NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Carter Holton threw seven innings of one-run ball, Davis Diaz had a three-RBI double in the first and Vanderbilt beat Missouri, 3-1 to sweep the three-game series at Hawkins Field on Saturday afternoon.
Holton (4-0) allowed five hits, struck out eight and walked one while firing 72 of his 102 pitches for strikes for the Commodores (23-6, 6-3 Southeastern Conference), who've won four straight.
Freshman right-hander Brennan Seiber followed with 1 1/3 scoreless and freshman lefty Miller Green got the final two outs for the save (his second).
"Really pleased (with the pitching)," coach Tim Corbin said. "That was the difference in this game--and Davis Diaz's hit--and the pitching, and the defense, the ground-ball defense. Really good ground-ball defense. I think over the course of the week, if you're playing two of the three parts of the game really well, that gives you a chance, and we certainly did that."
Missouri (10-18, 1-8) got its lone run when Justin Colon singled to center with two outs in the third.
Otherwise, Holton didn’t run into much trouble, relying often on a fastball that hit 94-7 much of the day, and an effective curve ball.
"I would say 'competitiveness,'" Holton said, when asked what worked for him on Saturday. "The stuff wasn't there the entire game, but I let the defense work behind me and just competed throughout it."
Missouri starter Javyn Pimental struggled with a tight strike zone, walking Jacob Humphrey and Braden Holcomb around hitting Matthew Polk with a pitch. That set the table for Diaz’s bases-clearing double down the line past third to give the Commodores a 3-0 lead after one.
"Any time you can get an early lead, I'd say it's pretty important," Diaz said. "Just the at-bts before then, for the guys to get on, was the biggest part of that whole sequence."
Colon singled to center with two outs in the third. Otherwise, Holton didn’t run into much trouble, relying often on a fastball that hit 94-7 much of the day, and an effective curve ball.
Other than the fourth, the Tigers didn’t send more than four men to the plate except for the seventh, when they got singles from Colon to lead off the inning and a two-out infield single from Danny Corona. But leadoff man Jeric Curtis popped to second to end that.
In the eighth, Missouri got two on with one out against Seiber, who struck out Kaden Peer looking on a 3-2 off speed pitch and then got Colon to chop to Diaz at third.
Vanderbilt hasn't scored more than four runs in its last seven games. It had just four hits and stranded nine men on Saturday. The Commodores will need to rediscover the offense that scored 33 runs just two weekends ago in a sweep of Auburn.
Corbin was asked what it takes to fix the offense.
"Putting the bats down tomorrow, I think is the biggest thing," he said. "I can feel them pressing and they're a little defensive. So, we've just got to put it down for a day and get it back. It doesn't last forever and it won't, so, we'll just keep working."
Vanderbilt faces Western Kentucky (19-10) on Tuesday at Hawkins Field at 6 Central.
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