The Commodores became the first No. 1 seed to fail to reach its regional final since 1999. (Carly Mackler/Getty Images)
(Carly Mackler via Getty Images)
Wright State pulled off a historic upset Sunday afternoon in Nashville.
Wright State stunned top-seeded Vanderbilt in its own regional in a 5-4 win on Sunday afternoon. That sent the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament home before the regional final, which is something that hasn’t happened under the current format which was adopted in 1999.
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The Commodores were the first No. 1 seed to be eliminated in the regional round since UCLA fell in 2015. Vanderbilt has now been knocked out in the regional rounds for a fourth straight season.
The Commodores started Austin Nye, who ended up facing just seven batters and gave up four runs before he was pulled.
Vanderbilt crawled back into the game, and it put up three runs in the final inning in large part due to a two-run single from Mike Mancini. But RJ Austin flew out to end the game, which allowed Wright State to make it out with the one-run win.
Despite the remarkable upset, Wright State, a No. 4 regional seed from the Horizon League, failed to take advantage. It had to turn around right away and take on Louisville on Sunday night, and the Cardinals rolled to a 6-0 win. The Cardinals advanced to the super regional.
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Wright State was playing in its third regional final, and its first since 2016.
Vanderbilt was the second top team to go down Sunday. No. 2 Texas fell 7-4 to UTSA for a second straight day, which knocked the Longhorns out of the Austin regional early. That sent the Roadrunners to the super regionals for the first time in program history.
