The No. 18 VandyBoys picked up a bounce-back victory on a cold and windy Wednesday afternoon at Hawkins Field, defeating the St. Bonaventure Bonnies by a score of 14-1.
The offensive charge was led by Colin Barczi, Braden Holcomb and Brodie Johnston, each of whom tallied multiple base hits. While Vanderbilt had just one extra base hit on the day, a combination of ten singles and 12 free passes made runs easy to come by.
“I think it’s just staying within myself,” Johnston said after the game about his recent success. “We’ve been working a little bit and I’ve been using a short bat, too. That’s helped me a lot.”
Head coach Tim Corbin embraced the bullpen-day mentality on the mound, utilizing six different pitchers. Austin Nye and Brennan Seiber combined for three shutout innings to kick off the day while Hudson Barton, Luke Guth, Levi Huesman and Ryan Ginther followed with strong performances of their own.
“We’ve been able to march a lot guys out there and they’ve all been pretty consistent for the most part,” Corbin said. “Keeping a team that has scored a lot of double-digit games off the scoreboard [was nice to see].”
Top 1: Vanderbilt 0, St. Bonaventure 0
Nye ran into trouble with one away, surrendering a single and a walk to put two on base. He escaped unscathed, however, after picking off the runner at second base and inducing a soft fly out to left field.
Bottom 1: Vanderbilt 0, St. Bonaventure 0
The Commodores went away quietly in their first trip to the dish, failing to put a runner on base. Junior right-hander David James struck out both RJ Austin and Johnston on off-speed pitches well below the strike zone.
Top 2: Vanderbilt 0, St. Bonaventure 0
Nye continued to walk the tightrope in the second, allowing a pair of baserunners but keeping either from crossing the plate. He also picked up a pair of strikeouts, bringing his total on the day to three.
Bottom 2: Vanderbilt 0, St. Bonaventure 0
Despite free passes to Mac Rose, Holcomb and Mike Mancini, Vanderbilt was unable to open the scoring in the bottom of the second. James picked up two more strikeouts in the inning, including a critical punch out of Jacob Humphrey with the bases loaded and one out.
Top 3: Vanderbilt 0, St. Bonaventure 0
In sticking with the approach from last week’s midweek game against Tennessee Tech, Corbin turned to Seiber out of the bullpen to kickoff the third. He surrendered a single and a walk but avoided any damage thanks to a pair of strikeouts and a swift pickoff move to catch a runner leaning at first base.
Bottom 3: Vanderbilt 1, St. Bonaventure 0
For the second consecutive inning, the Commodores picked up three free passes to put runners in scoring position. This time, they were able to turn it into their first lead of the game, as a two-out single from Barczi brought home Johnston to open the scoring.
Top 4: Vanderbilt 1, St. Bonaventure 1
Barton came on in hopes of keeping the lead intact but was unable to do so. With one away, catcher Antonio Cordeiro drove a hanging breaking ball over the left field fence to level the score at one apiece.
Bottom 4: Vanderbilt 4, St. Bonaventure 1
The VandyBoys finally created some breathing room in the fourth thanks to a patient approach at the plate and some smart base running. Mancini and Humphrey reached on free passes to get things started and came around to score not long after on a fielder’s choice from Austin and a wild pitch, respectively. Two batters later, Austin, who had stolen third base, came home on a sacrifice fly from Johnston.
Top 5: Vanderbilt 4, St. Bonaventure 1
Barton bounced back with two strikeouts to kick off the fifth, but after a walk and a hit-by-pitch, he was removed for Guth. Guth faced just one batter and induced a pop fly to end the threat.
Bottom 5: Vanderbilt 7, St. Bonaventure 1
The Commodores picked up right where they left off, loading the bases on a single by Holcomb and walks to Mancini and Humphrey. All three came around to score after Austin and Riley Nelson tallied back-to-back singles with two away.
Top 6: Vanderbilt 7, St. Bonaventure 1
The newly-entered Huesman utilized a heavy dose of breaking balls to produce Vanderbilt’s first one-two-three inning of the day.
Bottom 6: Vanderbilt 14, St. Bonaventure 1
Vanderbilt underwent an offensive explosion in the sixth, tallying seven runs on seven hits. Between a leadoff base hit by Johnston and a stretch of five consecutive singles by Barczi, Holcomb, Mancini, Humphrey and Vastine, the Commodores quickly added plenty of padding to an already comfortable lead. With two away and five runs already in, Johnston picked up his second base hit of the inning and Vanderbilt’s first extra base hit of the game when he crushed a double over the center fielder’s head, scoring two additional runs.
Top 7: Vanderbilt 14, St. Bonaventure 1
Ginther came on to close things out for Vanderbilt and made quick work of the Bonnies lineup, striking out three and sealing a victory for the Commodores.
The VandyBoys will be back at Hawkins Field on March 7 at 4:30 p.m. CST for the first of three games against Xavier.
