The Commodores won their weekend series against Auburn (23-18, 7-11 Southeastern Conference) 2-1, powering through Sunday afternoon’s game with a 9-5 victory.
After Vanderbilt (28-11, 10-7 SEC) lost its first game, the team rebounded by winning two straight against Auburn on Saturday and Sunday. This series saw the end of Vanderbilt’s seven-game winning streak, David Macias’ 14-game hitting streak and Auburn’s four-game losing streak.
"(Sunday) was one of those days where I felt really good about our chances, but (Auburn) never let up," said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. "As much as the score was 9-5, it felt like a 9-8 game."
Sophomore Nick Christiani starting the pitching in the third game but did not give his best performance of the season. He allowed four earned runs off five hits in his five innings of work but held off the Tigers enough to give Vanderbilt a two-run lead when he was relieved in the sixth inning by Chase Reid.
Reid, Richie Goodenow and Russell Brewer combined for the last four innings to allow only one earned run and giving Brewer his fourth save.
Vanderbilt made a strong offensive showing, especially in the first inning when Pedro Alvarez reached on a single followed by a Ryan Flaherty two-RBI home run. Flaherty had the first multi-homer game of his career with his second two-RBI homer in the fifth.
His RBIs amounted for four of Vanderbilt’s nine runs in the game.
"I spent a lot of time in the off-season working on hitting, and that has really helped," said Flaherty, who had only six home runs in his career before Sunday. "I just try and continue to develop as a player, and hitting the ball the other way has also helped as well as getting good counts to hit in."
Dominic De la Osa also had a very good game, recording three hits in as many times at bat. He never made it all the way around though and was left on base each time after advancing with three stolen bases.
The game did get close in the eighth when Auburn loaded the bases with only one out. The Tigers were at the ideal point in their rotation, with Mike Bianucci at the plate after he had belted two home runs earlier in the game. Brewer took the mound to strike out Bianucci and make another Tiger slugger, Hunter Morris, flyout on his first pitch to end the threat.
“We were just fortunate to get two real good hitters with the bases loaded out," Corbin said.
Shea Robin, Steven Liddle and Alvarez each had two hits on the day to raise Vanderbilt’s hit count to 13 in eight innings.
Macias’ 0-3 effort ended his 14-game hitting streak, his second longest of the season. He had an 18-game streak earlier this year.
The Commodores lost their first game on Saturday (3-6) after it was postponed from Friday afternoon for weather. They bounced back later Saturday in their second game to win 8-2, thanks to 11 strikeouts by Caleb Cotham.
Vanderbilt will play away games across town at Austin Peay and Belmont this week and will continue its SEC season with another home series against Kentucky next weekend.
—For a season recap and preview of the 2008 baseball squad, see InsideVandy and Wednesday’s edition of The Vanderbilt Hustler.
