| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Stanford (34-24) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 2 | |
| Vanderbilt (45-18) | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 14 | 0 | |
| Nashville, Tenn. | Hawkins Field | |||||||||||||
| Pitching | |||||||||||||
| Win: Tyler Ferguson (8-3) | |||||||||||||
| Loss: John Hochstatter (10-3) | |||||||||||||
| Batting | |||||||||||||
| Danny Diekroeger - 2-4 | |||||||||||||
| Wayne Taylor - 1-4, 3B, 2 RBI | |||||||||||||
| Dominic Jose - 1-4, 2 RBI | |||||||||||||
NASHVILLE -- Stanford rallied to cut a 10-0 Vanderbilt lead to 10-6, before eventually falling, 11-6, in the first game of the Nashville Super Regional Friday afternoon at Hawkins Field. The Commodores jump out to a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three set with a trip the College World Series in Omaha on the line.
“We just gave them too much early,” said Mark Marquess, the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball. “Obviously you can’t give a quality team like Vanderbilt as many free base runners as we did.”
John Hochstatter (10-3) and Chris Viall struggled to find the strike zone early and Vanderbilt capitalized with 10 runs in the first three innings. Hochstatter allowed five runs on one hit and five walks, while Viall walked two and allowed six hits, as five more runs (four earned) crossed the plate.
“(Hochstatter) has pitched phenominal, we wouldn’t be here without him,” Marquess added. “He was just out of sync. He didn’t have command of any of his pitches, which is unlike him.”
Stanford (34-25) charged back with two runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth against Vanderbilt ace and first-round draft pick Tyler Beede. Wayne Taylor tripled home a pair to start Stanford’s rally in the fourth, before the Cardinal batted around in the fifth. Stanford scored on an RBI single from Zach Hoffpauir a sac fly by Brant Whiting and a two-out, two-strike, two-RBI single to center off the bat of Dominic Jose.
The Cardinal sent the tying run to the plate in the fifth, but Tommy Edman flew out to the gap with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Brett Hanewich kept Stanford in the game with 5.2 innings of relief. He finished through the eighth inning, while allowing only one unearned run on seven hits, one walk and six strikeouts. Hanewich’s 92-pitch effort also saves the Cardinal’s bullpen arms for the remainder of the series.
“I thought Hanewich really did a good job,” said Marquess. “I was very proud of him for the way he pitched for us.”
The Cardinal offense was led by Danny Diekroeger, who went 2-4. Alex Blandino scored two runs and reached base for the 29th straight game and Austin Slater extended his hitting streak to 23 games.
Vanderbilt (45-18) went to Tyler Ferguson out of the bullpen after Beede could not get through the fifth inning. Ferguson (8-3) shut out Stanford over 2.2 innings to pick up his eighth win of the year. Brian Miller kept the Cardinal hitless over the last 1.2 innings.
Game two of the series is scheduled for noon PT tomorrow. Stanford, the designated home team, will send Cal Quantrill to the mound against Carson Fuller.
“(Today) definitely put a sour taste in our mouths,” said Diekroeger. “We’re looking forward to coming out tomorrow.”