Paul, Fellows lead Vanderbilt to win at No. 11 UCLA
Vanderbilt's Ethan Paul homered and knocked in three runs, and right-hander Drake Fellows threw seven quality innings and struck out nine, as the Commodores beat No. 11 UCLA, 6-3, at Jackie Robinson Field in Los Angeles on Friday night in their first game of the Dodgertown Classic.
Paul's homer to center off Bruin starter Jake Bird gave VU (11-4) a three-run lead that held. Fellows gave up three runs, all earned, on six hits and a walk.
Vandy's bats went cold from there. UCLA out-hit VU, 9-4, but Vandy managed a pair of insurance runs in the ninth without benefit of a safety.
Freshman pitcher Tyler Brown created some late drama, giving up three hits and a walk in his two innings pitched. A one-out single and a two-out walk in the ninth brought UCLA's Daniel Amaral to the plate with a chance to tie.
Brown recovered from being down 3-0 in the count to strike Amaral out looking--his fourth of the night--and earn his first save of the season.
Right fielder J.J. Bleday led VU with two hits, and drove in the game's first run.
But the Bruins answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, then came within one when Fellows gave up a two-run homer to cleanup hitter Chase Strumpf in the fourth.
Vanderbilt heads across town to face Southern Cal (8-4) at 6 Central on Saturday. The game may be seen on the Pac-12 Network.
NOTES
Alonzo Jones started in left for the first time since running into a wall in Houston last week.
Brown's save was Vandy's first of the season.
Julian Infante went o-f0r-3 and saw his average fall to .093.
The win moved VU to No. 15 in the RPI as of late Friday night, according to WarrenNolan.com.