Young's homer leads Vanderbilt comeback over Mississippi State

Vanderbilt shortstop Carter Young belted a three-run home run in the fifth, putting the Commodores ahead for good in a 7-4 win over Mississippi State at Nashville's Hawkins Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Commodores fell down 4-0 after 3 1/2 innings, but rallied for two runs in each of the fourth and sixth and three in the fifth.

In the meantime, right-hander Chris McElvain (3-0) mostly kept the Bulldogs off the board, firing 51/3 innings of one-run ball, scattering five hits and two walks while striking out four while picking up a win.

"The last three outings, he's given us length, and length is what he needed," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said of McElvain's outing.

Nick Maldonado finished with 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one walk with four strikeouts, to register his third save.

Vanderbilt (31-7, 13-5 Southeastern Conference) is now tied atop the SEC standings with Arkansas, and has a one-game lead over Tennessee (over which it owns the tiebreaker) in the East.

Things got off to an awful start for the Commodores, who trailed 4-0 after losing 7-4 the night before.

"We’ve been in this before," Corbin answered, when asked about what dugout conversations were like with MSU leading 4-0. "It’s not like three innings to find a game. You just have to continue through understanding momentum turns quickly at the college game.

We just needed to get the momentum back and we did that. (McElvain) did that. The 5-4-3 (double play) in the fourth, the first one was kind of a turning point, it kind of sent the momentum back into our dugout. And then we got a couple of hits and the game started moving. Once we got on the scoreboard, we felt like the game was in play again.

"But first, second innings like that, when you get jumped by a team like that, it’s tough to keep up the momentum like that, especially in an emotional series."

And in the meantime, the 'Dores dodged a few bullets when MSU left the bases loaded in the first and third.

It was Young who provided the offensive spark with the game's first hit, a triple that ignited a two-run fourth, then, his three-run homer the next inning.

"I think the most important part was the response to last night, because he had a tough last night and he left the ballpark a very disappointed young man," Corbin said of Young, who walked, had a 30-foot single off home plate and struck out twice on Saturday. "And (hitting coach Mike Baxter) had a pretty stern talk with him, too, just in terms of mentality at the plate. ... You have to be in the right mindset in order to get those big hits."

As with Saturday, nothing went Vanderbilt's way early.

Vanderbilt starter Patrick Reilly walked Rowdey Jordan to start the game and then did the same to Kamren James with one out. Luke Hancock then lofted a fly ball to left where Cooper Davis was playing deep. The ball bounced in front of Davis and then over his head as he slid, making for an RBI double.

After Reilly walked Logan Tanner, Scotty Dubrule dumped a single into left for two more runs and two hitters later, McElvain was on with the bases loaded and one out. McElvain got a strikeout and a fly-out to end that with no more damage.

State made the lead 4-0 when Tanner Allen homered to center with one out in the second. The Bulldogs loaded the bases against McElvain after the right-hander had two outs, but a Jordan ground-out ended that without a run.

That was the last run the Bulldogs put up off McElwain until the sophomore departed after his 77th pitch, which Allen lifted over Young’s head into center for a hustle double.

Vandy went to Maldonado to face James, and the sophomore got a strikeout to end the sixth.

Vanderbilt--which reached just once off starter Jackson Fristoe in the first three innings, that coming on a Parker Noland walk--finally got going when Young tripled off the wall in center before scoring on a Dominic Keegan ground-out. A C.J. Rodriguez single cut the deficit to 4-2.

In the fifth, third baseman Jayson Gonzalez punched a one-out single to right and then Enrique Bradfield Jr. followed with a walk. Young followed with a home run to right to give Vandy its first lead.

Bradfield added runs six and seven with an opposite-field, two-out single off lefty Houston Harding.

In the meantime, Maldonado shut down Mississippi State with a wicked cutter. He also got help from Gonzalez to start a 5-4-3 double play in the seventh, erasing the only base runner he allowed.

For the third-straight day, there was a noticeable presence of noisy football players over the home dugout, something Corbin acknowledged later.

"It was great. .... That's why we have jobs, to create the best possible atmosphere for the kids. ... Their ability to get out here and share that energy, it's kind of a boomerang effect," Corbin said.

"That energy gets on the field and it goes back to them and its combustable at times. ... Those football players, (I'm) very appreciative of what they did. They didn't have to do that. We owe them, we owe them big time. ... But I was happy the fans got to see the kids.

The Commodores don't have a mid-week game, but will next travel for a three-game series with nemesis Florida starting Friday.