Coming off a devastating sweep from the Volunteers, Vanderbilt had to quickly rebound as they had a top 15 team in the Kentucky Wildcats coming to town. Vanderbilt was going to get a much-needed boost to their starting pitching depth as it was announced that Hunter Owen would be returning to the rotation. The VandyBoys used that boost to their advantage as they swept the Cats 3-0 in the weekend series.
Friday, April 28: Vanderbilt 6 Kentucky 4
Carter Holton got his usual nod on Friday as he took the mound to face the Wildcats. But, it was not all sunshine and rainbows for the Friday ace. Holton only pitched 3.2 innings and struggled with control for most of his outing. Holton allowed 4 hits and 3 earned runs while also recording 3 strikeouts.
Luckily for Holton and the VandyBoys, RJ Schreck came to play (as usual). Schreck has raked this season and continued his tear on Friday night as he went 1-2 with a blistering homer to right field that plated two.
Vanderbilt has enjoyed the Patrick Reilly renaissance. Reilly went out on Friday night and ate innings like he was starving as he pitched a sensational 4.1 with 10 strikeouts. Reilly showed on Friday night, that he is someone who can be trusted when the game is on the line.
Saturday, April 29: Vanderbilt 9 Kentucky 3
The VandyBoys continued the tradition of Vandy sports owning Kentucky in everything as they went out and took the series behind the arm of Hunter Owen. Owen returned to the mound and showed impressive stuff in his 4.0 innings pitched. Owen only allowed 2 earned runs on 5 hits. Thomas Schultz and Ryan Ginther came in and finished off the Cats in a combined 5.0 innings pitched.
The offensive MVP for the ‘Dores on Saturday was none other than RJ Austin. Austin was amazing at the plate as he went 2-3 with a homer and 4 runs batted in.
Sunday, April 30: Vanderbilt 3 Kentucky 2
Vanderbilt completed the sweep of Kentucky on Saturday thanks to a walk-off by Alan Espinal. Outside of Espinal’s final at-bat, the Vanderbilt offense was pretty stagnant for most of the game. The VandyBoys scored 3 runs on 10 hits but left a whopping 7 runners on base.
Thankfully, the Vanderbilt pitching staff was on their A game against the Cats. Sunday starter, Devin Futrell pitched a heavy 6 innings on Sunday and allowed 6 hits. Even though Futrell had a fairly long outing, he was able to keep Kentucky in check as through 26 batters faced he only allowed 4 men on base. Unfortunately for Futrell, he was not in line for the win. Jack Anderson got the win for the VandyBoys as he pitched 1.0 inning and allowed only 1 runner on base.
The Dore Report 
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