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Vanderbilt cruises past Florida to advance to SEC Tournament Championship Game

Andrew Olson

By Andrew Olson

Published:

The Vandy Boys made a statement early against Florida and cruised to a spot in the SEC Tournament Championship Game. In a rematch from Thursday, No. 4 seed Vanderbilt defeated No. 1 seed Florida 11-6 in Saturday’s semifinal.

The Commodores put up 10 runs in the first 3 innings. Vandy got to UF starter Jac Caglianone early. A costly throwing error by Caglianone opened the floodgates for a 4-run 1st inning.

The Dores chased Caglianone in the 2nd inning, getting to the Gator bullpen. It was 6-0 Vanderbilt after 2 innings.

UF answered with 1 run in the top of the 3rd inning, but the Commodores made sure the Gators did not get any momentum. Vanderbilt scored 4 more in the bottom of the 3rd inning to make it a 10-1 contest. From there, the lead was never less than 5 runs.

Vandy’s Alan Espinal was 3-for-4 at the plate, with a home run and a double. Chris Maldonado (2-for-4) and RJ Austin (1-for-4) each had 2 RBIs.

JD Thompson got the start for VU, going 4.2 innings. Grayson Moore threw 2.1 innings of relief, picking up the win as the pitcher of the record after 5 innings. Nick Maldonado tossed 2 clean innings to end the game. Dores hurlers were aided by phenomenal play from Enrique Bradfield Jr. in the outfield.

It’s the 12th time in program history that Vanderbilt will play for an SEC Tournament title. The Commodores will face Texas A&M on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.

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