Fellows blanks Gators in Game 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Vanderbilt’s Drake Fellows was brilliant, hurling his first career complete game in VU’s 5-0 victory over Florida at Hawkins Field on Thursday night.
The junior scattered five hits and walked three, striking out eight while throwing _ pitches.
Center fielder Cooper Davis led the Commodore offense with two hits and two runs.
VU improved to 17-5 overall and 2-2 in the Southeastern Conference, while UF dropped to 16-8 and 1-3.
Fellows was terrific. The Gators threatened a few times, but couldn’t capitalize.
In the first, UF had a man on first with two out, but Clarke gunned down Nelson Maldonado trying to steal second on a ball that bounced in front of catcher Philip Clarke.
In the fourth, the Gators had men at second and third with two outs, one reaching on third baseman Austin Martin's error. But Fellows got over to cover the bag on a grounder to Infante at first to get out of that.
In the fifth, UF Jacob Young on first with two outs, but Fellows picked him off.
A seemingly-harmless seventh turned into a big inning for the Commodores, who got three runs without the ball leaving the infield.
Mace struck out Ty Duvall and first baseman Julian Infante with ease, but Davis singed to second and Martin caught UF by surprise with a terrific bunt down third.
With Mace at 100 pitches, Florida turned to lefty Jordan Butler to face lefty J.J. Bleday, whom Butler walked before nicking left fielder Stephen Scott with his next pitch. A Butler wild pitch then got Martin home.
After Butler walked Clarke, UF’s Ben Specht nicked second baseman Harrison Ray with a pitch to make it 5-0.
The Gators got two on with one out in the eighth when Maldonado flied out to right. Bleday threw a dart to Martin at third, and when Young slid slightly past the bag and his hand came off briefly, the Commodores had a double play.
Notes
Starting center fielder Pat DeMarco remains out with an injury.
Attendance was 3,191.
Fellows was hitting 94-6 early, but lost about five miles off that by the sixth before returning to touch 94 again later.
These were VU's first back-to-bakc shutouts since March 9 and 11, 2016 (Radford and Xavier).
It was VU's first complete-game, nine-inning shutout since Kyle Wright did it against Florida in 2017.
Scoring summary
V1: Bleday double to left scored Davis. V, 1-0
V4: Paul ground ball to right scored Clarke. V, 2-0
V6: Scott hit by pitch, scoring Davis. V, 3-0
V6: Martin scored on wild pitch. V, 4-0
V6: Ray hit by pitch scored Bleday. V, 5-0
