NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Top-ranked Vanderbilt cruised to a 6-0 win over Wofford Tuesday night at Hawkins Field to notch the Commodore’s seventh shutout victory of the season.
Freshman Kyle Wright worked five scoreless innings to earn the win in his first start since March 1 combining with Philip Pfeifer and Tyler Ferguson on the shutout. Wright worked in and out of trouble over his five frames stranding the bases loaded in the second inning after the Commodores (23-6) had staked him to a two-run lead in the first. Wright again dodged trouble in the fourth with his fourth strikeout of the night after a two-out double. He escaped one final bases loaded jam in his last inning in the fifth by deflecting a ball hit up the middle with his foot right to shortstop Dansby Swanson who stepped on the bag for the final out.
The Commodores carried a 2-0 lead into the fifth when Jason Delay joined the home run club, belting his first career homer to left field to lead off the inning. Delay is the ninth Commodore this year to hit a home run with the team’s total reaching 21 already this season, one shy of the team’s total from all of last year. The Dores put the game away in the seventh when Swanson tripled to center field to score a run and later crossed home plate on a wild pitch. The triple capped off a three-hit night for Swanson, who is now 6-for-8 over the last two games.
The Vandy offense featured a balanced attack with eight different players contributing at least one hit to the team’s 13-hit total. Bryan Reynolds extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a first inning RBI-single and later added another single for his team-best 10th two-hit game of the season. Delay chipped in a two-out single to right field for his second hit of the night.
Pfeifer and Ferguson were sharp out of the pen combining for nine strikeouts of the 12 outs they recorded. Ferguson punched out four, striking out the side in the ninth to finish off the shutout.
Wofford (23-8) starter Elliot Lance took the loss allowing four runs, two earned, on nine hits over 5.2 innings. Conor Clancey collected three of the Terriers’ seven hits on the night.
The two teams wrap up the two-game series tomorrow at 5 p.m. on SEC Network+. Lefty John Kilichowski gets the ball for the Dores against right-hander Jordan Accetta.
