MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Nick Christiani, Chase Reid and Russell Brewer held Middle Tennessee scoreless for the final 5.1 innings as Vanderbilt rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 6-5 Wednesday night at Reese Smith Field.
The Commodores took the season series over the Blue Raiders to improve to 19-7 and snapped a two-game losing skid in Murfreesboro. MTSU fell to 12-12-1 with the loss.
Nick Christiani (2-1) pitched three innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win. He gave up three hits with three walks and two strikeouts and left the game with a 6-5 lead. Chase Reid relieved him with runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh and got Zach Barrett to strike out to end the threat.
Middle Tennessee had the tying run at second with one out in the eighth, but Reid once again got out of the situation striking out Riley Bishop and getting Bryce Brent to fly out to deep left to keep the one run lead.
Russell Brewer came on in the ninth and gave up a leadoff double to Tyler Burnett. A sacrifice bunt by Taylor Dennis advanced him to third with one out. Brewer then buckled down and struck out Tyler Acker and got Zach Barrett to pop out to second to end the game.
“The story for us was the three guys who pitched in relief,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. Christiani put a band-aid on it and shut them down. Reid came in and did yeoman work and Brewer threw strikes.”
Middle Tennessee’s Zach Barrett singled to lead off the first and scored on Nathan Hines RBI double to left-center to give the Blue Raiders an early 1-0 lead.
Parker Hanks solo homer, his second of the year, in the second tied the game at 1-1.
The Blue Raiders tallied three runs in the second to take a 4-3 lead. Bryce Brentz led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a single by Tyler Burnett. Taylor Dennis brought Brentz home on a single up the middle. Two more runs scored on a fielder’s choice RBI by Zach Barrett. He hit a possible double play ball to short that second baseman Alex Feinberg threw low to first on the turn to allow a run to score.
VU took advantage of MTSU starter’s Chad Edwards control problems in the third to plate two runs to cut the lead to 4-3. The first run came on a wild pitch and the second on a bases loaded walk to Alex Feinberg.
The Dores then tied the game in the fourth on a RBI single by Dominic de la Osa. Shea Robin walked and moved to second when a catcher’s interference call allowed David Macias to reach first. Robin then scored on de la Osa’s two-out single to left.
MTSU took the lead back in the bottom half on a RBI single by Tyler Acker to make it 5-4.
Steven Liddle’s RBI double off the wall in left-center scored Alex Feinberg from second in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5.
The Commodores took the lead for the first time in the game in the sixth when David Macias scored on a RBI grounder by Pedro Alvarez.
“We had to battle to get back on top,” added Corbin. “When it was 6-5 I was thinking there was no way it was enough. I just didn’t think that.”
The Commodores will be back in action this weekend on the road against Ole Miss in a three-game series. The teams will open play on Friday at 6:30 p.m. with a 4 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1:30 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
Vanderbilt 012 111 000 – 6 7 3
Middle Tennessee 130 100 000 – 5 9 3
Bierman, Christiani (4), Reid (7), Brewer (9) and Robin. Edwards, Smalley (5), Adamson (6), Robinson (7), Alvis (8), Stanley (9) and Acker. W- Christiani 2-1. L- Smalley 1-1Sv: Brewer (2) HR: Hanks (2)
