LONG BEACH, Calif. – No. 10 Vanderbilt improved to 2-0 on the season behind strong pitching from Jared Miller and Carson Fulmer, who combined to toss a shutout in Vanderbilt 6-0 win on Saturday at Blair Field.
Miller dominated over six innings allowing only one hit and issuing no hits with four strikeouts. The big lefty allowed a two-out single in the first then retired the next 14 batters he faced until an error in the sixth snapped the streak. Miller cruised through the second, third, fourth and fifth innings and allowed only one runner to reach second base. He also made the defensive play of the day in the fifth when he made a backhanded play slapping a ball that was hit up the middle. Miller’s glove flew off in the direction of the first baseline along with the ball where catcher Chris Harvey picked it up and fired it to first for the out.
Carson Fulmer followed Miller into the game and turned in three scoreless innings of his own to complete the Dores’ first shutout of the season. The right-hander fanned five and allowed two hits to earn the save.
All the offense the Commodores (2-0) needed came in the third inning when the team sent 10 men to the plate to score five runs. Ro Coleman started the rally with his first career hit, a single to right-center field. Dansby Swanson followed with a double down the left field line to score the first run. Nolan Rogers made it 2-0 with a crisp single to the outfield and started a string of four straight hits. Vince Conde and Bryan Reynolds each knocked in runs with RBI-singles before Johnny Norwood capped the rally with a double. Conde later added a run in the seventh on a ground out that scored Xavier Turner from third.
Reynolds, Norwood and Zander Wiel all had two hits to lead the Commodores. Norwood now has back-to-back, two-hit games to open the season. In his first career start, Reynolds went 2-for-4 with one RBI. Michael Hill had two of the Dirtbags’ (0-2) three hits in the game. Starter Andre Rohrbach took the loss allowing five runs on seven hits in 2.2 innings.
Sophomore Tyler Ferguson gets the nod for the Commodores in the series finale tomorrow with first pitch set for 3 p.m. CT at Blair Field.
