NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Taylor Hill continued where Sonny Gray and Corey Williams left off on Friday, throwing six and two thirds innings of scoreless baseball in Vanderbilt’s 16-2 win over Niagara Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
Hill (1-0) struck out a career-high nine batters and scattered six hits in the start, before getting relieved with two outs in the seventh inning.
“I just had to make adjustments as they (Niagara) came out swinging today,” said Hill. “I got into a rhythm towards the end of the first inning and our defense played well behind me.”
Vanderbilt took advantage of 10 walks, six hit batters, two wild pitches, two balks and an error to score 16 runs on 12 hits on the afternoon.
“It’s always to nice to score 16 runs but going back to what happened yesterday we had a pitcher (Hill) that had another quality start and got into the seventh inning for us,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.
The Commodores got on the board in the first inning on a RBI double by Andrew Giobbi. Brian Harris led off with a walk, stole second and scored on Giobbi’s double through the left side.
Michael Yastrzemski led off the second with a single and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice by Connor Harrell. Harris was hit by a pitch and both runners stole a base to put runners on second and third. Jason Esposito’s sacrifice fly ball to right scored Yastrzemski to make it 2-0.
Niagara threatened in the fourth when Ryan McCauley got hit by a pitch and Jason Cramer singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. The Dores got out of the situation as shortstop Brian Harris pulled the hidden ball trick on McCauley, tagging him out when he led off second base. Andrew Giobbi then caught Cramer trying to steal second for the second out to clear the bases.
VU added another run in the fourth when Harris walked, moved to third on a double by Jason Esposito and scored on Giobbi’s RBI groundout to third.
The Dores took advantage of a fielding miscue by Purple Eagles shortstop Jason Cramer to score three unearned runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 6-0.
VU exploded for 10 runs in the seventh to push the advantage to 16-0. Brian Harris and Curt Casali both had two-run singles and Andrew Harris capped things off with a bases loaded double, his first career hit, that cleared the bases.
Jason Cramer’s two-run homer with one-out in the eighth put Niagara on the board for the first time in the series and snapped a 16 and a third inning scoreless streak for the Commodores to start the season.
Drew Hayes gave up two runs on three hits in 1.1 innings of work with a walk and a strikeout, while freshman Sam Selman pitched a scoreless ninth in his first collegiate outing.
Brian Harris was 2-for-2 with two walks, two RBI and four runs scored to lead VU, while his brother Andrew added a three-run double. Jason Esposito had two hits and two runs scored while freshmen Regan Flaherty, Connor Harrell and junior Bryan Johns each collected their first hits at Vanderbilt.
The Commodores and Purple Eagles will play the final game of the three game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Sophomore right-hander Jack Armstrong will take the hill for VU, while Niagara’s starter is still to be determined.
