NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt used homers by David Macias and Curt Casali to power past Western Carolina 11-4 Wednesday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores swept the two-game set over the Catamounts to improve to 10-3 on the year. WCU dropped to 4-9.
Western Carolina’s Blake Murphy staked his team to a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run homer to left off of VU starter Mark Lamm.
The Commodores came right back to tie the game in the bottom half when Andrew Giobbi doubled in Alex Feinberg and Dominic de la Osa to make it 2-2.
Shea Robin doubled to lead off the third and Brian Harris was hit by a pitch, setting up David Macias’ three-run homer to left. It was his first homer of the season and first ever at Hawkins Field. The only other homer of his career happened against Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro on April 18, 2006.
“It was first and third, one out, and he (Tyler Sexton) left it above my lap and I got a good piece on it,” said Macias on the homer. “To tell you truth, I thought it was going to hit off the wall so I just kept running and fortunately it went out.”
WCU cut the lead to 5-3 in the third on a RBI double by Barrett Shaft. The Dores responded in the bottom half when Curt Casali belted a two-run homer to left, his first career round-tripper, to make it 7-3.
The Catamounts tallied a run in the sixth, scoring on a RBI single by Nick Liles to make it 7-4.
VU took advantage of two WCU errors to score two runs in the seventh and Jonathan White lined a solo homer in the eighth to make it 10-4. Brian Harris scored on a wild pitch for the final run of the game.
Freshman Taylor Hill (1-0) picked up his first career win with two innings of scoreless relief. He struck out four and walked one while not allowing a hit.
Brett Jacobson relieved Hill to start the sixth closed out the game for the save. He allowed one run on four hits with two walks and a season high six strikeouts.
The senior trio of David Macias, Alex Feinberg and Shea Robin led the Commodores with two hits each.
WCU starter Tyler Sexton (0-2) was charged with the loss, allowing seven earned runs on five hits in 2.1 innings.
Vanderbilt will open its defense of the Southeastern Conference title this weekend as top-ten ranked South Carolina comes into town for a three-game series. It begins on Friday at 6 p.m., with a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
Western Carolina 201 001 000 -4 6 3
Vanderbilt 232 000 22x -11 10 0
Sexton, Masters (3), Johnson (7), Chavis (8) and Murphy. Lamm, Hill (4), Jacobson (6) and Casali. W- Hill 1-0, L- Sexton 0-2. Sv- Jacobson (1) HR: WCU: Murphy (5), VU: Macias (1), Casali (1), White (2).
