Palo Alto, Calif. – No. 2 Vanderbilt claimed the series with a 5-2 win over Stanford on Sunday at Sunken Diamond using timely, two-out hitting to get the job done.
The Commodores (10-1) entered the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead and starter Kyle Wright having allowed only a two-out double in the second inning. The VU offense then pushed the lead to five runs with a two-out rally. Bryan Reynolds worked a walk to put two runners aboard for Will Toffey. The sophomore smashed a two-run double into the left-center field gap then trotted home from third on Jason Delay’s second hit of the day, a single to left.
Stanford (7-5) battled back in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out rally of their own. Back-to-back doubles from Jack Klein and Bryce Carter cut the Vanderbilt lead to three runs before Wright finally finished the frame with a groundout to second. The VU bullpen did the rest of the work from there with Ryan Johnson, Collin Snider, Matt Ruppenthal and Hayden Stone combining for four scoreless innings to seal the victory. Stone navigated a one-out, infield single in the ninth to notch his second save of the weekend.
Vandy struck first in the second inning with Delay coming through with a double to the wall in left-center field to chase Alonzo Jones home, who led off the inning with a walk. Two batters later Penn Murfee hit the first pitch he saw into center field for a quick 2-0 Vandy lead.
Wright earned his second win of the season with five strong innings. The big right-hander cruised through the first 4.2 innings before Stanford scratched out a pair of runs. Wright retired eight straight at one point and 12 of the first 13 he faced.
Jones and Delay led the way for the offense with two hits each with Delay driving in a pair of runs. Reynolds pushed his hitting streak to eight games with a single and Jeren Kendall has now reached base in all 11 games this season, singling in the first inning.
Vanderbilt returns home for a five-game week at Hawkins Field beginning with a two-game series with Radford on Tuesday before hosting Xavier for a three-game set over the weekend.
