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Vanderbilt baseball drops season opener with blowout loss to TCU
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Vanderbilt baseball opened the 2023 season in disappointing fashion Friday night. Facing off against TCU at Globe Life Fld in Arlington, the Commodores were unable to muster consistent offense against the Horned Frogs.
In the end, TCU provided some big blows across the 6th and 7th innings to build a big lead it would not relinquish. The Horned Frogs pushed 5 runs across in the 6th to take the lead and added 4 more in the 7th inning to cruise to an 11-4 win in the season opener.
On the mound for the Commodores, Sam Hliboki took the loss while surrendering 5 runs across 2.1 innings pitched. Grayson Moore was credited with 4 earned runs in the 7th.
“That was a good team. They played really well,” said head coach Tim Corbin after the loss. “They took a game that was close and made it theirs toward the end. Any time they put guys on base, they did damage with the hits. Give them credit.
“I thought their hitters did a good job with two strikes, did a good job with two outs and they certainly applied a lot of pressure to us.”
Offensively, Vanderbilt was held in check with 4 runs scored on just 5 hits. Regardless of the performance, second baseman Jonathan Vastine remains confident in the team over the course of the season.
“It’s early in the year. You can’t base an offense after one game,” Vastine said. “We most certainly have way more in the tank, and I don’t doubt for one second that my boys are going to come through throughout the rest of the year.”
Good to see you back on the mound @sam_hliboki!#VandyBoys | #AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/sPLPJzra9m
— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) February 17, 2023
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
