Vanderbilt defeated South Carolina 9-1 in the opening game of their baseball series on May 14 at Hawkins Field in Nashville.
The win was significant for head coach Tim Corbin, marking his 1,100th career victory and bringing him within six wins of reaching 1,000 victories at Vanderbilt. The result also gave the Commodores a strong start to the series against their conference rival.
Connor Fennell started on the mound for Vanderbilt and pitched 6.1 innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out seven batters. Fennell earned his fourth win of the season with this performance. Offensively, Vanderbilt recorded nine runs on fourteen hits, with every batter in the lineup collecting at least one hit.
Tommy Goodin led the team by going three-for-four with an RBI and two runs scored. Ryker Waite contributed three RBIs with two hits, while Rustan Rigdon added two RBIs and scored twice during a two-for-three night. After South Carolina took an early lead in the second inning, Vanderbilt responded by scoring four runs in their half of that inning, highlighted by Rigdon’s double and Waite’s two-run single.
The Commodores extended their lead further in the fifth inning by sending nine batters to the plate and scoring four more runs. Braden Holcomb, Goodin, and Korbin Reynolds each drove in a run with singles during that frame. Chris Maldonado added another run with a double down the left field line in the seventh inning.
After Fennell exited in the seventh inning, Alex Kranzler finished out the game for Vanderbilt without allowing a hit over 2.2 innings while striking out four batters. The teams are scheduled to play again Friday evening for game two of their series.
