Athens, Ga. — Patrick Raby cruised all night in his first complete game victory of his career as Vanderbilt won the series opener at Georgia 8-1 on Friday night at Foley Field.
Raby rolled through the first three innings allowing just two singles but ran into his only real trouble of the night after the Commodores (24-15, 8-8) took the lead in the top half of the fourth on Stephen Scott’s two-run homer off the top of the scoreboard in right-center field. In the bottom of the inning, Bulldogs’ (15-24, 4-12) shortstop Cam Shepherd cut the Vandy lead in half with a leadoff solo homer to left-center. Raby yielded two more singles before finally getting a pop up to Ethan Paul at second base to end the frame.
The Dores’ offense put the game away quickly after that, rallying for four runs in the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Will Toffey’s fly ball to deep right field was lost in the lights by the Bulldogs’ right fielder, which allowed the ball to hit the bottom of the wall and clear the bases with a three-run double and a 5-1 Vanderbilt lead. Reed Hayes capped the four-run inning one batter later, lining a single through the left side.
Back out for the ninth inning for the second time this season, Raby finished off his first career complete game with a double play to end it. The sophomore was efficient all night, needing only 102 pitches to go the distance. He allowed one run on eight hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Hayes and Toffey led the way for the Commodores with Hayes recording three hits in the win and Toffey driving in three runs. Jeren Kendall and Julian Infante added long home runs late in the game. Kendall blasted his team-best 12th homer of the year out to right field in the seventh before Infante hit his ninth home run in the ninth inning. Vandy’s 11 hits in the win pushed the team’s total to 60 over the last four games.
Georgia starter Andrew Gist took the loss after giving up six runs on seven hits over five innings. Adam Sasser paced the Bulldogs’ offense with three singles.
Due to the threat of inclement weather on Sunday, the two teams are now set to play a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. CT. Kyle Wright gets the ball for the Dores against the Dawgs’ Chase Adkins.
