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SEC Tournament Champions

Vandy wins fourth SEC Tournament title

Box Score #1

HOOVER, Ala. — Vanderbilt won the 2023 SEC Tournament championship with a 10-4 victory over Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon at Hoover Met.

The Commodores are tournament champs for the fourth time in program history, third under head coach Tim Corbin. Vandy is the first No. 4 seed since 2015 to take the title game.

The freshman duo of RJ Austin and Chris Maldonado were named to the all-tournament team with Austin earning MVP honors.

Texas A&M struck first with a run in the top of the second, but the Dores answered in the home half of the inning. Freshmen Chris Maldonado and RJ Austin hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with one out. Troy LaNeve then launched a three-run homer 424 feet to right field to put Vandy on top 3-1.

LaNeve now has three three-run homers in his last five games.

The Commodores added a fourth run with a string of two-out knocks in the third. Parker Noland singled and Maldonado followed with his second base hit of the game. Austin delivered the run-scoring knock with a single into center field to bring Noland home from second.

Texas A&M scratched a run across in the top of the fourth to trim Vandy’s lead back to two.

The Aggies pulled even with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the sixth to make it 4-4.

Vanderbilt wasted no time reclaiming the lead. LaNeve singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth and reached third on a single by Alan Espinal. Enrique Bradfield Jr. laid down a bunt that allowed LaNeve to score from third and give Vandy a 5-4 advantage.

The Aggies threatened in the top of the seventh with runners on the corners and just one out, but Thomas Schultz got a groundball to start a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The Commodores pulled away late with a five-run eighth inning. Bradfield doubled and then scored on a wild pitch. Noland then drove in Davis Diaz and after a single and a walk, Calvin Hewett provided the big hit with a bases-clearing double to plate three more runs and put Vandy on top 10-6.

They played hard, competitive, enthusiastic. Played for one another.

Tim Corbin

Patrick Reilly earned the win, his fifth on the season, with four innings of work. Schultz threw 1.2 scoreless innings and Nick Maldonado closed out the game in the ninth.

With the win, Vanderbilt is now 57-42 all-time in the SEC Tournament, including a 44-27 mark under Corbin. Corbin matches Ron Polk for most wins in the tournament at a single institution.

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