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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Vanderbilt withstood a ninth inning rally by Western Kentucky to win 6-4 Tuesday evening at Nick Denes Field.
The Commodores took a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth before the Hilltoppers rallied and had the tying run at second base with two outs before Casey Weathers got Scott Kaskie to ground to first to end the game.
Vanderbilt improved to 15-0 on the year, while Western Kentucky dropped its fourth straight to drop to 5-5 on the season.
“The ending was close, but Casey (Weathers) probably needed that,” said head coach Tim Corbin following the game. “He faced their best athlete at the plate with the tying run at second and was able to get out of it and I am proud of him for that. It didn’t look pretty, but sometimes when you play on the road it doesn’t.”
The Commodores jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first when Brian Harris and Pedro Alvarez both singled and scored on a double by Andrew Giobbi.
The Hilltoppers tied the game in the third when Scott Kaskie hit a two-run homer to left off of VU starter Mike Minor.
Those were the only runs Minor (2-0) would give up in the winning effort. He scattered seven hits over 5.2 innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
“You have a freshman and he pitched the first time on a road as a starter and I thought he did very well,” added Corbin.
The Commodores struck right back in the fourth to take the lead when Shea Robin walked with one out and scored on a RBI double by Dominic de la Osa to make it 3-2.
VU made it 5-2 in the sixth as Robin added a RBI single and Brad French notched a sacrifice fly RBI. They added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on another RBI single by Robin.
Ty Davis pitched 1.2 innings of one hit scoreless relief and Stephen Shao followed with 0.2 innings of hitless, scoreless relief in the eighth.
Weathers opened the ninth by walking his first batter of the season. He struck out J.B. Paxson as Matt Hightower stole second. Troy Frazier walked and Jake Wells then reached on a fielding error by Pedro Alvarez to load the bases. Wade Gaynor walked to bring home Hightower to make it 6-3. Matt Payton then reached on a fielders choice on a grounder to short that Ryan Flaherty threw to second to get Wells out. Frazier scored on the play to make it 6-4. Payton then stole second to have the tying run in scoring position before Kaskie grounded out to end the game.
David Macias, Brian Harris, Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty and Shea Robin each had two hits on the day.
The Commodores will be back at home this weekend as Illinois-Chicago comes in for a three-game set. The first game is set for a 6 p.m. start on Friday, with a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
Vanderbilt 200 102 001 – 6 12 1
Western Kentucky 002 000 002 – 4 8 1
Minor, Davis (6), Shao (8), Weathers (9) and Robin. Shanahan, Adcock (4), Hupper (5), Hildreth (6), Teague (7), Paxton (9) and Paxson. W- Minor 2-0. L- Adcock 0-1. Sv- None. HRs: WKU: Kaskie.
