NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the second night in a row, a big second inning allowed visiting LSU to take control and ultimately pull away from Vanderbilt in an 8-3 victory at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores, who trailed 9-0 after 3 1/2 innings on Thursday, fell behind 5-0 after two Tiger at-bats Friday. They couldn’t find enough offensive rallies from there to get back into it.
Vandy fell to 35-18 and 14-15 in league play and is now locked-in to playing Tuesday on the opening day of the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama.
On Friday, Vanderbilt starter Christian Little threw one pitch and immediately found himself behind 1-0 as Dylan Crews blasted that offering over the stands in left field.
Little faced more murky waters in the second after a walk and a hit-and-run put runners at the corners with nobody out. A wild pitch brought in Cade Doughty making it 2-0 and an RBI groundout off the bat of Tyler McManus made it 3-0.
With two outs in the inning, Crews stepped in again and yanked a two-run shot down the line in left putting the Tigers (36-18, 16-13) up 5-0.
Parker Noland got Vanderbilt on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo home run to left. That was the lone offensive firework for the first seven innings for Vandy.
In the fourth, Josh Pearson grounded out with the bases loaded off Vanderbilt reliever Nick Maldonado – that made it 6-1. Doughty’s RBI double in the seventh pushed the lead out to 7-1 and Jordan Thompson followed that with an RBI single making it 8-1.
Little (1-2) lasted 3.1 innings and was charged six earned runs on four hits. He walked five batters and 31 of his 61 pitches were strikes.
Maldonado threw .2 innings and struck out eight while allowing just two earned runs.
“Really good job,” Vandy head coach Tim Corbin said. “He gave us some good innings. Happy with what he did. He kept the game in the balance.”
Javier Vaz hit a two-run homer in the ninth, but that was much too little, too late.
Ty Floyd (5-3) got the start for LSU and was lifted after 5 1/3 innings. He held Vanderbilt to one earned run on four hits and struck out seven while throwing 79 pitches.
The series finale, and regular-season finale, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday and will be televised live by the SEC Network.
- Vanderbilt now trails the all-time series with LSU 60-46.
- Vandy, now 14-15 in league games, last had a losing record in Southeastern Conference play in 2009 (12-17).
- The Commodores are five wins away from winning 40 games for the third season in a row (not counting the shortened 2020 campaign) and 12th time in the Tim Corbin Era.
- Vandy is now 2-17 this season when trailing after eight innings, 9-15 when the opponent scores first, 28-9 when hitting a home run and 1-11 when scoring three runs or less.
- Enrique Bradfield Jr. is now 42-for-42 in stolen bases this season and has 89 stolen bases for his career. Bob Schabes holds Vandy’s single-season record for stolen bases with 51 and Charles DeFrance (1980-82) holds Vandy’s career record with 96.
- Vandy is now 0-9 this season in SEC games when Bradfield does not score a run in those contests when he does not.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
