NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt baseball team used three home runs to power to a 12-5 victory over in-state foe Tennessee Tech on Tuesday evening at Hawkins Field. With the win, the Commodores improve to 20-3 on the season, while moving their winning streak to five games.
The two teams traded runs across the early parts of the contest, resulting in a 4-4 tie after two innings. Vanderbilt went on to score seven unanswered runs to put the game out of reach en route to claiming its 22nd consecutive win in the midweek.
Freshman Patrick Reilly picked up his third win of the season with a strong relief effort. The right-hander covered 2.0 innings of one-hit baseball, while picking up two strikeouts. The Commodores used five arms in the matchup, as freshman Christian Little made his fifth start of the season. Little worked 4.0 innings, before turning it over to the bullpen.
The trio of Miles Garrett, Ethan Smith and Hugh Fisher each worked one frame apiece.
Tennessee Tech struck first in the midweek matchup, using a two-out rally to plate one run in the first. The Golden Eagles used a single followed by a walk to place runners on first and second. One batter later, a single to right field brought across the game’s first run to put Tennessee Tech in front, 1-0.
Vanderbilt responded quickly, answering with a four-run frame in the home half. Enrique Bradfield Jr. began the inning with a leadoff single to left before advancing to second on his 18th stolen base of the season. One out later, Dominic Keegan lined a double to left field to score a run and knot things at one apiece.
The inning continued as Spencer Jones collected his first RBI of the season with a double to left center. Isaiah Thomas followed with RBI triple to right field before Maxwell Romero Jr. capped the frame’s scoring with a RBI single to right center to put Vanderbilt ahead, 4-1.
The Golden Eagles used a three-run homer in the second to tie things at four all, before the Commodores regained the lead in the bottom half.
Carter Young blasted his fifth home run of the season with a two-run shot to left to move Vanderbilt in front, 6-4.
The Commodores scored three in the fourth behind Keegan’s sixth homer of the campaign. Jayson Gonzalez reached on a five-pitch walk followed by a bunt single from Bradfield Jr. to put two on. One batter later, Keegan delivered a three-run shot to left to increase Vandy’s lead to 9-4.
Vanderbilt scored three more runs across the sixth and seventh innings, sandwiching a Tennessee Tech run in the top of the seventh. Gonzalez registered his fourth homer in the seventh with a solo shot to set the score at 12-5, the eventual final.
Keegan led the offensive effort with four hits, while adding a team-high tying three runs scored. Bradfield Jr. finished second on the team in hits with a 3-for-4 outing, while scoring three runs.
Vanderbilt will travel to Baton Rouge this weekend for a road series at LSU. The two teams will kick off the series on Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m., with action airing live on SEC Network+.
