NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt scored seven runs in the eighth inning Friday to take down Marist 16-5 in run-rule fashion.
All four of Vandy’s wins this season have come by run-rule. In three home games this week, Vanderbilt has posted 45 runs on 44 hits with 10 homers and six doubles.
After two errors in the top of the first, Vanderbilt limited the damage to one run allowed and responded with three runs in the home half.
Braden Holcomb drove in Brodie Johnston on a fielder’s choice before scoring from first on a double by Mack Whitcomb. Max Jensen then singled to bring home Whitcomb and put the Dores up 3-1.
The Red Foxes hit solo homers in the second and third innings to pull even at 3-3.
Vandy exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fifth. Holcomb lifted a three-run shot to right, his third home run on the season. Later in the frame, Logan Johnstone worked a bases-loaded walk and Johnston singled home two more runs to make it a 9-3 game.
Marist narrowed the deficit to five with a two-run homer in the top of the sixth, but England Bryan rebounded with two scoreless frames, earning a save in the contest.
Whitcomb started Vandy’s seven-run eighth inning with his second RBI double of the day. With runners on the corners, Rustan Rigdon singled to bring home a run before freshman Korbin Reynolds belted his first collegiate home run, a three-run blast over the wall in left.
Ryker Waite singled and Johnstone finished off the game with a two-run homer to right to make it 16-5.
In Vandy’s first three home games, Holcomb is 8-for-13 with two homers, a double and seven RBI. Johnstone only has two hits but has worked seven walks and scored five times while driving in four runs.
While the offense was mashing on Friday, starting pitcher Connor Fennell totaled seven strikeouts over 5.0 innings while allowing two earned runs on three hits. Fennell has 14 strikeouts over 10.1 innings in his first two starts of the season.
Vanderbilt meets Marist for Game 2 of the series at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Hawkins Field.
