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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt broke a scoreless tie with seven runs in the fifth inning en route to a 7-2 win over Tennessee Tech Wednesday evening at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores won their fifth straight to improve to 36-13, while the Golden Eagles fell to 31-17-1.
VU starter Taylor Hill and TTU starter Adam Liberatore both carried shutouts into the fifth, before the Commodores broke through when Steven Liddle scored on a wild pitch. Ryan Flaherty hit a two-run single up the middle and Shea Robin added a two-run double to make it 5-0. Andrew Giobbi added a RBI single and Liddle recorded his second single of the inning to score a run to make it 7-0.
“Liberatore did a good job for Tech tonight,” said Flaherty. “We took advantage of his one bad inning where it got away from him. We scored all the runs with two outs and Coach Corbin has been telling us that, if you can do that, it is a sign of a good team.”
Hill carried his shutout into the seventh before giving up a RBI double to Michael Roeder to get the Golden Eagles on the board 7-1. He gave up one run on four hits in 6.2 innings with six strikeouts and a walk to improve to 5-2 on the year.
“We have been playing real well lately,” said Hill. “Our offense has really been picking up and our defense has been really phenomenal the last week. We have limited the amount of hits and walks on the mound too so it has been going well.”
The Golden Eagles last chance to get back in the game came in the eighth when they loaded the bases due to three walks by reliever Shawn Bierman. Steven Schwartz came on in relief and retired the next three batters to end the threat.
TTU the final run of the game in the ninth, courtesy of a RBI double by Matt Mihoci.
The Commodores will close out its regular season home campaign this weekend as Georgia comes to town for a three-game set. The Bulldogs are 31-16-1 overall and in first place in the Southeastern Conference with a 17-6-1 mark. Friday’s game begins at 6:06 and will be televised regionally on CSS. Saturday’s gametime is 2 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.
Tennessee Tech 000 000 100 – 1 4 3
Vanderbilt 000 070 00x – 7 7 0
Liberatore, Oberacker (5), Edwards (5), Kearney (7) and McMillan, Crossman. Hill, Bierman (7), Schwartz (8), Jacobson (9) and Robin, Casali. W- Hill 5-2, L- Liberatore (1-1). Sv-None. HR: None
