
At last, Maldonado’s moment came. With runners on the corners and just one out, a three-run home run gave Vanderbilt a 8-1 lead. Maldonado’s production to the lineup this season has been quite a notable story thus far. Maldonado has been hitting at a .273 clip along with his 13 RBIs and four homers.
“I’m really happy for him because he’s gone through some stuff to get on the field, so he’s just a quality kid. He does everything right. He’s a leader in the program,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said on what Maldonado had brought to the lineup this season.. “Coming out and stepping into the game and hitting the batter’s side. That was a good swing. I’m happy for him.”
As a whole, Saturday night’s win was a continuation of another offensive heater that Vanderbilt has found itself on. The Commodores have scored 10 or more runs in five of the last six games as they have won six of their last seven games.
Vanderbilt has been able to do a multitude of ways. Whether it has been drawing walks, getting hits or hitting home runs, Vanderbilt has been highly efficient at the plate as of late. And that is a good sign for the Commodores to begin what is always a gauntlet of a conference schedule.
What has led to this type of production of late? One word: “patience.”
“You know what? It's patience. Patience at the plate. We’ve done a good job of getting pitches to hit. They’ve done a really good job of negotiating the pitches. Last night, the first four innings kind of led to that. There’s been drawn walks. I think there’s more mature at-bats. So they’re not trying to end the at-bat so quickly with a big hit,” Corbin said.
Corbin pointed to Rustan Rigdon, Brodie Johnston and Mancini as prime examples of who has been leading the way with patience at the plate and playing their at-bats smarter of late. In Saturday’s win over LSU, those three combined for four hits, three walks and two RBIs.
Going forward deeper into SEC play, the offense will be an interesting story to continue to follow. Already this season the offense has been trending in both positive and negative directions. Of late, the offense has been riding high as the Commodores look for the series sweep on Sunday.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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