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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 8 Vanderbilt clinched the series against Stanford Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field with a 5-1 win behind a strong pitching performance.
Starter Jared Miller entered Saturday’s game without allowing a run or a walk in his previous two starts. The big lefty allowed one run on three hits and three walks but still picked up his third win of the year. Miller pitched around trouble on more than one occasion starting in the second when Alex Dunlap led off with a single before Miller forced a double play to help eliminate any threat. A leadoff walk in the fifth finally caught up with Miller when Zach Hoffpauir ripped a triple into the left-center field gap to score a run and cut the VU lead to a single run. But Miller responded with a pair of strikeouts and a tapper back to the mound to keep the Commodores (9-2) in front.
The bullpen took it from there with Hayden Stone, Adam Ravenelle and Brian Miller combining for four scoreless innings. Stone turned in two innings, entering in the sixth with a runner aboard and no outs before promptly inducing a double play and another groundout to end the Cardinal (4-6) inning. Ravenelle and Brian Miller each worked 1-2-3 innings to finish off the Commodores’ ninth win of 2014.
The Vandy offense struck first in the first inning when leadoff hitter Dansby Swanson walked and moved to second on a balk. Rhett Wiseman then smacked a double into the left-center field gap for a quick 1-0 VU lead. With two outs in the fifth, Vince Conde smashed his first home run of the season to give Vanderbilt all the offense it needed. The Cardinal gave the Dores an insurance run in the fifth when reliever Logan James balked in a run with the bases loaded. Vanderbilt put the game away in the eighth with two more runs. Nolan Rogers found a hole in the Stanford drawn-in infield to score Zander Wiel from third before Chris Harvey’s safety squeeze plated Bryan Reynolds to set the final score.
Rogers led the way for the Commodores with a pair of hits in the win with six Dores collecting hits on the afternoon. Swanson saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end going 0-for-3 with two walks and a run scored. Hoffpauir paced the Cardinal with two of the squad’s three hits.
Stanford starter Chris Viall took the loss allowing three runs on four hits and five walks over four-plus innings.
Vanderbilt wraps up the series with Stanford tomorrow with first pitch set for noon. Sophomore Tyler Ferguson is slated to get the ball for the Commodores.
