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Dores Beat Ole Miss 7-2 to Win Series 4/3/2005 NASHVILLE, TENN. — With hot bats and a dominating pitching performance by freshman left-hander David Price, the #23 Vanderbilt Commodores defeated the #6 Ole Miss Rebels Sunday to take the three-game series, 2-1, in front of a stadium-record crowd at Hawkins Field. It is the first series win over Ole Miss since 1997 when Vanderbilt swept the series in Nashville. Ole Miss had won 17 of the last 23 games. The Commodores improve to 20-7, 5-4 in the SEC, while Ole Miss owns a 21-7 record, 5-4 in league play. The Commodores got on the board early, scoring three runs in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Antoan Richardson singled through the left side, moved to second on a wild pitch and reached third on a sacrifice bunt by Rucker Taylor. He scored when Mike Baxter slapped a sacrifice grounder to the right side. Second baseman Warner Jones singled, as did Brian Hernandez and Alex Feinberg. Jones scored on Feinberg’s hit and Commodore designated hitter Stephen Shao singled in Hernandez. The Rebels got two runs back in the third following two singles and a throwing error by Price, which allowed one run to score. The second run of the inning came on a sacrifice fly by Chris Coghlan. In the fourth, Richardson ended an Ole Miss threat with runners on first and second when he made an amazing diving catch of a ball that appeared destined to drop in the gap in right center. He quickly got to his feet and threw out designated hitter Jon-Jon Hancock at first base to complete the uncommon double play. In the bottom half of the inning, Vanderbilt scored three runs behind singles from Matt Zeller and Taylor, and a double by Baxter. Rebel starter Anthony Cupps came out of the game after Zeller and Garza scored. He was replaced by the left-hander Matt Maloney. Taylor scored on Baxter’s double. Cupps went 3.2 innings for the Rebels and gave up six runs (all earned) on 10 hits. He struck out two and did not allow a walk. Maloney threw 1.1 innings, gave up two hits, struck out two and walked two. Right-hander Chris Moffett came on in relief to start the sixth and gave up a bunt for a single on the first pitch to Baxter. After Baxter was caught attempting to steal second, Jones homered for the second time in two days for the Commodores’ 14th hit and seventh run of the game. With two outs in the top of the eighth, Vanderbilt’s Price left the game after a dazzling performance. He scattered two runs (one earned) on four hits, and struck out nine batters in his third career start, tying a career high for strikeouts in a game. He exited the mound to a standing ovation from fans of both teams. Senior Matt Buschmann took over with a runner on second. Buschmann, who has started five of his last eight appearances, walked the first batter he faced and struck out the second on a called third strike to end the inning. Right-handed closer Ryan Rote began the ninth with a five-run cushion and put the Rebels down in order. Vanderbilt totaled 14 hits, led by Baxter with three, including his ninth double of the season. Taylor, Jones, Shao and Zeller each had two hits. The only Commodore not to record a hit, left fielder Aaron Garza, still managed to reach base twice and score a run. Jones, known widely as an aggressive hitter, walked for the first time this season in 116 at bats. Price was the winning pitcher and improves to 2-0. Cupps took the loss (5-2) for the Rebels. After the first two games of the series were played in wet and windy weather, the sun shined brightly on Hawkins Field today, which hosted a record number of fans for the second consecutive week (2,067). The ‘Dores return to action Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Hawkins Field hosting instate foe Austin Peay. |
