May 23, 2008
Hoover, Ala. – Pedro Alvarez and Andrew Giobbi each hit two-run homers and Ryan Flaherty tallied two RBI as well as Vanderbilt held off a late South Carolina rally and defeated the Gamecocks 7-5 on Friday afternoon in an elimination game at the SEC Tournament. Vanderbilt improves to 39-20 while South Carolina drops to 38-21 this season. Carolina now awaits word on the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament with the 64-team field released on Monday afternoon (May 26) at 12:30 pm ET.
Vanderbilt jumped ahead 7-1 on the back of both Alvarez and Giobbi’s homers, with Alvarez’ two-run shot putting the Commodores on top by six runs. South Carolina didn’t waver though and fought back to score four runs in the eighth inning to cut the deficit to a pair of runs. A leadoff double by Reese Havens and a single by Whit Merrifield gave Carolina runners on the corners with no outs. Havens would score on a sacrifice fly to left field from Justin Smoak. After James Darnell walked, Phil Disher stroked a three-run homer to right center that cleared the second wall and cut the deficit to 7-5. Carolina almost tied the game in the ninth inning as Scott Wingo walked with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. Havens knocked a long fly ball to right center that was caught on the edge of the warning track by Vanderbilt’s right fielder Dominic de la Osa. Commodore reliever Russell Brewer finished off the game then to earn his seventh save of the year as he coaxed Merrifield into a fly out in center field.
Vanderbilt starter Nick Christiani earned the win and is 6-4 on the year. He went 6.1 innings and allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Carolina starter Blake Cooper suffered the loss and is 5-6 on the year. Cooper worked 4.1 innings and allowed four runs on six hits with a career-high eight strikeouts and just one walk.
The Commodores broke ahead first in the game and took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Jonathan White was hit by a pitch, David Macias singled to center field and Alex Feinberg also was hit to load the bases for Vanderbilt. With the bases full, Cooper got the second out of the inning as he struck out All-America third baseman Pedro Alvarez looking on a breaking ball on the outer edge of the plate. Vanderbilt struck with two outs though as Ryan Flaherty laced a 3-2 pitch from Cooper for a single that was nabbed by a diving Reese Havens right beyond second base. However, with the 3-2 count, the runners were going and it allowed both White and Macias to score on the base hit to give Vanderbilt a two-run edge.
South Carolina came back with one run in the top of the fourth inning as Disher struck with a solo homer to left field off of Christiani. Disher’s two home runs on the afternoon gave him 19 on the year and moved him into seventh on the USC All-Time Career List with 42 career homers.
Vanderbilt battled back in the bottom half of the fourth to take a three-run lead as Giobbi launched a two-run homer to left field that put Vandy ahead by three runs. It marked Giobbi’s third homer of the year. That lead increased to 7-1 in the sixth inning with three more runs. As in the early innings, the Commodores scored with two outs as Alex Feinberg tallied a RBI triple that was followed up by a two-run homer to right field by Alvarez.
Vanderbilt out-hit South Carolina 10-8 on the afternoon. David Macias went 3-for-5 with two runs to lead the Commodores. Flaherty also had two hits. Havens hit the ball well all afternoon and finished with three hits to lead Carolina. Disher also finished going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
