As soon as the Commodores took the lead against Belmont on an error in the first inning, they never looked back.
With a solid game from starting pitcher Brett Jacobson, the Commodores took a 2-0 lead on Alex Feinberg’s at-bat in the first. Belmont answered with a two-run homer in the second to tie the ballgame at Hawkins field.
Despite the quickly dropping temperature, on his first pitch, Ryan Flaherty slammed his own two-run homer in the second to regain the lead for Vanderbilt.
Each team had three scoreless innings as Vanderbilt’s defense executed two double-plays in the fourth and seventh. Belmont used a series of relievers to try and stop the Commodore offense, but Shea Robin pounded a triple in the sixth inning, and Dominic de la Osa reinvigorated the Commodores with a one-run homer in the seventh. Jacobson pitched a good game allowing seven hits in seven innings.
"I thought Brett's ability to get through the lineup a second and third time was key for him," said Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin. Drew Hayes came on in relief in the eighth to shut Belmont down in the last two innings.
Despite not being able to break out of the bottom of the Southeastern Conference East, the Commodores showed they are an offensive threat to anyone as they stretched their lead in the eighth. Alex Feinberg hit a line-drive single to get on base, and Steven Liddle scorched Belmont’s infield with another line-drive to score Feinberg. Liddle then slid into home for his first run of the night on a wild pitch from Belmont’s reliever.
Vanderbilt turned out the lights on Belmont in the ninth with an athletic catch by third baseman Brian Harris and a strikeout from Hayes to end the game. The 7-3 win puts the Commodores at 15-6 on the season and 3-3 in league play. While this is still the bottom of our division, it is better than anyone in the SEC West.
"The hits that we got tonight counted, and I thought we pitched pretty well from innings four through nine," said Corbin. "After the weekend it is always big to come back and win a game."
As the Nashville sports fans look to the boys of summer for relief from the woes of March Madness, Vanderbilt showed tonight at Hawkins field that they are ready to steal the spotlight on campus again this season.
