NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt scored six runs in the first inning and led 7-0 before the University of South Carolina baseball team battled back to cut the lead to two runs but ultimately fell to the Commodores, 9-5, Friday night (May 15) at Hawkins Field.
Vanderbilt scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning with the help of six singles, a fielding error and a double steal that scored Rustan Rigdon. Vanderbilt made it 7-0 with a run in the third, but the Gamecocks cut that lead to 7-2 in the fourth as KJ Scobey doubled to the gap in right, scoring Talmadge LeCroy and Jake Randolph. Will Craddock followed with an RBI single to make it 7-3 Commodores.
Carolina scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. Dawson Harman, walked, stole second and scored on Luke Yuhasz’s RBI double. Yuhasz then came home on Tyler Bak’s single to the gap in right. Vanderbilt ended the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Alex Valentin went five innings and threw 105 pitches, battling to allow four earned runs with four strikeouts. He took the loss. Bak had a pair of hits in the game, while Scobey drove in a pair of runs.
POSTGAME NOTES
Valentin tied a season high with five innings pitched. He also pitched five innings against Mississippi State in April.
Scobey is now tied for fifth in the SEC with 16 doubles.
Carolina heads into the final game of the regular season with the No. 15 seed in the SEC Tournament. A Missouri loss to Texas on Friday would clinch that seed.
UP NEXT
Carolina and Vanderbilt close out the regular season Saturday afternoon (May 16) with a 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET) first pitch. The game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.