March 27, 2016
Columbia, Mo. – No. 5 Vanderbilt finished off a series sweep at Missouri on Sunday with a 17-7 win at a cold, damp Taylor Stadium.
The Commodores (20-4, 4-2) scored six runs on three hits and two Tigers’ (14-12, 0-6) errors before cruising to the Dores’ 13th straight win against Mizzou. Ethan Paul’s two-run single opened the day’s scoring with Bryan Reynolds’ three-run homer into the Missouri bullpen beyond left field capping the inning. Reynolds struck again in the fourth, hammering his second home run of the day and third of the weekend over the center field wall to push the VU lead to 8-2.
A six-run eighth inning put the game away. Jeren Kendall led off the inning with a double before a walk and two more Missouri errors scored Kendall. Karl Ellison started a string of three straight RBI hits for the Commodores lining a double off the wall to drive in two runs. Kyle Smith followed with a RBI-single and Ethan Paul added a RBI-double for his career-best third hit of the day and third RBI.
The Vanderbilt offense racked up 17 hits in the win with 10 different Commodores recording at least one hit, led by Paul’s three-hit day. Reynolds’ first career two home run game pushes his season total to six. His five RBI in the win set a new career-high and gave him eight in the series against Missouri. Tyler Campbell drove in three runs with his two hits. Ro Coleman’s big weekend continued with two more hits. Coleman finished the weekend 7-for-15 with four runs scored.
Ryan Johnson earned the win with 5.1 innings of relief. The lefty allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits with three strikeouts to pick up his third win. Hayden Stone started for the second time in his career, going 3.2 innings allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits and five walks.
Austin Tribby took the loss for the Tigers giving up six runs, one earned, on three hits over 1.2 innings. Zach Lavy drove in three runs with a home run in the ninth inning. Missouri made eight errors in the loss.
Vanderbilt returns to action on Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park against Belmont at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
