BATON ROUGE — Right fielder Ryan Davis and catcher Brian Hernandez drove in five runs apiece Saturday to lead Vanderbilt to a 19-4 victory over No. 25 LSU in Alex Box Stadium.
The Commodores (29-22 overall, 13-13 SEC) evened the conference series at one game apiece after LSU (33-18 overall, 12-14 SEC) posted a 4-3 win on Friday night.
The teams meet in the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday in Alex Box Stadium. Junior left-hander Daniel Forrer (1-2, 6.18 ERA) is LSU’s scheduled starter while Vanderbilt will counter with sophomore right-hander Ty Davis (5-4, 3.81 ERA).
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The Commodores pounded out 21 hits Saturday, including four home runs. Davis was 5-for-6 at the plate with one double, one homer and five RBI while Hernandez launched two homers, scored four times and drove in five runs.
Vanderbilt erupted for seven runs in the first inning against LSU starter Louis Coleman (5-4), an uprising highlighted by DH Shea Robin’s two-run double and a three-run homer by first baseman Brad French.
The Commodores extended the lead to 9-0 in the second on a two-run blast by Hernandez, his first of the season.
“They jumped on us early, and it’s hard to catch up,” said LSU coach Smoke Laval. “They have a guy that can pitch a little bit, too. The bottom line was that you had to stay close like we did yesterday, and we needed some good fortune.”
Vanderbilt starter David Price (7-4) earned the win, limiting the Tigers to two runs on four hits in seven innings with five walks and eight strikeouts.
Coleman was charged with the loss as he surrendered nine runs on six hits in 1.2 innings with three walks and two strikeouts.
LSU first baseman Jordan Mayer was 3-for-4 on the day with one double and one RBI, and right fielder Quinn Stewart launched his 21st homer of the season, a solo blast in the sixth inning.
Vanderbilt 19, LSU 4 (May 13, 2006 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Vanderbilt………. 720 201 430 – 19 21 0 (29-22, 13-13 SEC)
LSU……………… 010 001 002 – 4 8 1 (33-18, 12-14 SEC)
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Pitchers: Vanderbilt – Price; Zeid(8). LSU – Coleman; Shaffer(2); Byrd(6); Cain(7); Goodwin(8).
Win-Price(7-4) Loss-Coleman(5-4) T-3:01 A-7923
HR VUN – Hernandez 2 (2); Davis, R. (2); French (2).
HR LSU – Stewart (21).
Actual attendance: 4,029
Byrd faced 3 batters in the 7th.
Cain faced 2 batters in the 8th.