Nick Christiani
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –The Black squad rallied from a 3-0 first inning deficit and took advantage of three Gold squad errors in a 4-3 win in the first game of the Black and Gold series Thursday night at Hawkins Field.
Both teams combined for five errors (Gold had three, Black two) that led to five unearned runs.
“The errors were the name of the game today really,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “I told the guys that the game was similiar to a Southeastern Conference game in that it is often a one or two run game that is dictated by the team that wins the freebie war. And the team that won the freebie war tonight won the game.”
The Gold squad tallied three runs in the first off of Black starter Nick Christiani to take a 3-0 lead. Jonathan White led off the game with a walk and moved to third on a well executed hit and run by Alex Hilliard. Hilliard then stole second to have runners in scoring position with no outs. Andrew Giobbi walked to load the bases, but Christiani got Jason Esposito to ground into a double play that scored White. Gabe Ortiz then hit a fly ball to right that Joey Manning dropped allowing Hilliard to score. Second baseman Riley Reynolds followed with a RBI double down the left field line to score Ortiz to make it 3-0.
