Vanderbilt baseball vs. Louisville: Key moments in 'Battle of the Barrel' rivalry

Vanderbilt baseball heads to Louisville for its fourth of seven straight road games, this one the annual "Battle of the Barrel" rivalry game.

The Commodores (34-13, 17-7 SEC) come into the game Tuesday (5 p.m. CT, ESPNU) hoping to earn a national seed and the opportunity to host a super regional, while the Cardinals (29-18, 9-15 ACC) sit on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a lackluster conference record.

Vanderbilt and Louisville have played this rivalry game every year since 2008, coach Dan McDonnell's second year with the Cardinals, and the two teams have also had several notable postseason matchups. The Commodores are 27-12 against Louisville all time but have lost the last two matchups.

Here are the most notable moments from the rivalry:

WEEKEND RECAP Vanderbilt baseball drops series at Alabama, still leads SEC East: What we learned

SHREK MASKS Vandy whistler among Shrek mask wearers to support Vanderbilt baseball, annoy opposing fans

2009: Extra-innings heroics

In 2009, the second game of the new rivalry series, Vanderbilt entered with a four-game losing streak after being swept by Alabama and dropping a midweek game to Austin Peay.

But with the Commodores down to their last strike, they tied the game in the ninth inning on a bases-loaded walk and then won in 10 innings.

Vanderbilt barely snuck into a regional that year after finishing 12-17 in the SEC and headed to Louisville. The Commodores forced a decisive seventh game of the regional after dropping the opener to Middle Tennessee State, but the Cardinals won that one, 5-3.

2010: Extra-innings heroics (again)

Vanderbilt and Louisville's regularly scheduled game in 2010 was a doozy. The 17-inning contest saw the Commodores face two-run deficits in both the ninth and 14th innings but come back both times before Jason Esposito hit a walk-off home run to win the game, 11-10.

The two matched up again in the Louisville Regional and split the first two games to force a decisive winner-take-all matchup. Vanderbilt led entering the bottom of the ninth and put ace Sonny Gray on the mound to try to close it out, but he allowed the tying run. The Commodores beat the Cardinals' All-American closer, Neil Holland, with a walk-off squeeze bunt in the 10th to advance to super regionals for only the second time ever.

2013-14: The end of 26-3 and sweet revenge

Vanderbilt set an SEC record in 2013 by going 26-3 in conference play. That team received the No. 2 national seed and was one of the favorites to win what would've been at the time its first national championship.

Instead, the Commodores went to Louisville for super regionals and got swept, unceremoniously ending their historic season.

But in 2014, Vanderbilt got its revenge. Matched up in the first game of the College World Series, the Commodores beat the Cardinals, 5-3, and went on to win the national title.

In the super regionals, Vanderbilt fell to Florida State in three games.

2019: The Luke Smith incident

The teams played two close games in the 2019 College World Series. In the opener, Vanderbilt won, 3-1, after breaking a tie late on a two-run homer from Austin Martin.

The second of two matchups was even more notable, though. Facing elimination in the semifinal, the Cardinals got a strong start from Luke Smith, who yelled expletives toward the Commodores' dugout in celebration.

Louisville was up 2-1 at that time. But with Smith still on the mound, Vanderbilt tied the game and then came back to win in the ninth inning, sending the Commodores to the College World Series finals. There, they won their second national title.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt baseball vs. Louisville rivalry game: Key moments