2021 College World Series Championship Series Game 1: No. 4 Vanderbilt 8, No. 7 Mississippi State 2 (box score) (photo courtesy of NCAA)
Jack Leiter and Nick Maldonado combined on a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts as Vandy downed MSU in Game 1 of the 2021 CWS Championship Series.
“Jack certainly set the tone tonight,” VU head coach Tim Corbin said. “He pitched very well. It was tough pitching, too. That team does not give in. They fight you on every pitch. They make it very difficult.”
Leiter (11-4) worked the first six innings with three hits, two runs, three walks and eight strikeouts.
“I feel like I settled in and my command was pretty good,” Leiter said. “And I was feeling my off-speed pitches pretty well. Then later in the game kind of lost the feel for it a little bit. The command was a little down and the feel for the breaking balls was as well. So at that point it became a pitch-to-contact type situation.”
Maldonado tossed three scoreless innings with two hits and four punchouts for his ninth save.
The Bulldogs started the scoring in the top of the first as Kamren James launched a two-out homer to left to give MSU a 1-0 advantage.
The Commodores answered quickly in the bottom of the frame. Enrique Bradfield Jr. drew a leadoff walk and Dominic Keegan walked with one away. Tate Kolwyck and Parker Noland were hit by pitches, plating the first run for Vandy. A two-run single by CJ Rodriguez and a two-out RBI double by Isaiah Thomas gave the ‘Dores a 4-1 lead. Jayson Gonzalez belted a three-run homer to left, putting the defending champs up 7-1.
“The biggest thing was just trying to look for a ball over the plate,” Gonzalez said. “The guys in front of me had great at-bats. And they were just passing the lineup along. So the biggest thing for me was trying to keep the line going and continue that first inning.”
MSU got one back in the fourth as Tanner Allen had a leadoff double and scored on a base hit by Logan Tanner to make it 7-2.
Vandy added an insurance run in the seventh. Gonzalez drew a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second by Bradfield and came home on a single by Carter Young to make the score 8-2.
“Tough first inning,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. “We just couldn’t get out of it. We gave them too many freebies there in the first. And tip your hat to a good team. They took advantage of it. And when you give Jack Leiter seven runs in the first, a great pitcher, which he is just took it and ran with it.”