Top-ranked Vanderbilt’s rapped out 17 hits in a 15-9 win over Virgnina at Salt River Fields on Friday night at the MLB4 Collegiate Tournament in Talking Stick, Ariz., in the season opener for both teams.
Second baseman Austin Martin, shortstop Ethan Paul and right fielder J.J. Bleday led VU with three hits apiece.
Paul’s included a home run and a double, while Martin reached base six times. Paul and Philip Clarke each drove in three.
VU faces Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 2. The Titans knocked off TCU, 2-0, earlier in the day.
The Commodores spent the evening peppering the field with line drives. You had to look hard to find many cheap hits, and went for extra bases.
The pitching was another story.
Lefty Zach King, one of three Commodores to pitch, was VU’s only effective hurler. He pitched four innings, giving up just one run while striking out four and picking up a save.
Chance Huff was the winning pitcher despite giving up three runs (all earned) in one inning.
Vandy broke the game open with an eight-run fourth, which featured a double and triple from Martin, and a two-RBI double by Paul.
The Cavaliers crawled back with one in each of the fourth and seventh, and three in the fifth. But after three dormant offensive innings, Vanderbilt got some insurance when third baseman Jayson Gonzalez singled with two outs and then came home on designated hitter Cooper Davis’s triple. Davis added another run next, racing home on a wild pitch.
Starting pitcher Drake Fellows wasn’t sharp, giving up five runs—all earned—in four innings. He had trouble staying ahead in the count and with his fastball command, and coach Tim Corbin termed his first few innings “tentative.”
It took until the third inning for him to find a groove, using a fastball with good arm-side run and an 84-mile-per-hour slider.
Huff, making his collegiate debut, gave up a two-out, three-RBI double to Zach Gelof (four hits, four RBIs) in the fifth.
Even King struggled briefly in the seventh, giving up a leadoff walk, followed by a single and giving up a run in the frame.
It was evident offense would rule the night from the beginning.
UVA starter Griff McGarry walked Davis and Martin, the game’s first two hitters, on 3-1 counts, then, Bleday lined a 1-1 pitch into right for a single. Left fielder Stephen Scott then lined a 3-2 pitch to center for the game’s first run, and Clarke followed with an RBI ground-out.
Virginia countered with a pair of runs of its own.
Gelof led off with a double, and came around to score later on a Cayman Richardson grounder through second. Richardson later scored on a sacrifice fly to center that tied the game.
With two outs and nobody on, VU loaded the bases in the second before Clarke lined a single to right for two runs.
Fellows gave it right back, starting the second giving up a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch to the bottom third of the order before a first-pitch, line-drive single by Gelof brought the Cavs within one.
Paul led off the third by lining a pitch down the line to right, over the 345-foot fence.
After Fellows threw a scoreless bottom half, Martin led off the fourth by tripling to right-center, and scored on a Scott single. Clarke added a double down the line past first, and both scored when Paul ripped a double the other way to deep in the alley.
Gonzalez then slammed a double to deep center, scoring two more.
Notes
Starting first baseman Julian Infante left the game after taking a knee to the head on a failed stolen base attempt. Walker Grisanti replaced him and went to left, with Scott moving to first.
McGarry is the brother of former Commodore Matt McGarry.
VU left the bases loaded in the first, as McGarry threw 37 pitches.
Fellows threw 23 pitches in the first and sat 92-93 with his fastball.
Huff was the only VU freshman to see action. He sat at 93 with his fastball and 82 with his slider.
Scoring summary
VU 1: Scott single to center scored Davis. VU, 1-0
VU 1: Clarke ground out to short scored Martin. VU, 2-0
UVA 1: Richardson single past second scored Geloff. VU, 2-1
UVA 1: Rivoli sacrifice fly to center scored Richardson. Tied-2
VU: 2: Clarke single to right scored Martin, Bleday. VU, 4-2
UVA 2: Gelof single to right scored Eikhoff. VU, 4-3
UVA 2: Richardson fielders’ choice ground-out to third scored Comer. Tied-4
VU 3: Paul home run to right. VU, 5-4
VU 4: Scott single to right scored Martin. VU, 6-4
VU 4: Paul double to deep left scored Scott, Clarke. VU, 8-4
VU 4: Gonzalez doubles to deep center, scoring Paul and Grisanti. VU, 10-4.
VU 4: Gonzalez scored on Kent’s error. VU, 11-4
VU 4: Martin doubled to left center, scoring Davis. VU, 12-4
VU 4: Bleday single scored Martin. VU, 13-4
UVA 4: Morris’s ground out scored Gelof. VU, 13-5
UVA 5: Gelof double past first scored Rivoli, Tappen and Comer. VU, 13-8
UVA 7: Kent’s ground out scored Tappen. VU, 13-9
VU 8: Davis’s triple scores Gonzalez. VU, 14-9
VU 8: Davis scored on Bales’s wild pitch. VU, 15-9
