Raby, three relievers, lift Vanderbilt past Pepperdine in Game Two
Four Commodore pitchers combined to limit Pepperdine to four hits, as Vanderbilt beat the Waves, 6-2, at Nashville’s Hawkins Field in Game Two of a Sunday doubleheader.
Starter Patrick Raby and relievers Kumar Rocker, Tyler Brown and Jake Eder didn’t give up an earned run, struck out 14 and walked three.
Left fielder Cooper Davis and right fielder J.J. Bleday each had two hits and two RBIs, and catcher Philip Clarke slugged a solo home run. Second baseman Austin Martin added two hits and a walk.
Vanderbilt (5-1) took the first game on Sunday by a 6-1 score.
Davis’s two-out triple to right in the fifth broke open a close game, and the bullpen held it from there.
Pepperdine’s only two runs came on a two-out single from center fielder Reese Alexiades in the fifth. They were unearned, thanks to Martin’s error to open the inning.
The Commodores’ poor base running wrecked what could have been a big inning in the first, turning four single into just one run.
Davis and Martin singled to lead off, and Bleday’s bloop single to center scored Bleday. But Martin was picked off second and Bleday gunned down trying to take third on Stephen Scott’s single through second before Clarke popped to short.
Rocker struck out the side in the fifth, sandwiched around a two-out walk.
Clarke then led off the bottom of the inning with a home run over the bleachers in right on a hanging breaking ball, and Davis rolled a two-out triple to the wall in right to add two more.
Vanderbilt faces Southeast Missouri State at home on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30. No rain is forecast for Tuesday.
Notes
Freshman Dominic Keegan got the first DH at bat for VU. He wasn’t awarded a start due to Drake Fellows, the Game One pitcher, being listed as the starting DH. Ty Duvall pinch ht for him in the fifth.
Jayson Gonzalez started and hit eighth after missing the first game. He went 0 for 3 with a run, walking once and striking out twice.
Vanderbilt left the bases loaded in the fourth.
Scoring summary
V1: Bleday single to center scored Davis. V, 1-0
V3: Scott sacrifice fly to center scored Martin. V, 2-0
P4: Alexiades single off Raby scored Welch, Belk. T-2
V4: Bleday walk scored Paul. V, 3-2
V5: Clark home run to right. V, 4-2
V5: Davis triple to right scored DeMarco, Gonzalez. V, 6-2