Bulger, Young lead Vanderbilt to sweep of LSU

Vanderbilt's Jack Bulger and Carter Young each hit two-run home runs as Vanderbilt hung on to beat LSU, 5-4, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Saturday afternoon.

Bulger's seventh-inning home run came off Garrett Edwards and broke open a tie game, while Young's came against starter AJ Labas in the third. Those two, along with Parker Noland and Jayson Gonzalez, led the Commodores with two hits each.

Reliever Ethan Smith (1-0) pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win, while Luke Murphy gave up one run in 1 1/3 innings to notch his fifth save as Vandy swept the series.

The Commodores ended the day in sole possession of first place in the SEC due to Ole Miss’s loss at Florida. They extended their winning streak in SEC road contests to 15 games, and have now won their last 20 games against SEC opponents away from Hawkins Field.

The ninth was more interesting than Murphy would have liked. Working with a 5-3 lead, he struck out pinch-hitter Mitchell Sanford to start the ninth. but then walked Tre' Morgan and Dylan Crews around hitting pinch-hitter Cade Beloso in between.

That loaded the bases for Gavin Dugas, who lofted a sacrifice fly to right that scored a run and moved Drew Bianco to third. .

But the Tigers' Cade Doughty popped to Young at short on a 1-1 pitch to end the game.

LSU’s Gavin Dugas homered off Vandy starter Thomas Schultz to lead off the second, but Vandy got three in the top of the third—two on Young’s homer, one on Spencer Jones’s two-out single to center—to put the Commodores up 3-1.

Schultz struggled, allowing two hits, three walks and hitting two batters in 58 pitches over 3 1/3 innings before departing for right-hander Miles Garrett with men on second and third.

After Garrett walked Hayden Travinski, Collier Crawford grounded back to the mound and Garrett threw home for the force. Garrett then hit Morgan with a pitch to tie the game at 3, but got Will Safford to pop to short to exit the fourth.

After the Commodores left a man on in each of a scoreless fourth, fifth and sixth, Bulger put Vandy back ahead with a homer into the left-field bleachers with one out in the seventh.

Thanks to Smith, the lead stayed 5-3 as Smith, who was lifted for Murphy after Jordan Thompson reached on Gonzalez’s throwing error. Murphy got Travinski looking on a perfectly-placed, 96-mile-per-hour on the outside corner at the knees to end that thread.

The Commodores nearly went up three in the top of the ninth when C.J Rodriguez apparently scored with two outs on Ty Floyd's wild pitch. Rodriguez was ruled safe on the play, but that was overturned after a review that lasted several minutes.

It wasn't the sharpest outing for Commodore pitchers, who struck out five, walked six and hit four. Five of those free passes (and one of the strikeouts) came from Schultz, who gave up three runs, all earned.

Vanderbilt returns home for a Tuesday game with UT-Martin at 6:30.

LSU 2: Dugas homer to left center. LSU, 1-0

VU 3: Young home run to right scored Bradfield Jr. VU, 2-1

VU 3: Jones single to center scored Rodriguez. VU, 3-1

LSU 3: Drost single through second scored Dugas. VU, 3-2

LSU 3: Drost scored on Morgan's hit by pitch. Tied-3

VU 7: Bulger home run scored Noland. VU, 5-3

LSU 9: Dugas sacrifice fly scored Morgan. VU, 5-4