Vanderbilt Takes Series from No. 8 Auburn with 3-0 Shutout;
Moves into Tie for Second Place In SEC East with Florida

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Three Vanderbilt freshmen pitchers combined for a nine-hit shutout and John Kaye and Zach Simpson each hit solo home runs as the Commodores won their rubber game with No. 8 Auburn 3-0 Sunday, April 27, at Hawkins Field.

Vanderbilt (22-20, 10-11 in the Southeastern Conference) records its second consecutive series win over a Top 10-ranked league opponent. The Commodores also took two of three from then-No.7 LSU last weekend in Nashville. The victory moves Vanderbilt into a tie of second place in the SEC Eastern Division with South Carolina. The Gamecocks lost at Ole Miss 2-0 on Sunday. Florida leaps over South Carolina into first place in the division after a 14-6 victory at home against Mississippi State.

Auburn suffers its first shutout of the season and drops to 32-13 overall and 13-8 in league play.

The Commodores made the most of their three hits, scoring three times while the Tigers stranded 13 runners on base, including eight in scoring position.

VU starter Ryan Mullins (3-6) earned the win, scattering six hits and two walks while posting six strikeouts in six innings of work. Reliever Matt Buschmann allowed two hits and three walks but did not allow Auburn to score in the seventh or eighth inning. Jensen Lewis entered in the ninth, gave up a hit, but struck out two while registering his team-best seventh save.

Auburn starter Cory Dueitt (6-2) took the loss but carried a perfect game into the fifth. Kaye led off the inning with a solo shot to left center field for his second home run of the season, giving Vanderbilt a 1-0 advantage.

The Commodores added two insurance runs in the eighth for a 3-0 lead. Jonathan Douillard gave VU a 2-0 lead when he hit a sacrifice fly to left center field to plate pinch runner Gil Kim. Simpson quickly gave the Commodores a 3-0 cushion when he took AU reliever Steven Register's first pitch over the wall in left center field.

Vanderbilt tallied 14 runs on 14 hits on the weekend en route to its third series win over a ranked SEC foe in the last four weeks. The Commodores end a stretch of 12 games against ranked conference opponents with an 8-4 mark. The series win over Auburn was Vanderbilt's first since 1988.

With the win on Sunday, Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin becomes the winningest first-year head coach in Commodore baseball history. Corbin surpasses Roy Mewbourne's record of 21 victories in 1979.

Mullins pitched out of three jams in his six innings of work. The Tigers put runners on first and second with no outs in the third inning when Bobby Huddleston walked and Karl Amonite singled to right field. But Mullins struck out Scott Schade, got Josh Bell to hit into a fielder's choice at second base, and coaxed Clete Thomas to ground out back to the mound.

AU loaded the bases in the fourth frame. Huddleston reached on a throwing error, Schade hit a one-out single and Bell walked. But Mullins recorded back-to-back strikeouts of Thomas and Chuck Jeroloman to end the threat.

The first two Tiger batters reached base again in the sixth on back-to-back singles by Huddleston and Amonite. But Mullins forced Schade into a double play and caused Bell to fly out to left field.

Buschmann allowed Auburn to load the bases with two outs in the seventh but got Huddleston to fly out to left field. An inning-ending fly out by Jeroloman stranded runners on first and third in the eighth.

Aromite led all Tiger hitters with a 3-for-4 performance.

Vanderbilt begins a seven-game road trip next weekend at Georgia. The Commodores and Bulldogs open the series Friday at 7 p.m. ET. It continues Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. The series opener will be televised live by Comcast Sports Southeast. All three games can be heard on Nashville's WNSR 560 AM.