NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Vanderbilt's Jack Leiter struck out 11 over six innings and allowed just one run, as the Commodores topped Georgia Tech, 4-3, on Saturday night in the Nashville Regional at Hawkins Field.

Leiter left with a 4-1 lead, and the Commodores' Nick Maldonado pitched the final three innings, allowing a two-out home run to Drew Compton to bring some drama to the ninth.

Vanderbilt had just three hits (Tech had but four), but capitalized on a defensive meltdown by Georgia Tech that resulted in four unearned runs charged to Yellow Jacket starter Marquis Grissom Jr.

"We pitched very well" Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "It was a good ballgame, certainly for us. The reason it was was because of the pitching. That was a very difficult lineup and [Leiter] weathered through the third and fourth and in the sixth, a ball found his way over his head and then it became little bit dicey. Just loved the compete, he was very good.

"Tough one to lose for sure," Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall said. "I think we could particularly have played better defense. Both innings we scored runs we had mishaps defensively."

Vandy trailed 1-0 in the fourth on a homer by the Yellow Jackets' Kevin Parada, as Grissom Jr. kept the 'Dores off-balance and induced a lot ground-ball outs.

But Vandy's Dominic Keegan reached on an error by former Commodore third baseman Justyn Henry-Malloy and after Troy LaNeve was hit by a pitch, C.J. Rodriguez hammered one high off the wall in left to tie the game.

LaNeve then raced home on a wild pitch for the lead.

The 'Dores had started to see Grissom better by that inning and in the fifth, Parker Noland scorched one off the wall in right to start the inning,, one hit so hard that Noland settled for a single.

After Grissom blew an opportunity for an easy double play on a ball hit back to him by Jayson Gonzalez--he threw high to second and Tech got just one out--he hit Enrique Bradfield Jr. with a pitch.

Then, when Javier Vaz grounded one to the right of Luke Waddell, Tech's shortstop, in an effort to try to turn a double play with two fast runners on, fired it wild to second baseman Austin Wilhite and into right field as two runs scored.

Leiter and Maldonado handled it from there.

The Commodores face the winner of tomorrow's elimination game between Tech and Indiana State, which starts at 2 Central. Georgia Tech will pitch Andy Archer against Indiana State.

The Commodores play the winner of that game at 8. Corbin, when asked after Saturday's game, declined to name a starting pitcher for that one.

Vandy's ace was terrific from the beginning, using 112 pitches while firing 73 for strikes.

"Very impressed not only with Vanderbilt’s team but with Jack Leiter, that guy’s as good as we’ve seen. Just very impressed with the way he pitched tonight," Hall said.

"I think stuff wise, it was pretty similar to other outings, it took a while to get the feel for off-speed stuff… towards the end of the outing I got a feel for that and everything else kind of came with that," Leiter said, when asked how his stuff compared to previous outings.

HIs fastball velocity varied from 94 to 99 in the first---all but three of his 14 pitches in that inning were the heater--and he sandwiched a pair of ground-outs around a strikeout.

In the second, Leiter introduced a 77-79 breaking ball that he landed sometimes, and not at others. That led to a walk but Leiter got out of that with a 4-3 ground-out that registered 98.

After a strikeout on 98 to start the third, Leiter showed a lot of mental toughness through the 29-pitch inning that followed.

With one out in the second, No. 9 hitter Austin Wilhite hit a chopper just in front of the plate that slowly trickled past third and into left for an easy double.

Tech shortstop Luke Waddell--he'd struck out 16 times in 216 at-bats--fouled off the first eight pitches he saw and then hit a screamer at Leiter's head. It knocked Leiter's glove off but the righty scrambled, saw the ball behind him and threw to first for the out.

Then, after Tres Gonzalez fouled off three pitches in a row after a 1-0 start, Leiter--now pitching with a man on third--thought he had strike three with beautiful breaking ball on the outside corner. He didn't get the call and then endured two more foul balls before Gonzalez swung over the top of a bender to end that inning.

Tech's Parada homered to left-center in the fourth, and Leiter used 20 pitches that inning.

"I got behind and tied to throw off-speed to a really good hitter… Made a very hittable pitch and he hit it hard and he hit it far… it was easy to rebound from because it wasn’t necessarily a good pitch or a good count to be in," Leiter said.

But in the fifth, Leiter threw five straight strikes to start the inning and got strikeouts to the first two hitters before getting another looking on 80.

In the sixth, a walk got Tech a runner and then Henry-Malloy hit a nubber over Leiter's head for an infield single and two on.

But Leiter, who started 2-0 to Andrew Jenkins, evened the count at 2-2 on a 96-mile-an-hour fastball looking, got a foul ball on 98 and then froze him with a beautiful breaking ball that caught the outside corner on his final pitch.

Hall was asked about Tech's approach against Leiter.

"Just make sure he got his fastball down," he said. "He’s got a really good curveball and a really good slider and you wanted those pitches in the zone. … He’s just a poised, really good pitcher.

"Good Lord willing, he’s got a chance to pitch for a long, long time."

Vaz started instead of Tate Kolwyck, who hurt his hand sliding into second late into Friday night's game. With Kolwyck out, last night's left fielder (LaNeve) started at DH, Gonzalez started at third with Noland shifting to where Kolwyck had been at second.

Vaz hadn't played left all year in a game, though as Corbin noted, "He’s played there a lot in training. … We recognize he can play defense and he’s kind of a gamer."

Vaz made a diving grab of a Jenkins fly ball in the fourth, saving what would have been a shallow double.

Vaz also appeared to steal home for a brief second in the fifth, but LaNeve had asked for time out. Earlier, that speed helped him put pressure on the Tech defense on the ground ball that resulted in an error and two runs.

Corbin said that Kolwyck has a bruised hand and wanted to play

"It's bruised," he said. "It’s going to take some time. He wanted to play but he codlin’t really grip the bat in the way he needed to to hit. .. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow."

GT 4: Parada home run to left-center. GT, 1-0

VU 4: Rodriguez double scored Keegan. Tied-1

VU 4: LaNeve scored on wild pitch. VU, 2-1

VU 5: Gonzalez, Bradfield score on Waddell's throwing error. VU, 4-1

GT 9: Compton home run to right. VU, 4-3