Commodores drop finale at Carolina

Columbia, S.C. – The Vanderbilt offense struggled in a 6-1 loss in the series finale at No. 12 South Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

Gamecocks’ (21-10, 7-5) starter Adam Hill worked an interesting first inning against the Commodores (21-12, 6-6), striking out the side but walking two batters. Reed Hayes reached to start the second on an error but again the Vandy offense failed to get in gear.

South Carolina’s offense, however, clicked into gear in the bottom of the second against VU starter Drake Fellows. Back-to-back singles from Chris Cullen and Jacob Olson started the inning and with one out, LT Tolbert gave the home team all the runs they needed, belting a three-run homer to right field. Fellows’ day came to an end in the third when TJ Hopkins doubled to lead off the inning and quickly scored on an Alex Destino sacrifice fly.

The Commodores finally broke through to scratch out a run in the seventh inning. After six no-hit innings, Hill walked Will Toffey to open the seventh and exited due to a high pitch count. JJ Bleday immediately ended the no-hit bid with crisp single to right-center field off Josh Reagan. Hayes followed with a single through the left side to put the Dores on the board.

Bleday had two of Vanderbilt’s four hits in the loss. Fellows took his first career loss after giving up four runs on five hits over 2.2 innings.

Hill earned the win for the Gamecocks, striking out 11 and walking five over six-plus innings. Reagan worked the final three innings to earn his second save of the year.

Vanderbilt returns home to Hawkins Field on Tuesday night to host Tennessee Tech at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.