NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ryan Flaherty and Dominic de la Osa both hit homers to lead Vanderbilt to a 7-3 win over Belmont Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Commodores who improved to 15-6 on the year. The Bruins dropped their sixth straight to VU and fell to 8-13 on the year.
“After the weekend it is always big to come back and win a game,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “The hits that we got tonight counted and I thought we pitched pretty well from innings four through nine.”
Vanderbilt took a 2-0 lead in the first, scoring two runs on a fielding error with the bases loaded. Belmont’s Derek Wiley tied the game in the top of the second with a towering two-run homer over the batter’s eye in centerfield off of Commodore starter Brett Jacobson.
Vanderbilt came back to take the lead in the bottom half when Dominic de la Osa walked and then scored on Ryan Flaherty’s line drive homer to right-center to make it 4-2. It was the fourth round-tripper of the season for Flaherty, tying his single season high set a year ago.
The Bruins cut it to 4-3 in the third on a RBI single by Carlo Testa.
Jacobson would settle down finish with a season high seven innings of action to move to 1-2 on the year. He allowed three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
“I thought Brett’s ability to get through the lineup a second and third time was key for him,” said Corbin. “Hopefully that helps him more. He is a talented kid and things haven’t been going his way, but it was good to see that tonight from him.”
De la Osa’s solo homer to left-center in the seventh extended the lead to 5-3. The Dores would add two more runs in the eighth to make it 7-3. Alex Feinberg singled to open the inning and then scored on a RBI double by Steven Liddle. Liddle advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Shea Robin and scored on a wild pitch by reliever Logan Simmons.
Drew Hayes closed it out with two innings of hitless relief with three strikeouts to pick up his first save in a Vanderbilt uniform.
The Commodores will be back in action at Hawkins Field tomorrow night as Middle Tennessee comes over for a 6 p.m. contest. Freshman southpaw Sean Bierman (0-0, 15.88 ERA) will take the hill for Vanderbilt.
Belmont 021 000 000 -3 7 3
Vanderbilt 220 000 12x -7 6 0
Woods, Swineheart (3), Diaz (6), Moffitt (7), Simmons (8), Manning (8) and Zeblo. Jacobson, Hayes (8) and Robin. W-Jacobson 1-2, L- Woods 0-1. Sv- Hayes (1) HR: BEL: Wiley (4). VU: Flaherty (4), de la Osa (3)
