"Top-ranked Vanderbilt beat Wright State 4-3 in the opening round of the College World Series on Friday night" is a sentence that wouldn't have sounded so crazy just a few hours ago. The way it happened, however, is almost inexplicable.
After his team climbed out to a 3-0 lead with his pitcher, Cam Allen, throwing a no-hitter, Wright State manager Alex Sogard made a decision that fans couldn't believe. Despite the righty striking out seven batters on just 77 pitches, Sogard chose to take him out ahead of the seventh inning in favor of reliever Warren Hartzell.
Hartzell went on to allow three home runs in back-to-back innings, allowing Vanderbilt to score four runs and come away with a 4-3 victory.
After the game, Sogard explained his decision to take out Allen:
"I thought Cam was doing great, he said. "He started to labor the second time through [the lineup]. I know you look at the box, he didn't give up a hit, but I think he had walked four out of the last eight ... That was the plan going through. Really, the plan was maybe one time through, and if he's really good, keep him rolling. We wanted to keep changing the looks. We felt like that was our best shot against their lineup."
Wright State HC Alex Sogard on taking out starter Cam Allen after 6 no-hit innings vs Vanderbilt pic.twitter.com/U5uj9EIOMH
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) May 31, 2025
A classic case of analytics creeping into baseball's strategy.
"He was just a warrior out there," Sogard continued, praising Allen. "He was so good ... He was really fighting through it, kind of laboring but made big pitches. So at the end of the day I know his pitch count wasn't crazy, [but] we felt good with the arms behind him. Obviously, it's easy to say, 'What if?' now ... we felt really good about it.
"This guy would have thrown 150 pitches. He just competes his tail off."
The Wright State Raiders will now face off against East Tennessee State in the Nashville Super Regional, while Vanderbilt is on to the Louisville Cardinals.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Wright State Coach Explains Yanking Pitcher During Potential No-Hitter vs. Vanderbilt.
