Nashville, Tenn. – No. 17 Vanderbilt’s offense erupted on Sunday afternoon in an 11-3 victory over CSUN at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores (7-5) rolled into the fifth inning with a two-run lead thanks to a pair of Ethan Paul solo home runs. The Dores put the game away in the fifth with a seven-run inning, sending 11 men to the plate and collecting five hits. Back-to-back walks to Connor Kaiser and Will Toffey ended CSUN (6-5) starter Samuel Myers’ afternoon. Julian Infante greeted new Matadors pitcher Drake Atlee with a single to load the bases. JJ Bleday’s single made it 3-0 and Paul pushed the lead to four runs with his third RBI of the day, lifting a sacrifice fly to center field. The Dores mounted a two-out rally from there with consecutive RBI-singles from Jason Delay and Stephen Scott. With Jeren Kendall on deck, Walker Grisanti was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Kendall capped the Commodores’ biggest inning of the year by belting a three-run, bases clearing double off the left field wall.
Freshman Drake Fellows earned his second win of the season with six strong innings. The right-hander cruised through the first five frames allowing only four hits. He worked out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth with a groundout to Paul and stranded another runner in scoring position in the fifth. The Matadors finally got to him in the sixth when Riley Conlan led off the inning with a solo homer. Fellows yielded three more singles before finishing off his day with his fifth strikeout of the game.
After struggling offensively in the first two games of the series, the Commodores answered in a big way on Sunday, matching the team’s season-high for runs in a game and drawing a season-best nine walks. The Dores were a combined 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position on Friday and Saturday but went 7-for-10 in the win on Sunday with eight two-out RBIs. Paul recorded his first two home run game and joins Kendall as the two Commodores to hit multiple home runs in a game this season. Eight different Commodores recorded hits in the win, including Scott who made his season debut by starting in left field and going 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Michael Sandborn made his collegiate debut on the mound with a clean inning of relief.
Myers took the loss for CSUN after allowing four runs on three hits and four walks over 4.1 innings. Vanderbilt scored seven runs on the Matadors’ bullpen over the final 3.2 innings. Conlan drove in three runs with two hits in the loss.
The Commodores are set to host five games again this week with Central Arkansas on Tuesday and Wednesday and Saint Mary’s for a three-game series starting Friday. First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 4 p.m. on SEC Network+ against the Bears.
