AUBURN, Ala. – Top-ranked Vanderbilt used a late rally to beat Auburn 6-2 Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park and finish off a sweep of the Tigers.
The Commodores jumped out to an early with two runs in the first inning just to see the Tigers rally for two runs in the fourth to tie the game. The game remained deadlocked until the Dores finally broke through in the seventh inning for four runs. Conrad Gregor’s bases loaded single put Vandy back on top but the Commodores were not finished. A wild pitch allowed Sam Lind to score from third, Anthony Gomez’s sacrifice fly plated the second run and Aaron Westlake’s RBI-single capped the rally. Three Vanderbilt relievers did the rest keeping Auburn off the scoreboard.
Curt Casali paced the Dores’ 12-hit attack with three hits. Riley Reynolds, Tony Kemp and Anthony Gomez all had two hits in the win. Gomez pushed his hitting streak to 24 games with a single in the first. Vanderbilt stranded 14 men on the afternoon to bring the team’s total to 36 for the three-game series. Dan Gamache led Auburn with three hits. The sweep is Vandy’s fourth of the year and first-ever at Auburn.
Will Clinard earned the win in relief tossing 1.2 scoreless innings. Ethan Wallen was pinned with the loss for Auburn giving up four runs on three hits in one inning of work. Vanderbilt starter Taylor Hill allowed two runs on six hits over 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. The Commodores used four relievers over the final 4.2 innings to blank the Tigers.
Vanderbilt returns home Tuesday night to host Middle Tennessee State at 6 p.m. at Hawkins Field. The Dores host Alabama next weekend with Friday’s game at 6 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Friday night’s game will be televised on CSS.
