No. 15 Vanderbilt Run-Rules St. Mary's in Series Finale

No. 15 Vanderbilt baseball (6-1) wrapped up their series with St. Mary's (4-4) early on Sunday by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 10-0 lead into the seventh and secure their first run-rule victory of the year.

The Commodores were anchored by a dominant pitching outing by junior Cody Bowker. The right-hander gave the home side 5 innings with no runs, not hits, allowing three walks with one hit batter and striking out six Gaels to keep St. Mary's at bay.

Left hander Ryan Ginther took the ball in the sixth inning, allowing a single but forcing a double-play to keep his appearance clean. Sophomore right-hander Alex Kranzler took the mound in the seventh needing to protect the run-rule lead and did just that striking out two batters and giving up a single.

Vanderbilt's got the offense going in two innings to honor the strong pitching efforts. The Commodores scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning when left fielder Rustan Rigdon singled and then stole second base. First baseman Riley Nelson got hit by a pitch and third baseman Brodie Johnston singled to scored Rigdon.

Mac Rose and Connor Barczi each grounded out to move the runners and ultimately score Nelson for the second run. Second baseman Mike Mancini singled to score Johnston before the inning concluded with a strikeout.

The bats stayed quiet until the bottom of the sixth where the Commodores exploded for seven runs, all after the Gael's had two-outs. Center fielder RJ Austin got things going with a walk and Rigdon followed right behind with one of his own. Two doubles, two singles and two walks later the 'Dores had complete control.

Nelson, Johnston and Rose all had two hits a piece but right fielder Jacob Humphrey led the Commodores with three RBIs as his double in the sixth with the bases loaded cleared the bases for the knockout punch.

Vanderbilt returns to action Tuesday against Tennessee Tech at 4:30 p.m. CT from Hawkins Field.