Enrique Bradfield Jr. pulled off something this week that not even Barry Bonds ever did.
The Vanderbilt outfielder Bradfield went viral on Friday for managing to break his aluminum bat during a game against Eastern Illinois in the NCAA Nashville Regional. Bradfield lifted a 2-2 pitch out into right field during the seventh inning and came away from it holding nothing but a bat shard.
Here is the video.
Enrique Bradfield Jr. breaks his aluminum bat 😳 pic.twitter.com/UY78I8sFUG
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 3, 2023
EIU outfielder Logan Eichkoff made a great diving catch in right to retire Bradfield on the play. But the real story was Bradfield’s broken bat, which had him so stunned that he didn’t even run to first base initially.
As noted by the ESPN commentary team, Bradfield wasn’t jammed on the pitch, which was right down the middle. Most likely, there was already some sort of pre-existing weakness in that bat.
Vanderbilt would go on to win comfortably 12-2 to advance to the winners bracket (where they will face Oregon on Saturday). But Bradfield definitely continued the tradition of the Commodores doing things on the baseball diamond that you don’t see every day.
