May 30, 2015
With a dominating 9-1 victory Friday against Lipscomb, Vanderbilt has now won six straight games to open NCAA Regional play dating back to a 5-4 loss to MTSU in 2009.
Vanderbilt is 8-2 in opening NCAA Regional games under Tim Corbin. All-time, Vanderbilt is 10-3 in opening round NCAA games.
The Commodores have been exceptionally good in NCAA Regional play dating back to 2013, having advanced to Super Regionals each of the last two years. Over that time, Vanderbilt has outscored its opponents 55-16 in NCAA Regional play.
After Friday’s win, Vanderbilt is now 16-6 all-time in NCAA Tournament play at Hawkins Field.
#FilthyFulmer
Right-hander Carson Fulmer continued his dominance at Hawkins Field Friday as he improved to 7-0 at home with 11 strikeouts in 7.0 innings.
After allowing one run on two hits in the third inning, Fulmer was nearly flawless the rest of the way. He did not allow a hit in his final 4 1/3 innings of work, while striking out nine batters during the same span.
“I feel like sometimes I try to be too perfect and try to make the perfect pitch,” Fulmer said. “To be able to throw all three of my pitches in the strike zone is the biggest thing for me. I feel like later on in the game, I was able to do that. That just worked out the way it did.”
It was his seventh double-digit strikeout game of the season and third in his previous four starts. Friday’s performance came after Fulmer’s worst game of the season against Texas A&M when he allowed six runs in five innings at the SEC Tournament.
Friday’s performance pushed Fulmer’s strikeout total in home games to 84 over 57-plus innings of work, while allowing only five earned runs. The one earned run allowed against Lipscomb was Fulmer’s first since March 14 against Arkansas. Over his next four starts, Fulmer tossed 33 scoreless innings.
Kendall Provides the Offensive Punch
Freshman Jeren Kendall continued his hot play in the postseason Friday by going 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, a double and three RBIs. Kendall drove in Vanderbilt’s first three runs of the game.
Kendall is now batting .381(8-for-21) in the postseason with two home runs, nine RBIs and five runs.
Kendall did all of his damage against Lipscomb starter Ian Martinez-McGraw, a knuckleball and sinkerball pitcher – something the Wisconsin native said he had never seen before Friday.
“We kept doing the same approach as we did before,” Kendall said of facing the unorthodox pitcher.”We’re not just looking for one pitch. We’re reacting to everything else. The home run was nice to start off the game for the team and we just kind of took it away.”
Big Sixth Inning Blows it Open
Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, Vanderbilt held a 3-1 lead in what at the time was a tightly-contested game. When the inning ended, Vanderbilt’s lead had ballooned to seven, 8-1, allowing the Vanderbilt faithful to breath easier inside Hawkins Field. The Commodores collected four hits, a walk and twice reached base on a hit by pitch in the inning.
“We gave up four hits and three freebies,” Lipscomb Coach Jeff Forehand said. “Seven of the eight hitters were on base and that puts you in a tough situation. Any time you give a team like that five runs in one inning, that’s going to put you in a tough spot, especially with the guy that they had on the mound who was doing such a good job.”
The inning provided plenty of insurance for Carson Fulmer, who did not yield another hit.
Vanderbilt’s sixth inning against Lipscomb was reminiscent of last year’s sixth inning in the opening game against Xavier when the Commodores led 2-0 before scoring seven runs in the inning to break the game open.
“I was thinking our Xavier game last year started that way,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin said. “We didn’t really score early and broke the game open later.
“I do think first games of tournaments are very difficult just because of a lot of different things, but that’s what makes a starting pitching performance so valuable, just to contain the game so it gives the offense a chance to catch up.”
Another Sellout at Hawkins Field
For the fourth game in a row, Hawkins Field was sold out with an attendance of 3,626. The Commodores also played in front of capacity crowds for all three games against Florida to close the regular season.
In what has become a Vanderbilt postseason tradition, the 25th Avenue Parking Garage was also filled with Vanderbilt fans watching the action from a distance.
