No. 18 Alabama Baseball Bounces Back to Even Series With Commodores

Afternoon storms in Nashville delayed No. 15 Vanderbilt's Saturday baseball game against No. 18 Alabama. The Commodores' offense was washed away by the rain and a strong performance by Crimson Tide starting pitcher Riley Quick, and they fell in game two of the series 5-2.

The Commodores followed up its 16-hit, 12-2 run-rule victory on Friday night by scraping together just four hits on Saturday with 14 strikeouts to drop their fifth home game of the season.

The game started positively for Vanderbilt as RJ Austin singled, was advanced to second on a ground-out, to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a balk to give the Commodores a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Brodie Johnston followed with a single of his own and Vanderbilt appeared to be picking up where they left off on Friday.

Instead, the Commodores followed with three hitless innings and couldn't get a man on base until Colin Vastine's single in the fifth inning caught a minor mistake by Quick. Quick managed 6 innings of work with nine strikeouts, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks with two wild-pitches.

The Commodores finally go to Quick a bit in the seventh inning as Braden Holcomb opened with a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Mac Rose singled into left field to score Holcomb, cutting the score to 4-2 and ending Quick's outing.

Vanderbilt starting pitcher Cody Bowker gave the Commodores four innings of work, striking out six batters and giving up two runs on three hits and two walks. He opened the third inning by walking Justin Lebron and Kade Snell back-to-back. Lebron stole third and then scored as Richie Bonomolo Jr. reached on a fielder's choice.

Alabama took the lead in the fifth inning after Coleman Mizell ledoff the inning with a solo home run, ending Bowker's afternoon. Levi Huesman entered in relief but continued the inning by giving Lebron another free pass by hitting him. Snell followed with a single and Bonomolo Jr. notched his second RBI of the day, scoring Lebron again on a single. Garrett Staton's double scored Snell and gave the Crimson Tide it's 4-2 cushion.

Staton scored again in the eighth inning for Alabama after opening the inning with another double. Jason Torres moved him to third on a sacrifice fly and scored on an Ethan McElvain wild pitch for more insurance.

The Commodores host the rubber match with the Crimson Tide on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT.