CORVALLIS, Ore. — Vanderbilt used another strong offensive effort to claim a 14-4 win over San Diego on Sunday afternoon at Goss Stadium.
The Commodores (38-22) on the season and advance to Sunday regional final against Oregon State in the NCAA Corvallis Regional.
Vandy’s offense scored double-digit runs for the second straight game. All nine Vanderbilt starters recorded at least one hit with multi-hit outings from the foursome of Enrique Bradfield Jr., Dominic Keegan, Parker Noland and Tate Kolwyck.
Vandy received an impressive performance from its starter Nick Maldonado (3-2) who picked up his third win on the season. Maldonado lasted a career-high 7.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and four walks. The junior right-hander struck out five batters on the day.
Vanderbilt plated three runs in the top of the first to gain the early advantage. Bradfield reached on a leadoff walk to begin the game before advancing to second on his 43rd stolen base on the season. After Spencer Jones drew a walk to place runners on the corners with one down, Keegan lined an RBI single to the shortstop to cross the game’s first run.
The duo of Noland and Jack Bulger each followed with RBI singles of their own to plate two more for the Commodores and give Vandy a 3-0 lead after a half-inning of action.
San Diego broke into the scoring column with two runs in the third to make it a one-run game. The inning began with a lead-off walk followed by a double down the first base line to place runners on second and third.
One batter later, an RBI groundout to second base scored the first run of the inning. The Toreros added one more on an RBI single up the middle to make it a 3-2 contest after three innings of play.
Vandy answered back with two runs of its own in the next half to cushion its lead. Calvin Hewett reached on a fielding error to begin the frame before Bulger drew a walk to place runners on first and second. After a sacrifice bunt allowed both runners to advance into scoring position, Kolwyck sent a sacrifice fly to center field to score Hewett.
One batter later, Bradfield collected his second hit of the ballgame with an RBI single through the left side to score Bulger and push the Commodores’ advantage to 5-2.
Vanderbilt returned to the dish to add one more in the fifth. Keegan began the scoring sequence with a one-out single before advancing to second on a groundout to the pitcher. One batter later, Hewett lined an RBI single to left field to score Keegan and extend Vandy’s lead to 6-2.
San Diego used a solo homer in the home half of the fifth to bring the score to 6-3 before the Commodores added insurance with five runs across the seventh and eighth innings.
Javier Vaz began the top of the seventh with a walk before Jones lined a single through the left side to place runners on first and second. The duo of Keegan and Noland recorded back-to-back RBI singles to score a pair and increase Vanderbilt’s lead to 8-3.
The Dores plated three in the eighth. Kolwyck began the frame with his first triple on the season before Jones reached on an intentional walk to place runners on the corners with two down. One batter later, Keegan scored the first two runs of the inning with an RBI double to the left center gap. Noland followed with an RBI single up the middle to score one more and make it an 11-3 contest.
The Toreros scored one in the eighth, but Vanderbilt would score three more in the ninth to extend its lead to 10 and set the score at 14-4, the eventual final.
