NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Davis Diaz scored a team-high three runs in Vanderbilt’s 5-2 victory over Central Arkansas on Tuesday at Hawkins Field.
The freshman from Pittsburg, California, collected his second career multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-3 at the plate, while scoring Vandy’s first three runs of the contest.
The Commodores took advantage of a pair of errors in the bottom of the first to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Diaz reached base on a fielding error by the Central Arkansas shortstop and advanced to third on singles by Spencer Jones and Dominic Keegan. Diaz took home on a throwing error by the shortstop on Keegan’s single.
Keegan’s first hit of the day was his 100th career hit. No. 101 came in his next at-bat as Keegan lined an RBI double off the wall in left field to score Diaz and put Vandy in front 2-0 in the bottom of the third.
Diaz scored his third run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. He led the inning off with a single, before advancing to second on a balk, and tagging up to third on a fly out. One batter later, Gavin Casas lined a single up the middle to bring Diaz across and make it a 3-0 contest.
Carter Young kept the inning going with a single before Javier Vaz ripped a RBI double down the left field line to push the Commodore advantage to 4-0.
Central Arkansas got on the board with one run on two hits in the top of the sixth to cut the Dores’ lead to 4-1.
Parker Noland wasted no time pushing the lead back to four. The junior led off the bottom half of the sixth with an opposite-field home run that sailed over the wall in left. It was Noland’s first blast of the season and the eighth of his career.
Central Arkansas loaded the bases in the top of the eighth but only managed to scrape across one run as Jack Anderson recorded two strikeouts and induced a fly out to end the threat with the Commodores on top 5-2.
Vanderbilt used seven arms on Tuesday with Devin Futrell (2-0) getting the start and picking up the win. The duo of Bryce Cunningham and Grayson Moore worked two frames apiece before the foursome of Christian Little, Nelson Berkwich, Jack Anderson and Thomas Schultz covered the final three innings.
Schultz picked up his second save of the season, working a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth on nine pitches.
Vandy hits the road for the first time this season with a four-game series at Hawaii beginning at 10:35 p.m. CT on Friday on ESPN+.
The Commodores and Rainbow Warriors will play a doubleheader Saturday starting at 5:05 p.m. CT followed by the series finale at 5:05 p.m. CT on Sunday. Sunday’s game will also air on ESPN+.
