Feb. 24, 2007

MUST READ: Will Matthews' Post-Game Column - 'Dores Coming Through in the Clutch

Sunday vs. Boston College at Noon CT - February Tickets Only $1

Box Score | Season Statistics

COMMODORE GAMEDAY
VU SUNDAY GAME PREVIEW BOSTON COLLEGE First Pitch: 12 p.m. CT at Hawkins Field February Tickets $1 Probable Starters Brett Jacobson (2-0, 0.77 ERA) vs. Nick Asselin (N/A) Media Coverage Live Stats Free Online Radio No Webcast, No 560 AM Local Radio

Traffic and Parking Note for Sunday: Due to three Vanderbilt sporting events going on at the same time Sunday afternoon, fans are encouraged to come as early as possible. Parking is available for $5 in the 25th Avenue Garage (corner of Jess Neely and 25th) and in the Vanderbilt Medical Center Lots off of Natchez Trace and Blakemore. The easiest way to access the 25th Avenue Garage is taking Blakemore Avenue to 25th.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- No. 1 Vanderbilt pounded out 16 hits and starter Nick Christiani struck out a career high nine batters in six innings to lead the Commodores to a 15-3 win over Ball State Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field.

The Commodores improved to 9-0 with the win, while the Cardinals fell to 1-5.

VU dominated the game throughout, carrying a shutout into the ninth before Ball State plated three runs to end the game scoring.

"We scored in every inning except two, and that is how you apply pressure sometimes," said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. "It is just by continuing to put guys on base. A lot of it was from walks, but there were some hits. It was kind of a sloppy game, but we'll take it."

Christiani allowed four hits in six innings with nine strikeouts and four walks to improve to 2-0 on the year. He has not allowed an earned run over his last two starts, a span of 14 innings.

Vanderbilt jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first courtesy of a two-run single by Ryan Flaherty. They added two more in the third to make it 4-0.

The Commodores then blew the game open in the fourth with a five-run inning. Catcher Andrew Giobbi, making his first collegiate start, delivered a two-run single and Alex Feinberg later added one of his own to make it 9-0.

Vandy added another run in the fifth and a Flaherty RBI single in the sixth made it 11-0. The squad closed out its scoring with four more runs in the eighth. Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Davis had RBI singles and Parker Hanks added a RBI double to key the scoring.

Reliever Cody Crowell came on in the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

Ball State finally got on the board in the ninth scoring three runs off of reliever Josh Zeid. Justin Rogers had a two-run single and Kory Benbow walked with the bases loaded to account for the runs.

Designated hitter Kurt Lipton led the Commodore attack with three hits on the day, while David Macias, Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty and Parker Hanks each chipped in with two.

The Commodores will close out the Music City Classic against Boston College Sunday at noon. Please note, the start time has been moved up an hour from the originally scheduled time. All single-game tickets available through the month of February can be purchased for only $1. Fans can call (615) 322-GOLD for more info.

Ball State            000            000            003            - 3            8            4
Vanderbilt           202            511            04x            -15           16          1

DeGeeter, Broughton (4), Quinn (6), Loveys (8) and Schmid. Christiani, Crowell (7), Zeid (9) and Giobbi, Hawkins, Moreland. W- Christiani 2-0. L- DeGeeter 0-2. Sv- None. HRs: None.