COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Vanderbilt baseball team used stellar pitching combined with timely offense to claim a 10-0 victory over South Carolina on Thursday evening at Founders Park.
The Commodores received another quality start from Chris McElvain, who picked up his fourth win on the season. McElvain worked a career-high tying 7.0 shutout innings, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out five. Nelson Berkwich and Donye Evans covered the final two frames, working 1.0 inning apiece.
The two teams went scoreless across the first four frames until Vanderbilt got into the scoring column in the fifth. Carter Young drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning before Tate Kolwyck followed with a single to place runners on first and second. After Parker Noland laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position, Enrique Bradfield Jr. brought across the first run of the evening with an RBI groundout to put the Dores on the board.
Davis Diaz kept the inning going with an RBI double to left field, which brought Kolwyck across to plate the second run of the frame. Spencer Jones reached on a hit-by-pitch in the next at-bat, while Dominic Keegan followed with a hard-hit ball that ricocheted off the pitcher and allowed Davis to come around and score. Troy LaNeve capped the inning’s scoring with an RBI single through the right side to put Vandy in front, 4-0.
The Commodores added five runs on five hits in the seventh to extend their lead to 9-0. The foursome of Jones, Keegan, Jack Bulger and Kolwyck each collected RBI hits in the inning, while Young recorded a sacrifice fly.
Vanderbilt tacked on one more in the eighth, using a bases-loaded walk from Young to scratch one across and set the score at 10-0, the eventual final.
The two teams will return to the diamond tomorrow evening for Game 2 of the series. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT, with action airing live on SEC Network+.
