Vanderbilt becomes first No. 1 seed to miss Super Regionals after upset loss to Wright State

Shockwaves were sent through the NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket on Sunday as No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt was eliminated. The Commodores suffered a 5-4 loss in Regional action against Wright State and are the first No. 1 seed in tournament history to not advance to Super Regionals.

The Raiders wasted no time jumping out on top with four runs in the opening inning. That included a pair of home runs, one of which was a two-run shot from Boston Smith.

Wright State gave up a run in the second but added another in the third to go up 5-1. That is where the score remained going into the ninth inning as the Raiders defense held strong all game long.

WRIGHT STATE ELIMINATES NO. 1 OVERALL SEED VANDERBILT IN THE REGIONAL 😱 pic.twitter.com/7GBVS9zjWC

— ESPN (@espn) June 1, 2025

Vanderbilt managed to load the bases in the ninth as it was down to its final two outs. Mike Mancini then stepped up to bring in two runners with a single to cut the deficit, but the Commodores had no more room for error with one out left in their season.

That’s when Rustan Rigdon got the ground-rule double to drive in one more run. However, the Commodores then flew out to right field, leaving the potential game-tying run on third base.

Griffen Page got the start at pitcher for the Raiders and came away with the win. He allowed only one hit in eight innings of action before Warren Hartsell came in to earn the save.

“Biggest game I ever pitched in and I showed up,” Page told ESPN postgame. “I’m just out there trying to get guys out one pitch at a time. That’s what we preach here. Just one pitch at a time. You really can’t do anything else. Just satying steady throughout the game and not getting too high, not getting too low.”

With Sunday’s win, Wright State is now 5-0 in elimination games this season. The Raiders also staved off elimination against East Tennessee State on Saturday after losing to Vanderbilt in the opening day of Regional action.

They’ll have to win two more elimination games against Louisville if they hope to advance to their first Super Regional ever. The first pitch for the next game against the Cardinals is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET on Sunday. As for Vanderbilt, the Commodores now find themselves on the wrong side of baseball history.

“We show a lot of toughness,” Page said. “There’s never a doubt in our minds that we can compete with anybody out there. These guys are a good team, obviously, the No. 1 seed in the country and we show up and we never had a doubt. We think we can compete with anybody at the end of the day.”