NASHVILLE, Tenn. — No. 4 Vanderbilt fell 14-6 to No. 6 South Carolina in the series opener Friday night at Hawkins Field.
The Gamecocks totaled 14 hits, including five home runs, to overpower the Commodores in Game 1.
Davis Diaz and Jonathan Vastine each drove in a pair of runs to lead the Vanderbilt offense.
South Carolina’s Cole Messina opened the scoring with a two-out, two-run homer to left to put the Gamecocks in front 2-0 in the first inning.
Five straight Commodores reached base with two outs in the bottom of the second as Vanderbilt jumped on top with four runs on four hits. Parker Noland worked a walk and Matthew Polk singled to bring Vastine to the plate. Vastine doubled to right-center, scoring Noland and Polk, and took third on a throwing error.
VASTY 😤
Dores tie it up in the second. #VandyBoys | #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/lSDelVVU1h
— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) April 14, 2023
Enrique Bradfield Jr. drew another walk and stole second to put two more Dores in scoring position for Diaz. Diaz roped a two-run double to the corner in left to put Vanderbilt up 4-2.
Go-ahead Diaz double!!!#VandyBoys | #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/tcq3jcAPIA
— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) April 14, 2023
South Carolina retook the lead with three solo home runs in three consecutive innings. Messina hit his second of the game in the fourth, followed by Michael Braswell in the fifth and Ethan Petry’s go-ahead shot in the top of the sixth.
The Gamecocks pulled away with four more runs in the sixth to lead 9-4.
South Carolina extended its lead to 13-4 after pushing four runs across on three hits in the top of the seventh.
Vanderbilt got two runs back in the home half of the seventh as Bradfield led off the inning with a single and scored on a sac fly by RJ Schreck. Diaz, who singled and advanced to second on Schreck’s sac fly, came around to score on an RBI single off the bat of Jack Bulger to trim South Carolina’s lead to 13-6.
The Gamecocks added one on a bases-loaded walk in the eighth to go back up by eight.
Vanderbilt (27-7, 11-2 SEC) and South Carolina (30-4, 10-2 SEC) will meet for Game 2 at 2 p.m. Saturday at Hawkins Field.
