NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Dominic de la Osa went 3-for-3 including a game-winning two-run homer to lead Vanderbilt to a 6-2 win over LSU Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores swept the three-game set to improve to 46-10 overall and 22-8 in SEC play. The overall win total is the best in school history, ahead of the 45 set in 2004, while the 22 conference wins is the most by a SEC team since South Carolina won 25 in 2000.
“I am proud of the guys finishing 46-10 and doing that in this conference is pretty dang good,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.
The game was tied at 1-1 in the fifth when Alex Feinberg singled to left-center and then scored on de la Osa’s two-run homer over the left field wall and onto Memorial Gym to give the Commodores a 3-1 lead. It was de la Osa’s second circuit clout of the weekend and 17th of the season.
LSU scored a run in the eighth and threatened to tie the game with runners on the corners and two outs. Alex Feinberg then made the play of the day with a diving stop of a hard grounder by Nicholas Pontiff and threw him out at first to end the threat.
Feinberg then led off the Vanderbilt half of the eighth with a double and moved to third on a bunt single by de la Osa. Pedro Alvarez scored Feinberg on a single to left-center and Ryan Flaherty and Ryan Davis added RBI singles to close out the scoring in the game.
“The game changed in five minutes when Feinberg made that play to end the eighth, got the momentum into our dugout and then fought off seven pitches before hitting a double down the line,” said Corbin. “I thought that was the difference in the game.”
Cody Crowell gave up one run on seven hits in seven innings of work with five strikeouts and two walks to improve to 3-1 on the year. Casey Weathers picked up his second save of the series and seventh of the season with 1.1 innings of one hit relief.
Jared Bradford (10-4) took the loss after giving up four runs on six hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and a walk.
Feinberg and de la Osa both had three hits to lead the Commodores while Ryan Flaherty added two of his own to extend his hitting streak to 24 games.
LSU took a 1-0 lead in the first on a RBI groundout by Blake Dean. The Commodores tied it up in their half on a RBI single by Ryan Flaherty.
The Commodores will go into the SEC tournament as the No. 1 seed and will take on eighth seeded Tennessee on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. The team will practice at Hawkins Field on Monday before heading down to Birmingham that evening.
LSU 100 000 010 -2 9 0
Vanderbilt 100 020 03x -6 10 1
Bradford, Forrest(8) and Lara, Ochinko(8). Crowell, Jacobson(8), Weathers(8) and Hawkins. W- Crowell (3-1), L-.Bradford (10-4) Sv- Weathers (7) HR- VU: de la Osa (17).
