NASHVILLE, Tenn.— David Price struck out 13 and Dominic de la Osa and Pedro Alvarez added three hits each to lead Vanderbilt to a 10-1 win over Florida in front of 2,524 fans Friday night at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores won their fifth straight to improve to 37-8 overall and 13-6 in the SEC, while the Gators dropped to 23-21 and 10-9 in league action.
Price moved to 8-0 on the year after giving up one run on four hits in eight innings of work with one walk and 13 strikeouts. It was his ninth double-digit strikeout game in 12 starts this season. The lone run came in the eighth inning on a RBI single by Cole Figueroa who finished with two of the Gators four hits.
“There were a couple of pitches that looked like they faded away from the right handed hitters,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin on the success of Price Friday night. “I just think that in the past three weeks I’ve seen him pitch it’s been about the same every time. I can’t think of anything that’s different, which points to a lot of consistency.”
Dominic de la Osa led the Commodores with a 3-for-3 day with a homer, two doubles and four runs scored. Alvarez added three hits and three RBI, while Andrew Giobbi came through with two hits and two RBI in his second career start at first base. Matt Meingasner rounded out the multi-hit contingent with two of his own.
The Commodores jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when de la Osa doubled to right center with two outs and then scored on an Alvarez RBI single.
De la Osa added a solo homer in the fourth, his 12th of the year, to make it 2-0.
“I think Dom’s confident right now,” said Corbin. “He thinks he’s a leader with a bat. He deserves everything he gets because he’s a hard worker. He really does. He puts a lot of time into the game. The game comes back to help those who pay attention to it. I’m happy to see him continuing to get better as a player. He hasn’t figured everything out but he’s certainly progressed thus far.”
They added another run in the sixth when de la Osa doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch, and then scored when the catcher’s throw to third bounced into leftfield.
The Dores broke open the game with seven runs in the seventh to make it 10-0. Jonathan White opened the inning with a single and moved to third on a double down the leftfield line. Andrew Giobbi then plated both runners with a single up the middle. Alex Feinberg singled one out later and both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. De la Osa walked and Alvarez followed with a two-run double to left to make it 7-0. Ryan Flaherty plated two runs on a double to left and then scored on a RBI single by pinch-hitter Parker Hanks to close out the inning.
Kyle Mullaney (2-1) was charged with the loss after giving up three runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings with three strikeouts.
The Commodores and Gators will play the second game of the three game set Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT. Freshman southpaw Mike Minor (7-0, 2.00 ERA) will start on the hill for VU, while Florida will counter with junior righthander Bryan Augenstein (4-4, 5.96 ERA).
Florida 000 000 010 -1 4 1
Vanderbilt 100 101 70x -10 15 1
Mullaney, Porter (6), Edmondson (6), Gawriluk (7), Chapman (7) and Neer. Price, Rhoden (9) and Robin, Hawkins. W- Price 8-0, L- Mullaney 2-1. Sv- None HR- VU: de la Osa (12).
