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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt scored 12 runs in the first three innings, capped off by a six run third en route to a 15-2 win over Western Kentucky Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores improved to 22-1 overall, while the Hilltoppers fell to 8-10 on the season.
Six Commodores had two or more hits led by Dominic de la Osa’s three hits and two RBIs and Ryan Davis’ three hits and four RBIs. Alex Feinberg, Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty and Andrew Giobbi each had two hits in the winning effort.
Mike Minor pitched 3.1 innings of two-hit scoreless relief with six strikeouts and no walks in the winning effort to move to 3-0 on the year.
“Tonight was good for the pitchers and the hitters as well,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “It was good to see Ryan Davis to come through with four RBIs. Inter-team competition is everything when you want to keep guys on guard and sharp.”
Western Kentucky jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a RBI single by Scotty Colt and a sacrifice fly by Jake Wells.
The Commodores plated four runs in the bottom half and never looked back. They scored two more in the second, courtesy of a two-run homer by Pedro Alvarez and then took advantage of three Hilltopper errors in the third to score six unearned runs.
VU scored another run in the fourth and de la Osa added a solo homer in the sixth, his sixth of the year to make it 14-2. Brian Harris’ added a RBI double in the seventh to close out the scoring.
Tyler Rhoden, Cameron Betourne, Josh Zeid, Caleb Cotham and Jason Cunningham combined to pitch four innings of two hit relief. Betourne made his first appearance of the season, while Cunningham recorded an out in his first career outing.
The Commodores will get back into SEC action this weekend on the road at Arkansas. The three game series starts on Friday at 6:35 p.m. and will continue on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
Western Ky. 200 000 000 – 2 6 4
Vanderbilt 426 101 10x – 15 18 0
Shanahan, Teague (2), Paxton (4), Beach (7), Hupper (7) and Paxson. T. Davis, Minor (2), Rhoden (6), Betourne (7), Zeid (8), Cotham (9), Cunningham (9) and Giobbi, Hawkins. W- Minor 3-0, L- Shanahan 0-4. Sv- None. HR- VU: Alvarez (8), de la Osa (6).
