Hoover, Ala. — No. 10 Vanderbilt blanked Missouri 7-0 in the first game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament Tuesday morning at the Hoover Met.
Commodores’ (42-15) freshman Patrick Raby matched Missouri (26-30) ace Tanner Houck through five innings zero for zero before the Dores put up four runs on Houck and the Tigers in the sixth.
Ethan Paul led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Jeren Kendall. Kendall stole second moments later to give the Commodores two men in scoring position for Bryan Reynolds. The junior laced a double down the right field line, scoring both runners to give the Vandy its first lead. Missouri retired both Alonzo Jones and Liam Sabino before Houck hit Will Toffey with a pitch to start a VU two-out rally. Reynolds swiped third base and scored when the throw from Mizzou catcher Brett Bond got away from third basemen Brian Sharp. Will Toffey took second on the error and came into score on Sharp’s second fielding error of the inning to cap the four-run rally.
The Commodores added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Reynolds was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning in front of freshman pinch hitter Julian Infante, who crushed the first pitch he saw for a two-run home run to left field for a six-run Vanderbilt lead. A Toffey double to left-center set up another pinch-hit opportunity, this one for senior Kyle Smith who laced a single to center field to make the score 7-0 Commodores.
Vanderbilt pitching set the tone for the day. Raby combined with Collin Snider and freshman Donny Everett to shutout Missouri on just four hits. The shutout is the ninth of the season for the Commodores and set the SEC Tournament record with the Commodores’ eighth blanking in tournament history. Raby earned his seventh win of the year scattering just two hits and fanning four.
Houck was pinned with the loss after giving up four runs, two earned, on five hits in six innings of work. Ryan Howard had two of the Tigers’ four hits.
The Commodores will be back in action tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. facing top-ranked Texas A&M.
