NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt rapped out 13 hits and had both solid starting and relief pitching in a 4-3 win over Tennessee in front of a school record 2.654 fans Saturday evening at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores captured the season series to improve to 34-8 overall and 11-6 in SEC play, while the Vols dropped to 22-16 and 6-9 in SEC play.
Freshman southpaw Mike Minor gave up three runs on five hits in six innings of work with four strikeouts and two walks to improve to 7-0 on the year. Brett Jacobson made his first relief appearance of the season in the seventh and pitched 1.2 innings of two-hit scoreless baseball.
Casey Weathers came on with two outs in the eighth with the Commodores holding a 4-3 lead with the tying run at second base. He walked Yan Gomes and then struck out Danny Lima looking to end the threat. Weathers retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up his second save in as many days and his fifth of the year.
“At the end of this game, either way, I felt like we hit the ball well and that is good to see,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “We also played good defense and we pitched and we hung on because they had some very important hitters coming up in some key situations.”
The Commodores jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning courtesy of a sacrifice fly RBI by Dominic de la Osa. David Macias walked and moved to third on a hit and run single by Alex Feinberg and then scored on de la Osa’s fly ball to right.
VU added another run in the third to make it 2-0, courtesy of a RBI single by de la Osa. Macias singled, moved to second on a grounder and then scored on the single up the middle.
UT got on the board in the fourth when Julio Borbon tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly RBI by Tony Delmonico off of Mike Minor. Yan Gomes singled and stole second with two outs and tried to score on a single to left by Danny Lima but was thrown out at the plate by Matt Meingasner to end the inning.
The Dores plated two more in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by de la Osa with the bases loaded and a RBI single by Pedro Alvarez to make it 4-1. Brad French singled through the right side to start the inning and David Macias and Alex Feinberg both reached on bunt singles to load the bases.
UT starter Craig Cobb (6-3) gave up four runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work with two walks and no strikeouts in the loss.
“We did what we thought we could if we handled the zone well,” added Corbin. “Cobb is very dangerous if he gets you out in front and he pitched a masterful game against us last year and the kids remembered that and they felt like they had to do a better job of commanding the zone which I thought they did.”
Yan Gomes two-out two-run homer in the sixth cut the lead to 4-3. J.P. Arencibia hit a two-out single to left before Gomes’ homer to left-center.
The Commodores and Vols will play the final game of the three game series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT. Sophomore southpaw Lance McClain (5-4, 4.80 ERA) will take the hill for UT, while VU will counter with senior lefty Stephen Shao (0-2, 6.04 ERA).
Tennessee 000 102 000 -3 7 0
Vanderbilt 101 020 00x -4 13 0
Cobb, Everett (5), Lockwood (8) and Gomes. Minor, Jacobson (7), Weathers (8) and Robin. W- Minor 7-0, L- Cobb 6-3. Sv- Weathers (5). HR- UT: Gomes (7) VU: None.
