Oxford, Miss. – No. 2 Vanderbilt slipped by No. 17 Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon to clinch the series with a 2-1 victory at Swayze Field.
Commodores’ (28-4, 10-1) starter Tyler Beede was terrific in winning his eighth straight start. The sophomore cruised through the first inning and picked up a nice inning-ending double play from the Dores’ defense to end the second inning. The right-hander lost control in the fifth walking the bases loaded before responding by getting Tanner Mathis to foul out to end the threat. Walks finally caught up to Beede in the sixth when a leadoff walk came around to score and cut Vanderbilt’s lead to a single run. The Vandy bullpen, however, made the lone run stand as Carson Fulmer, Jared Miller and Brian Miller slammed the door over the final three innings. Fulmer fanned three over two innings and Brian Miller recorded the final two outs to notch his 10th save of the season.
The Commodores struck first in the third inning when senior Connor Harrell laced a single to left field to score Tony Kemp, who led off the inning with a single. Another senior padded the lead in the fifth when Mike Yastrzemski singled to score Conrad Gregor. The two runs were enough for Vanderbilt’s pitching but the offense left 11 men on base in the win. Kemp led the way with three hits to stretch his hitting streak to nine games. Yastrzemski and Gregor each added two hits. Sikes Orvis paced the Rebels (23-8, 4-7) with two hits.
The series win is the eighth straight for Vanderbilt and the team’s 10-1 start in the Southeastern Conference matches the school record set in 1972. The series victory at Ole Miss is the first for the Commodores since 2006 when the Dores took two-of-three from the Rebels. Saturday’s win also pushes Vandy’s winning streak to nine games.
The Commodores go for the sweep tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. with lefty Philip Pfeifer (2-0) on the mound against Ole Miss’ Sam Smith (2-0).
