Vanderbilt, Espinal smack Tennessee in Hoover

HOOVER, Ala.—Vanderbilt’s Alan Espinal hit a pair of home runs as the Commodores smacked top-ranked Tennessee, 13-4, in the Southeastern Conference tournament at the Hoover Met on Wednesday night.

A five-run third, keyed by Espinal’s three-run home run, proved key. The senior catcher added another bomb off the Vols’ Marcus Phillips in the seventh, this one, a two-run shot.

Jonathan Vastine added a three-run shot off Matthew Dallas in the eighth to extend Vandy’s lead to eight. Braden Holcomb and RJ Austin each had three of Vanderbilt's 15 hits.

"It was certainly a good win for us," coach Tim Corbin said. "I like how we did it. It was pretty well balanced offensively we had some big hits throughout the order."

"It’s always big to beat those guys across the street," Vastine added. "There’s a lot of history behind (the rivalry)."

Lefty Miller Green got the win, firing four innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts.

Tennessee's only lead was brief.

The Vols’ Hunter Ensley crushed a double on an 0-2 pitch to deep center, scoring Billy Amick from first and giving Tennessee a 1-0 lead in the second.

But in the top of the third, and with help from Tennessee’s defense, Vanderbilt scored five runs off Nate Snead--one of the league's best relievers--and knocked him from the game.

"The big inning against him was very important for us," Corbin said. "He’s a very big pitcher with a very big arm."

Calvin Hewett doubled to deep center to give Vandy two men in scoring position and Cal Stark’s passed ball scored Troy LaNeve from third. Davis Diaz hit a hard grounder under Amick’s glove at third for a single and a 2-1 lead.

Austin then singled to short on a play Dean Curley couldn’t make. On a 1-2 pitch, Espinal then hammered a pitch out of the park to right-center for a 5-1 lead.

Hewett added a two-out single off lefty Andrew Behnke to score Holcomb from second and give Vanderbilt a five-run cushion.

Starter Devin Futrell’s effectiveness waned in the fourth, when he gave up a pair of two-out runners before Reese Chapman homered to right to get the Vols within two.

But Vanderbilt answered with the game's next six runs to close this one out.

"The thing that mattered most was the pitching," Corbin sad. "It was Devin early… containing that group is very difficult to do."

The defense showed up, too. Diaz, a third baseman playing behind second on a shift against Chapman, got a 5-3 double play to end the sixth and in the seventh, LaNeve caught up with a screamer off Amick’s bat just before crashing into the wall to end the seventh.

Vastine pulled a homer to right in the top of the next frame to put it out of reach.

The Commodores face the winner of Wednesday night’s Mississippi State-Texas A&M game about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the LSU-South Carolina game, which starts at 4:30 Central.

Vanderbilt's RPI edged up to 20 within minutes of the game's completion, according to WarrenNolan.com.

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