Ray's big hit helps Vandy to the Barrel
Vanderbilt second baseman Harrison Ray’s two-run, eighth-inning double was the key blow in Vanderbilt’s 6-2 victory at Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium in the Battle of the Barrel on Tuesday evening.
Reliever A.J. Franklin added 2 1/3 scoreless innings, picking up the win in relief of starter Mason Hickman, who went 5 2/3 and allowed two runs, both earned.
Closer Tyler Brown pitched a perfect ninth to finish.
Third baseman Austin Martin, DH Philip Clarke and center fielder Pat DeMarco led VU with two hits apiece.
It’s the 12th consecutive win for VU (39-9), snapping a three-game losing streak in the annual mid-week game with the Cardinals (39-10).
The game turned with Ray’s late-inning at bat.
With Cardinal closer Michael McAvene—who had a 1.64 ERA and a .139 average against coming in—Ray smacked an 0-1 pitch into the right-field gap, scoring shortstop Ethan Paul and pinch-runner Kiambu Fentress, breaking open a tie game.
Franklin, who had the best appearance of his career, then got a pair of strikeouts to end the eighth after allowing a pair of singles earlier in the inning.
Louisville, which threw nine pitchers, was unable to find the right combination of arms in the ninth, walking in a pair of runs.
The Commodores went ahead 2-0 in the third and never trailed. Louisville scattered six hits against Hickman, getting two-out hits from Lucas Dunn and Danny Oriente in the third and sixth.
But with the game tied at two in the sixth and Oriente on second, Franklin came on to get a ground-out to escape the inning, then, threw two scoreless on his own.
The Commodores return home to Hawkins Field to face Missouri for a three-game series starting Friday.
Scoring summary
V3: Paul ground-out scored Martin. V, 1-0
V3: Clarke single to center scored Bleday. V, 2-0
L3: Dunn single to center scored Pinkham. V, 2-1
V6: Oriente double to left center scored Wyatt. Tied-2
V8: Ray double to right center scored Paul, Fentress. V, 4-2
V9: Scott walk scored Martin. V, 5-2
V9: Ray walk scored Bleday. V, 6-2