Nashville, Tenn. – No. 8 Vanderbilt powered by Georgia 10-3 Sunday afternoon hitting a season-high four home runs at Hawkins Field to wrap up a series sweep of the Bulldogs.
Freshman Julian Infante blasted his third home run of the year in the first inning to give the Commodores (34-10, 13-8) a 2-0 lead and the home team never looked back, scoring 10-plus runs for the third straight game. Vanderbilt held a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth before more offensive fireworks erupted. Jeren Kendall lined his eighth home run of the season into the right field bleachers for a two-run shot and 5-0 VU lead. Later in the inning, Ethan Paul blasted his third homer of the year into seats in right-center field for two more runs and a seven-run lead. Karl Ellison’s solo homer led off the eighth inning to put a cap on the Commodores’ powerful afternoon. Vanderbilt’s four round-trippers are the most for VU since hitting four against Missouri in the Southeastern Conference Tournament last May.
Freshman Patrick Raby used the early lead to his advantage, turning in six-plus solid innings to pick up his sixth win of the year. The right-hander breezed through the first four innings without allowing a hit before a Trevor Kieboom single snapped Raby’s streak of 12 straight retired to open the fifth. Raby quickly picked up a double play and recorded his sixth strikeout to end the inning. He finally found trouble in the seventh when Skyler Weber doubled to lead off and was followed by a Stephen Wrenn single to end Raby’s day. John Kilichowski got the Dores out of the inning but not before Georgia scored twice. Raby allowed two runs on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Kilichowski worked the final three innings to record his second save of the season.
Eight different Commodores recorded hits as the team finished the perfect 4-0 week with 48 hits, including 10 on Sunday. Kendall and Paul each had three RBI in the victory to lead the way with Kendall adding a RBI on a fielder’s choice to his two-run homer and Paul adding a RBI-single to his two-run homer. Connor Kaiser recorded two hits, including a RBI-single in the sixth.
Vanderbilt’s streak of three straight games with 10-plus runs is the team’s first since very early in the season when the Dores scored 10-plus against San Diego on February 20-21 and UT Martin on February 23. The Commodores have also recorded 10-plus hits in four straight games for the second time this season.
Georgia (22-23, 7-14) starter Heath Holder took the loss allowing six runs on five hits over 4.2 innings. Kieboom had three hits and Skyler Weber had two hits along with one RBI.
Vanderbilt returns to action Tuesday night at 6:30 against Western Kentucky on SEC Network+.
