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6 days ago
Vanderbilt Athletics
Photo: Vanderbilt Athletics
ARLINGTON, Texas – Vanderbilt piled up the scoring in the second half on Saturday, showing what the offense can do with an 11-9 victory over Oklahoma State at Globe Life Field.
Coming into the day when they held five hits, the Commodores (1-1) busted out with a seven-run frame, highlighted by a three-run triple from sophomore designated hitter Matthew Polk.
“We showed that we can play fast and that we’re athletic and that we don’t need a home run to win the football and score a lot of runs,” Polk said of Saturday’s offensive attack. “We use the speed and the tools we have.”
Vandy racked up 11 hits and went 8-for-18 with runners on base and 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position. All but one Commodore had at least one hit, and five had at least one RBI.
Vanderbilt also drew three runs and just four as a team.
“We just touched first base,” Polk said. “We got guys grinding and getting to first base, and I was the only guy who got a chance to put the ball in play (for a big hit).”
Hunter Owen (1-0) got the starting nod for Vandy and did his job. The sophomore went four innings and allowed just two earned runs on four hits and three walks.
He struck out six, and 52 of his 77 pitches were strikes.
“It’s fine,” Owen said of the start. “Just going back out there and competing felt good, back out there with the team. It could definitely cut down on walking, but other than that it felt decent. I’m trying to do my best to give us a chance to win.”
On Saturday, Owen got two easy, quick outs in the first—and then there was trouble.
A walk and a hit batter brought David Mendham to the plate, and the OSU first baseman ripped an RBI single to center field to give the Cowboys an early 1-0 lead.
But Vandy came right back in its half of the inning, getting a two-run double off the bat of Calvin Hewett that put the Dores up 2-1.
Vanderbilt loaded the bases in the second with a walk and a strikeout. That brought up Polk, who took a 3-2 pitch and planted it in the right-center gap for a bases-clearing, three-run triple to make it 5-1.
“Just trying to get the job done,” Polk said. “The bases are loaded, don’t try to do too much, 3-2-a good hitter will be stuck with two strikes, and I just want to keep it deep and put a good swing for the boy. I got a good result.”
Parker Noland added two more with a two-run single to right later in the inning, and RJ Austin brought in another with a run-scoring single to right to make it 8-1. Jack Bulgerplated another single with an RBI groundout.
The Commodores scored seven runs in the frame on six hits, two walks and a hit batter.
Beau Sylvester got one run back in the fourth for Oklahoma State thanks to a solo homer into the right field corner. That was countered by another Austin RBI single in the bottom half, making it 10-2.
Austin would score later in the inning on a wild pitch to give the Commodores an 11-2 lead.
Then it was a bit dicey for the Dores in the later rounds.
Oklahoma State (1-1) scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, making it 11-3. Chase Adkison’s RBI double to left in the eighth made it 11-4, and then Roc Riggio’s pop up to right that landed safely on the turf scored another.
Nolan McLean’s three-run home run deep to right got the Cowboys at 11-8, and then a Vanderbilt error gifted OSU yet another run-making it 11-9.
But Thomas Schultz struck out the last two batters in the inning, and Nick Maldonado (S, 1) worked a 1-2-3 ninth to preserve the victory.
Brennan Phillips (0-1) took the loss for the Cowboys. He was charged with seven runs on four hits, two walks and two hit batters.
Until Next Time
Vanderbilt will now look to leave the Lone Star State with a winning record; they face Texas at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
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