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View Box Score | 2008 Season Stats
UPCOMING HOME GAMES AT HAWKINS FIELD
Sunday, March 16 vs. South Carolina at 1 p.m. CT
Wednesday, March 19 vs. Lipscomb at 6 p.m. CT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – South Carolina scored five runs in the first and never looked back in a 16-7 win over Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
The Gamecocks (11-4, 1-1 SEC) evened the series up at 1-1 and snapped the Commodores (11-4, 1-1) five game winning streak.
“They hit the ball hard all day and set the tone early,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “When they get on a roll, they are tough to stop.”
SC took advantage of a Ryan Flaherty fielding error to plate four unearned runs in the first to take a 5-0 lead. Justin Smoak, Harley Lail and Andrew Crisp each had RBI singles while Phil Disher capped off the inning with a two-run single.
The Dores tallied a run in the bottom half of the first, but South Carolina responded with five more runs in the third to build a comfortable lead. James Darnell had a RBI single for the first run in the inning and Andrew Crisp added a two-run double that knocked VU starter Nick Christiani out of the game. Disher capped off the scoring again with a two-run homer on Steven Schwartz’ first pitch in relief to make it 10-1
Christiani (1-1) gave up nine runs, five earned, on nine hits in 2.1 innings to take the loss.
Darnell keyed a three-run fourth with a two-run homer and the Gamecocks added three more in the fifth to make it 16-1. Kyle Enders keyed the fifth with a two-run double.
Parker Hanks tripled in the fifth and scored on a sacrifice fly RBI by Brian Harris for VU’s second run. Brad French added a RBI single in the sixth to make it 16-3.
Flaherty added a fielder’s choice RBI and Andrew Giobbi a RBI double to make it 16-5. Jordan Wormsley came through with a RBI single in the eighth and the Dores closed out the scoring with a run in the ninth.
Drew Hayes pitched two shutout innings of relief with a strikeout. Alex Feinberg led VU with three hits while Andrew Giobbi had two of his own with two RBI.
“You got to put this one behind you,” added Corbin. “If you think about this loss tomorrow you will get beat the same way. Everything changes tomorrow, you see it in this league all the time things can change quickly.”
The game was scheduled to start at 2 p.m. but was delayed for two hours and 19 minutes due to rain.
Vanderbilt and South Carolina will play the rubber game of the series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Redshirt freshman righthander Caleb Cotham (2-0, 1.96 ERA) will take the hill for VU, while sophomore righthander Blake Cooper (2-1, 1.80 ERA) will start for USC.
South Carolina 505 330 000 – 16 18 1
Vanderbilt 100 011 211 – 7 12 1
Atwood, Hopper (7) and Enders. Christiani, Schwartz (3), Hayes (8) and Robin, Giobbi. W- Atwood 1-0, L- Christiani (1-1). Sv- None HR: USC: Darnell (3), Disher (4)
