The ‘Dores bounced back from an embarrassing sweep at home versus Arkansas with their first ever sweep of Florida in Gainesville this weekend. They won by scores of 6-0, 3-2, and 11-3.
Offensively, they were led by RJ Austin, Riley Nelson, Jonathan Vastine, and Colin Barczi. Austin went 5-13 with 2 RBIs, Nelson was 5-9 with 4 RBIs and a home run (he also drew 3 walks), Vastine was 6-10 with 3 RBIs and a HR, Barczi went 4-13 with 3 RBIs and the game winning home run in Saturday's game.
Pitching was outstanding in the first two games, as JD Thompson went 4.2 innings with 0 ER, Sawyer Hawks went 4 innings with 0 ER, and Cody Bowker pitched 4.2 with 1 ER.
Game Recaps
Friday’s game was highlighted by elite pitching and timely hitting. JD Thompson did not have his best stuff and struggled a bit during the early innings but did well to work through trouble and get the crucial outs. The game was scoreless until the 3rd inning where RJ Austin tripled and scored Mancini who had just walked. In the 5th inning Rustan Rigdon drew a walk and was driven home by an RJ Austin double. Austin was then brought home by a Riley Nelson single. Hawks took over for Thompson in the bottom of the 6th and dominated, only allowing 3 more hits and no walks all day. Vandy put the game away in the 8th behind Vastine and Humphrey walks followed by singles from Mancini and Nelson to go up 6-0. Hawks would close the game with scoreless 8th and 9th innings.
Saturday’s game was much more dramatic despite less runs being scored. Cody Bowker was dominant in the first few innings, racking up 6 Ks and not allowing a run through the first 4 innings. Vandy would get out to an early lead thanks to Jonathan Vastine’s 5th home run of the season in the top of the 3rd and extend it in the 5th thanks to a MikeMancini double that scored Rustan Rigdon. Bowker lost his command in the 5th and allowed a run thanks to a walk and 2 singles. Miller Green would come on in relief and get Vandy out of the 5th. Green would get one more out in the 6th but after a walk and single Alex Kranzler came in for him and got Vandy out of the 6th. Florida tied the game at 2 a piece in the 7th as Kranzler gave up 3 hits and a walk but limited the damage to only one run. After a scoreless 8th, Colin Barczi would be the hero and hit an oppo home run as Vandy was down to its last strike in the 9th. Connor Fennell would come on in the 9th and only give up 1 run as he gets the first save of his Vandy career.
Sunday’s game was the highest scoring affair of all of the games as both pitching staffs were depleted. Brennan Seiber got the start for Vandy and pitched 2 scoreless innings despite giving up some hard contact and not ...
