Nashville, Tenn. – Vanderbilt dropped the series finale to Texas A&M 6-4 on Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores’ (16-9, 3-3) offense failed to get in gear through the first four innings leaving seven runners on base. The Aggies (16-9, 1-5), however, took advantage of a two-out rally to score three runs and take the lead in the fourth. Joel Davis singled with two down to put two runners on in front of George Janca. The Aggies’ third baseman belted a three-run homer in the ninth inning of yesterday’s game and did it again on Sunday, launching a three-run shot to left-center field for a 3-0 Texas A&M advantage. The Dores scratched one run back in the fourth, thanks to a pair of Aggies errors but left the bases loaded.
The Commodores chased the Aggies all afternoon with Texas A&M scoring two runs in the fifth and Vandy getting one back in the bottom half on a Jason Delay RBI-double. The Aggies immediately got the run back in the sixth to take a four-run lead.
Vanderbilt’s final chance came in the eighth when the squad put together a two-out rally. Stephen Scott singled to start the inning and moved to second when Delay was hit by a pitch. Ethan Paul grounded out to first to put both runners in scoring position before JJ Bleday knocked in a run with a grounder to second. Connor Kaiser lined a single into left field to score Delay and bring VU within two runs. Jeren Kendall followed with a single of his own to record his sixth straight multi-hit game and bring the go-ahead run to the plate in Reed Hayes. The junior, however, popped out to first base to end the inning and the threat.
Collin Snider took the loss in his first career start, giving up three runs on six hits over 3.2 innings. Matt Ruppenthal turned in a season-high 4.2 innings of relief. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts.
Kaylor Chafin earned the win in relief with 3.2 innings of work. The lefty gave up three runs on three hits. Janca went 2-for-4 with three RBIs with Braden Shewmake driving in two more runs.
The Commodores return to action on Tuesday night in downtown Nashville at First Tennessee Park against Lipscomb at 6:30 p.m.
