NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt took advantage of 14 walks and recorded 15 hits while holding off a late Lipscomb rally in a 13-10 win at Ken Dugan Field on Tuesday.
Five Commodores had at least two hits in the game, led by a four-hit, five-RBI game from Jason Esposito and three-hit efforts from Drew Fann and Aaron Westlake.
With the win, Vanderbilt improved to 30-9 overall while the loss dropped Lipscomb to 13-25.
Lipscomb got on the scoreboard in the first when Cory Hale hit a three-run home run over the center-field wall off Vanderbilt starter Drew Hayes. Tyler Wilson led off the game with a single to center field and then advanced to second when Lee Wilson drew a walk.
The Commodores responded with four runs in the top of the second when they collected three hits and three walks. Fann plated the first Vanderbilt run of the game when his single through the left side drove in Connor Harrell. Anthony Gomez then placed a perfect bunt down the first-base line for a base-hit to drive in Joe Loftus from third to get the Commodores within one run. Following a Brian Harris walk that loaded the bases, Esposito gave VU its first lead of the game when he drove in Gomez and Fann with a two-RBI
single through the left side.
Vanderbilt added one more run in the top of third when Westlake scored on an RBI-single down the left-field line by Harrell, to make it 5-3 game. Westlake led off the inning with a double to right-center and than advanced to third on a Giobbi ground out.
The Commodores extended its lead to 7-3 in the top of fourth when Esposito launched a first-pitch fastball into the trees beyond the left-field wall for a two-run home run. Harris led off the inning with a four-pitch walk before scoring on Esposito’s eighth round-tripper of the year.
Lipscomb got two runs back in the bottom of the fourth when Andrew Nickerson connected on a two-run homer to left-field for the Bisons’ second multi-run homer of the game.
Vanderbilt tacked three more runs on the board in the fifth when they took advantage of three walks and a Bison error to go up 10-5. Esposito drove in his fifth run of the game with an RBI-single while the other two runs came courtesy of a Giobbi sacrifice fly and bases loaded walk by Westlake.
After both teams traded runs in the sixth inning, the Commodores added two more in the seventh with a Joe Loftus RBI-double and a Fann RBI-single. Harrell drew a one-out walk and then came home on Loftus’ double.
Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth, when Lipscomb registered three straight two-out singles before Hale drove Will Clinard’s pitch over the left-field wall for a grand slam, cutting the Vanderbilt lead to 13-10.
VU’s Hayes improved to 5-0 on the season after allowing five runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in five innings of work.
Clinard earned his first save of the season, allowing five runs on seven hits with three walks in four-innings of relief.
The Commodores will continue their road trip against Middle Tennessee tomorrow at 6 p.m. in Murfreesboro.
