Fayetteville, Ark. – Kyle Wright turned in seven scoreless innings to help Vanderbilt even the series with a 6-2 win at Arkansas on Saturday night at Baum Stadium.
Wright dominated the Razorbacks (36-14, 15-10) from the start on Saturday, striking out the first batters of the game to set the tone for the night. The right-hander’s first blemish of the night came when he walked Alex Gosser on 11 pitches to open the third but used three ground balls to get out of the inning and begin a string of 10 straight retired to complete five no-hit innings. Wright recorded the first out of the sixth before Jax Biggers lined a clean single into right field for the home team’s first hit of the game. The Commodores’ (30-20, 13-12) right-hander bounced back quickly to get the next two outs, finishing the frame with his ninth strikeout of the game. Wright wrapped up his fifth quality start in his last six starts in the seventh with two more strikeouts to run his total to 11 in the win. Over his last four games, he has struck out 51 over 39.1 innings.
Will Toffey broke up a scoreless game in the fifth inning with his sixth homer of the year but it was a big seventh inning that put the game away for the Dores. One-out, consecutive singles from Ro Coleman and Jeren Kendall started the rally in front of Julian Infante. The VU first baseman changed the game with one swing, launching his 10th home run of the season out to left-center field for a 4-0 Vandy lead. Jason Delay added insurance in the top of the ninth with a two-out, two-run single.
Wright earned his third win of the year with his third scoreless outing of the season, with all three coming in his last five starts. The junior has been stellar over his last five games, allowing just five runs on 12 hits across 39.1 innings with a 1.14 ERA.
Coleman reached base four times and matched a season-best with three hits to spark the offense. In his second game back from injury, Toffey picked up two hits with Infante and Reed Hayes each adding two hits in the victory. Kendall pushed his hitting streak to seven games with his seventh inning single.
Arkansas starter Blaine Knight took the loss allowing one run on six hits over five innings. Vanderbilt reached the Razorbacks’ bullpen for five runs on six hits over the last four innings.
The Commodores enter Sunday’s game with the series on the line for the eighth time this year. Chandler Day gets the ball for VU against Arkansas’ Dominic Taccolini. Game time is set for 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.
