By Benjamin Lampkin
Friday’s season opener against Vanderbilt saw a game-time temperature of 36 degrees, with a wind chill of 28 degrees. The only thing that would remain that cold would be the Commodore bats, as Mike Tisdale and the Cardinals held Vandy to five hits en route to a 6-1 victory.
After the first three innings, both teams sat scoreless in a 0-0 ballgame. An excellent scoring opportunity in the bottom of the second had been squandered when J.T. LaFountain grounded into a double play with two men on and only one out. However, in the bottom of the fourth, Mark Jurich’s single, stolen base, and move to third on a wild pitch was followed by a deep single to the wall by Morgan Bojorquez, and the first runner of the game crossed home plate. Bojorquez was thrown out at second, but the Cards were finally on the board.
The Cardinal defense was steady all afternoon, and in the top of the sixth Jurich was taken to the wall in right before hauling in the deep fly. In the bottom half of the sixth, key Vanderbilt errors opened the door to a big Cardinal inning. Fernando Isa singled to right to open the inning, and moved to third on a throwing error. He scored on a single by newcomer Josh Bolen to make the score 2-0. A fielding error would allow another run to cross the plate, and the Cards eventually held a comfortable 4-0 lead.
The Commodores plated their only run of the game in the top of the seventh on a fielder’s choice by Jonathan Douillard.
In the bottom of the seventh, pre-season All-Conference selection Adam Haley took relief pitcher Chris Maultsby deep over the left field wall for only his second career homerun, and the Cards led 5-1.U of L would get another run in the 8th when Dave Williams Jr. doubled to bring in Bojorquez to make the score 6-1.
Williams Jr. finished the game 3-4 with a double and a RBI. Bojorquez went 2-3 with two RBIs on the day. All in all, six Cardinals had multi-hit games, as they piled on 14 base hits on the day.
Garrett Estabrook and Carlos Fernandez combined to close out the 8th and 9th innings, while starter Tisdale got the win in going seven innings, giving up five hits and one run to go along with two strikeouts. Vanderbilt’s Steven Faulkner recorded the loss.
“We played the way this team is capable of playing, and I’m very pleased with our overall performance,” said head coach Lelo Prado after the win.
The two teams will finish out the weekend series with Saturday and Sunday matches slated for 1:00 starts.
