No. 23 Vols Sink No. 4 Commodores in Series Finale, 7-6

Sunday, March 31

Nashville

3 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

21-8, 0

#4 Vanderbilt

22-6, 0

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Photo by: Maury Neipris/Tennessee Athletics

No. 23 Vols Sink No. 4 Commodores in Series Finale, 7-6

March 31, 2019 | Baseball

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 23 Tennessee raced out to an early lead and held on late for a 7-6 road win over No. 4 Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Field, snapping a seven-game win streak for the Commodores.

Sophomore pitcher Garrett Crochet entered in relief of starter Will Neely with one out in the fifth and held the Commodores' potent lineup scoreless for the final 4.1 innings to earn the win. The Mississippi native allowed just four hits and had four strikeouts on the afternoon.

Andre Lipcius broke out of his slump in a big way with three runs batted in and three runs scored for the game. Alerick Soularie and Evan Russell also had multiple hits as UT cranked out all 10 of its hit in the first 3.2 innings.

Nursing a one-run lead in the eighth, the Vols' defense made a game-saving play to end the inning. With two outs and a pinch runner on first, Julian Infante doubled to the corner in left field and Walker Grisanti was waved home on the play. Soularie's relay throw was caught on a short hop by shortstop Ricky Martinez and he delivered a perfect strike to Landon Gray who applied the tag to Grisanti for the final out of the inning.

Crochet worked around a single in the ninth to retire the heart of Vanderbilt's order, striking out Cooper Davis and JJ Bleday before getting Stephen Scott to fly out to center field to end the game.

For the third straight day the Vols jumped out to a quick lead, tagging Commodores' starter Kumar Rocker for three runs on five hits in the first inning as all nine batters came to the plate. The five hits were the most allowed by Vandy in an inning this season.

Following back-to-back singles by Justin Ammons and Jay Charleston to lead things off, Lipcius drove in his first two runs of the day with a double to right center to get the scoring started. Two batters later, Russell poked one over the second baseman's head on a check swing for an RBI single to make it 3-0.

Just like Saturday's game, Vanderbilt answered right back to tie the game in the bottom of the first. UT starter Will Neely retired the leadoff batter but then had to deal with a delay of about 10 minutes after home plate umpire Ryan Morehead had to leave the game with an apparent leg injury. Austin Martin and Scott both singled after the delay to set the table for Philip Clarke, who homered to right center to tie the game at three. Clarke had three hits and four RBI on the day while finishing a double short of the cycle to lead the Dores offensively.

Lipcius struck again in the top of the second to put the Vols back in the lead with an RBI single to right field. Charleston scored his second run of the game on the play after reaching base on a hit by pitch and stealing his SEC-leading 24^th base to move into scoring position. Lipcius scored on an error later in the inning to put UT ahead 5-3.

The Big Orange increased their lead to four and chased Rocker from the game with two more runs in the fourth. Lipcius scored his third run of the day on an RBI ground out by Martinez and Soularie scored one batter later on an infield single by Max Ferguson.

Vanderbilt clawed its way back within a run after scoring once in the fourth and twice in the fifth. Clarke scored on a sacrifice fly in the fourth after leading off the inning with a triple. Bleday and Scott both singled in runs in the fifth to make it a 7-6 game, but Crochet was lights out in relief and kept the Commodores off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.

NOTABLE
ANOTHER FAST START FOR VOLS: Tennessee pounced on Vanderbilt starter Kumar Rocker early with three runs in the top of the first. The Vols have scored at least one run in the first inning in each of their past five games and 12 times total this season, including five times in SEC play. The Big Orange have outscored their opponents 27-14 in the first inning this season.

ROAD WIN OVER TOP FIVE TEAM: Sunday's victory was Tennessee's first road win over a team ranked in the top five nationally since the Vols defeated No. 3 Vanderbilt, 9-5, on March 28, 2015.

UP NEXT: Tennessee returns to Knoxville and will kick off a nine-game homestand on Tuesday against Belmont. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on the SEC Network. Fans can also listen to the Vol Network radio broadcast (AM 990) as John Wilkerson calls the action.