NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Senior Andrew Giobbi went 4-for-4 with four RBI to lead Vanderbilt to a 7-2 win over Wofford Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores extended their winning streak to seven games and improved to 22-4, while the Terriers fell to 8-16.
Giobbi has eight hits in nine at-bats over his last two games with a homer, three doubles and six RBI. In the short span, he has raised his batting average from .289 to .340.
“It started with Saturday’s game against Kentucky and he used the whole field tonight and that’s an older hitter,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “He should be confident at the plate because he is a big hitter.”
Will Clinard pitched four innings of three-hit scoreless relief with five strikeouts and a walk to pick up the win to move to 2-0 on the year.
Starter Chase Reid went two innings, allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk while on a pitch count limit.
Corey Williams allowed a run on two hits with two strikeouts in an inning and Sam Selman and Grayson Garvin each threw an inning of scoreless relief. It was Garvin’s first appearance of the year and he struck out the side in the ninth in impressive fashion.
“I thought we pieced the pitching together for the most part and I thought Will did a good job,” said Corbin. “It was good to get Grayson Garvin out there again and he pitched well in the ninth.”
Cash Collins (0-1) took the loss for the Terriers, allowing six runs on eight hits in 2.2 innings with two strikeouts and a walk.
Wofford got on the board first in the second inning on three consecutive singles by Landon Bennett, David Roney and Josh McKinney (RBI).
VU came right back in the bottom half as Jason Esposito walked and Giobbi followed with a two-run homer to left-center. Drew Fann and Joe Loftus hit one-out singles and after Fann got thrown out at third on a failed hit and run, Anthony Gomez singled home Loftus to make it 3-1.
The Commodores plated three more runs in the third, two coming on Giobbi’s double to the wall in right-center and another on Connor Harrell’s single up the middle.
Esposito scored the Dores seventh run in the fifth when he was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher, and came home on a wild pitch.
The Terriers added a second run when Josh McKinney doubled and scored on Matt Moore’s double to left-center.
Joe Loftus and Anthony Gomez added two hits to help lead the VU 13-ht attack.
“Offensively we scored five runs with two outs and that was kind of the difference in the game,” added Corbin. “We didn’t put a lot of quality at bats together, they were spread out and we got opportunistic hits by Giobbi, Gomez and Harrell to drive in runs.”
The Commodores and Terriers will play game two of the series tomorrow at 6 p.m. VU will then head down to Gainesville to take on No. 8 Florida on the weekend.
