On a cold, rainy night, No. 7 Vanderbilt put forth one of its best all-around efforts in a 4-2 win over 20th-ranked LSU at Hawkins Field on Friday night.
Julian Infante and Pat DeMarco hit two-run homers, the Commodores played flawless defense, and pitchers Drake Fellows and Zach King limited LSU to eight scattered hits--just one for extra bases--as VU won the first game in the series.
Fellows improved to 4-0, and King threw four scoreless innings for his second save.
The two had plenty of help from the Commodore defense, which played errorless ball with rain falling on the artificial turf all evening. Shortstop Connor Kaiser had eight assists and was part of two double plays.
DeMarco led the offense with two hits and two RBIs.
Vanderbilt improved to 16-6, and retains sole possession of the Southeastern Conference's Eastern Division at 4-0.
LSU got its only extra-base hit when Zach Watson tripled to lead off the game. Antoine Duplantis singled him in, and Beau Jordan added a two-out RBI single later in the inning.
The Tigers got a man to third in the third and sixth, but didn't score again.
VU, meanwhile, tied the game in the second when Infante drilled a 1-1 hanging curve from LSU starter Zach Hess over the wall in left.
An inning later, DeMarco hammered one over the big wall in left, scoring Philip Clarke, who'd doubled.
Meanwhile, Fellows, who gave up three hits and a walk in the first inning, settled down from there. The sophomore faced the minimum in the second, third and fifth innings, and got help from Stephen Scott, who gunned down two runners trying to steal second.
LSU briefly threatened in the ninth with a one-out single, but King struck out Chris Reed and Hal Hughes looking to end the night.
The teams are scheduled to play at 7:30 Saturday night, weather permitting, as the forecast calls for rain almost all of Saturday.
NOTES
Third baseman Jayson Gonzalez didn't start for the first time all season. Gonzalez sprained an ankle on Wednesday against Belmont, but was available to play.
Alonzo Jones, who hasn't played for the majority of the last two weeks due to injury, started in left.
The game was televised on ESPN2, and didn't start until 8 Central.
SCORING SUMMARY
LSU 1: Duplantis single scored Watson. LSU, 1-0
LSU 1: Beau Jordan single scoured Bain. LSU, 2-0
VU 2: Infante homer to left scored Kaiser. Tied-2
VU 3: DeMarco homer to left scored Clarke. VU, 4-2
