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HOOVER, Ala. — Vanderbilt exploded for eight runs in the first two innings and never looked back in a 13-1 eight-inning run rule victory over Ole Miss in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Regions Park.
The Commodores forced a second game with the Rebels with the winner advancing to face Arkansas in the tourney finals Sunday at 3 p.m. CT.
Vanderbilt improved to 49-11 on the year, while Ole Miss fell to 37-22.
Junior southpaw Cody Crowell had a stellar outing, limiting the Rebels to just a run on three hits in eight innings of work to improve to 4-1 on the year. He struck out five and walked one and moved to 2-0 all-time against the Rebels.
VU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first courtesy of a two-run homer by Pedro Alvarez, his 17th of the year. The Dores then broke the game open in the second, highlighted by a three-run jack by Parker Hanks and a two-run blast by Dominic de la Osa to make it 8-0.
Vanderbilt extended the lead to 10-0 in the fifth, with Ryan Flaherty roping a RBI double to right-center to key the way. It extended his hit streak to 28 games, a new school single season record.
Ole Miss avoided a seven-inning run rule by tallying a run in the seventh courtesy of a RBI double by Logan Power.
The Commodores added three more runs in the eighth, the first coming on a RBI single by David Macias and the next two on a double by Ryan Flaherty to close out the game scoring.
Alvarez finished 4-for-4 with two RBI to lead the way for VU with de la Osa, Flaherty, Meingasner and Brad French adding two hits apiece.
Vanderbilt 260 020 03 -13 16 0
Ole Miss 000 000 10 -1 3 3
Crowell and Robin. Bukvich, Simpson (2), Irwin (8) and Basham. W- Crowell 4-1, L- Bukvich 7-3. Sv- None. HR: Alvarez (17), de la Osa (18), Hanks (2)
Game Notes: Pedro Alvarez’ 17th homer of the year gives him 39 in his career, good for sole possession of eighth place in the school’s career record book. He has an 18 game hit streak as well … Vanderbilt is 13-6 all-time in elimination games at the SEC tournament … Cody Crowell is 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA against Ole Miss in his career. He has given up just two runs in 22.2 innings on nine hits, spanning four appearances, with 11 strikeouts and three walks.
