NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Four Vanderbilt pitchers, led by starter Taylor Hill, limited Lipscomb to just four hits in a 10-3 win in baseball action Tuesday evening at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores (6-3) won their fifth straight game and third straight over the Bison (3-5).
Taylor Hill (1-0) held Lipscomb to just four hits in six innings of work and gave up three earned runs with six strikeouts and no walks. Drew Hayes, Russell Brewer and Sonny Gray each pitched an inning of hitless, scoreless relief.
“I kind of take him for granted because you look at him pitch and you think he is older than he is,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin of starter Taylor Hill. “He’s come a long way in a short amount of time and I like him a lot. He is going to be very good and I like the way he threw tonight.”
Vanderbilt scored 10 or more runs for the third straight game and finished with nine hits in the contest. Brian Harris had two hits and scored three runs from the leadoff spot, while Aaron Westlake chipped in with two hits and a career high four RBI. Freshman Jason Esposito rounded out the multi-hit contingent with two hits of his own.
Brian Harris and Steven Liddle had back-to-back singles to leadoff the bottom of the first with Harris going to third on Liddle’s hit. Curt Casali hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Harris and give VU an early 1-0 lead.
Lipscomb got on the board in the third on Brad Gooch’s solo homer off of Hill to tie the game.
Vanderbilt plated two runs in the four when Casali led off with a single and scored on Esposito’s triple to left-center. A throwing error on a Joe Loftus grounder to short allowed Esposito to score to make it 3-2.
The Bison plated a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Jay Moreland to make it 3-2, but the Commodores scored two more runs in the bottom half to extend the lead to 5-2. Riley Reynolds reached on an error to third and Brian Harris walked to lead off the inning. Steven Liddle sacrificed both over on a bunt to third and Curt Casali followed with a walk to load the bases. Aaron Westlake then came through with a two-run double to left to plate Reynolds and Liddle.
Lipscomb came back with a run in the sixth on a RBI single by Justin Sanders to make it 5-3, but the Commodores responded yet again, this time with a five-run inning to put the game away. The big hits in the inning were a RBI single by Harris, a two-run single by Westlake and a RBI single by Jason Esposito.
“Our production was pretty good,” said Corbin. “I thought it was slow going at first and we ran into some outs. I thought as the game progressed, we did a good job of punching runs across. Westlake’s double with the bases loaded and single with the bases loaded was key.”
The Commodores will conclude their nine-game home stand with a four-game series against UIC starting on Thursday at 4 p.m. CT. For tickets, call (615) 322-GOLD or click here.
Lipscomb 000 011 000 – 3 4 0
Vanderbilt 100 225 00x – 10 9 1
Williams, Bowling (6), Cotham (7), Young (8) and Moreland. Hill, Hayes (7), Brewer (8), Gray (9) and Westlake. W- Hill 1-0, L- Williams 0-2. Sv- None HR: LIP: Gooch (1).
