Nashville, Tenn. – No. 3 Vanderbilt eased by Belmont 8-2 Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park in downtown Nashville in front of 3,782 fans.
The Commodores (21-4) and Bruins (13-11) traded runs in the first inning with Belmont drawing even again in the top of the sixth. Vanderbilt, however, took advantage of Belmont’s mistakes in the bottom of the sixth to blow the game open.
The rally started with Jason Delay reaching base on a hit by pitch but the Bruins had an opportunity to get out of the inning when Will Toffey grounded to second baseman Rafael Bournigal. But the Bruins’ second baseman misplayed the grounder into an error sending Delay to third. A wild pitch scored Delay before Ethan Paul’s single up the middle scored Toffey to stretch the Vandy lead to 4-2. The Commodores cranked up the running game from there with Paul stealing second and then third as part of a double steal with Kyle Smith with Paul scoring on Belmont’s second error of the frame. Tyler Campbell’s RBI-single capped the rally, scoring Smith.
Vanderbilt tacked on two more in the seventh on a two-out single from Alonzo Jones and Smith taking one for the team with the bases loaded to force in a run.
Six VU pitchers saw action on the mound with Collin Snider picking up his second win of the year. Snider entered in the sixth after a RBI-double tied the game. The right-hander worked out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts and a pop up to end the threat. Patrick Raby settled the game down for the Dores with four scoreless innings out of the bullpen after fellow freshman Chandler Day gave up a run in the first inning. Freshmen Maddux Conger and Evan Steele finished off the victory, each tossing scoreless innings.
Kyle Klotz took the loss for Belmont allowing four unearned runs on two hits while recording two outs. Bournigal led the BU offense with three hits.
Vanderbilt returns to action Thursday night on ESPNU at 7 p.m. against No. 6 South Carolina at Hawkins Field.
