NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Top-ranked Vanderbilt jumped on No. 21 Alabama early scoring in each of the first three innings and rode the strong pitching of Grayson Garvin to a 7-0 win at Hawkins Field on Saturday afternoon.
Garvin dominated over 7.1 innings to earn his sixth win of the year. The lefty fanned seven and scattered four hits and two walks before turning it over to the bullpen. Only one Crimson Tide player reached third base and only three reached scoring position against Garvin. Will Clinard and Kevin Ziomek finished off the Commodores’ fourth shutout victory of the year.
Vanderbilt put one run on the board in each of the first two frames before blowing the game open with three runs in the third. Jason Esposito’s infield single scored a run in the first and Connor Harrell’s single knocked in a run in the second. RBI-singles from Mike Yastrzemski and Joe Loftus along with an Alabama error led to three runs in the third inning. Anthony Gomez, Aaron Westlake and Esposito all had two hits on the afternoon to lead VU. Gomez pushed his hitting streak to 27 games with a first inning single.
Crimson Tide starter Adam Morgan was pegged with the loss giving up five runs, four earned, on nine hits across six innings. Alabama was limited to six hits on the day.
For the second day in a row Hawkins Field welcomed a season-best crowd with 3,141 fans in attendance on Saturday afternoon.
The Commodores bring the brooms tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at Hawkins Field. Senior Taylor Hill takes the ball for the home team against Crimson Tide lefty Taylor Wolfe.
