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Published May 25, 2022
Holton leads Vanderbilt past Ole Miss in SEC tournament
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Chris Lee  •  TheDoreReport
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Vanderbilt starter Carter Holton threw six shutout innings, as the Commodores defeated Ole Miss, 3-1, in the Southeastern Conference tournament in Hoover, Ala., in a game that ended at 12:50 a.m. Central on Wednesday.

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A weekend after the Commodores gave up 42 runs to LSU in a three-game series in which it consistently struggled to throw strikes, its arms showed up in a big way for this one. Vanderbilt faced just four hitters in every inning but the eighth, when Christian Little retired the side in order.

Holton, a freshman who didn't throw in last weekend's LSU series, threw 105 pitches (69 for strikes) and allowed one base runner in each of the first six innings.He allowed three hits (all singles), walked two and extended his streak of scoreless innings to 24.

Nelson Berkwich allowed a run in the seventh before giving way to Little, who picked up the save.

In all, the three combined for 155 pitches, with 101 going for strikes. The Commodores walked three and struck out 10.

Enrique Bradfield Jr., Dominic Keegan and Carter Young each led Vanderbilt (36-19) with three hits. Ole Miss (32-22) was eliminated from the tournament.

The Commodores advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket and will face SEC champion Tennessee (49-7) on Wednesday. That game is scheduled to begin about 30 minutes after the Florida-Texas A&M game.

After leaving the bases loaded in the first, Vanderbilt scored the game’s first run when Jones doubled to the right-field corner with two outs and then Keegan followed by rolling a ball through the infield to center to score him.

Holton, meanwhile, got through the first three innings on 60 pitches, stranding a runner in each.

In the fourth, he ran into trouble when Kevin Graham singled to lead off and took second on a wild pitch, but he fanned Peyton Chataginer to end that inning.

In the fifth, Holton again allowed a leadoff single but then got the side in order.

Vandy chased starter Dylan DeLucia in the bottom of that inning. Bradfield singled and then with one out, both Jones and Keegan walked. Ole Miss went to righty Josh Mallitz to face Parker Noland, and Noland hit a ground ball to second for a 2-0 lead before Mallitz struck Jack Bulger out looking on a borderline 3-2 curve ball.

In the sixth, Tate Kolwyck walked and then Young hammered a double into the corner in left. With two outs, shortstop Jacob Gonzalez booted a ground ball from Calvin Hewett that allowed Young to score.

The Rebels finally scored in the seventh, when Berkwich walked Chataginer before Justin Bench singled to right with two outs.

The Auburn-Kentucky game, which was scheduled for Tuesday night after Vandy-Ole Miss, has been pushed back to 9:30 Wednesday morning.

Scoring summary

VU 3: Keegan single up the middle scored Jones. VU, 1-0

VU 5: Noland ground-out scored Bradfield. VU, 2-0

VU 6: Young scored on Gonzalez's error. VU, 3-0

MS 7: Bench single scored Chataginer. VU, 3-1