It wasn’t completely a thing of beauty, but Vanderbilt picked up an 11-6 win over Samford at Nashville’s Hawkins Field on Tuesday night.
Pitcher Mason Hickman pitched four scoreless innings for the win, and Jake Eder threw two perfect innings to close.
Designated hitter Philip Clarke and center fielder Pat DeMarco led VU with two hits each. Shortstop Ethan Paul had a team-leading three RBIs.
VU improves to 14-3 with a win over the Bulldogs, who were a top-50 RPI team entering Tuesday. Samford (12-4) is the consensus favorite to win the Southern Conference.
You could watch baseball for decades and never see an inning quite like the 57-minute first, after which VU led 9-2.
The Commodores’ first 10 hitters reached base. VU had just two hits to the outfield in the inning; one was a Harrison Ray fly ball to shallow center that Sanford defenders lost in the sky, and another, a single by left fielder Cooper Davis through the infield.
Five times, VU scored in that inning without putting the ball in play.
Vanderbilt freshmen Chance Huff and Austin Becker each struggled to find the strike zone. But Jackson Gillis got Huff out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, and threw a scoreless second.
Hickman and Eder cruised from there, They didn’t walk a hitter, though Hickman hit one.
Notes
Center fielder J.J. Bleday walked to extend his on-base streak to 45 games.
Starting second baseman Austin Martin sat out his fourth straight game. Ray started at second for the fourth straight game.
Ty Duvall started at catcher.
Stephen Scott started at first.
VU turned a 6-4-3 double play in the second.
Scoring summary
S1: Carlson singled up the middle off Huff, scoring Fryman. S, 1-0
S1: Huff walked Garris, scoring Carlson. S, 2-0
V1: Davis scored on wild pitch. S, 2-1
V1: Clarke single scored Ray. Tied-2
V1: DeMarco walk scored Bleday. V, 3-2
V1: Paul hit by pitch scored Scott. V, 4-2
V1: Duvall hit by pitch scored Clarke. V, 5-2
V1: Gonzalez single off the pitcher scored DeMarco. V, 6-2
V1: Davis walk scored Paul. V, 7-2
V1: Ray ground-out scored Duvall. V, 8-2
V1: Bleday sacrifice fly to right scored Gonzalez. V, 9-2
V2: Paul sacrifice fly to right scored Clarke. V, 10-2
S3: Mulrine and DeChaiara scored on Gonzalez’s error. V, 10-4
S3: Moore single through the right side scored Burns. V, 10-5
S3: Fryman single to third scored Garris. V, 10-6
V8: Paul single to first scored Clarke. V, 11-6
