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HOOVER, Ala. — Freshman southpaw Mike Minor limited Tennessee to two runs on eight hits in 7.2 innings of work and the Vanderbilt offense came alive with 16 hits in a 15-2 win over the Volunteers Friday night at Regions Park.
The Commodores (48-11) staved off elimination to advance to the SEC semifinals where they will face Ole Miss Saturday at 1 p.m. They will need to beat the Rebels twice tomorrow in order to move into the tournament finals for the second straight year.
Minor improved to 9-1 on the year and carried a shutout into the eighth inning before Tennessee plated two runs. He struck out eight and walked two in his second win over the Vols this year.
“We put our chances in the hands of a freshman today and he came up big like I knew he would,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.
The Commodores jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first with Ryan Flaherty’s RBI single leading the way. It was his 27th straight game with a hit, tying the school single season record set by Greg Thomas in 1991.
VU added three more runs in the second to take control of the game. Alex Feinberg had a two-run double and Pedro Alvarez added a RBI double of his own in the frame.
Dominic de la Osa’s RBI single in the sixth made it 6-0. The Dores added two more in the eighth on a two-run single by Alvarez.
UT got on the board in the eighth courtesy of a RBI double by J.P. Arencibia and a RBI single by Yan Gomes.
Vanderbilt then blew the game open with a seven-run ninth inning to make it 15-2. Parker Hanks had a walk with the bases loaded to bring in the first run. David Macias added a two-run single, de la Osa and Alvarez blasted RBI doubles and Flaherty roped a RBI single to close out the game scoring.
Alvarez paced the offensive attack with four hits including three doubles and four RBIs. De la Osa and Parker Hanks had three hits and Ryan Flaherty came through with two of his own to lead the way.
Vanderbilt 230 001 027 -15 16 1
Tennessee 000 000 02x -2 8 3
Hernandez, Everett (2), Lockwood (8) and Arencibia. Minor, T. Davis (8) and Robin, Hawkins. W- Minor 9-1, L- Hernandez 4-4. Sv- None.
Game Notes: Carter Hawkins, Brian Harris, Adam Cronk and Parker Hanks all saw their first action … Pedro Alvarez extended his hit streak to 18 games in the win … The Commodores improved to 4-1 against UT this season … VU is now 12-6 in elimination games in the tournament.
