NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Julian Infante hit two home runs and Ty Duvall added a grand slam as Vanderbilt advanced to its third straight super regional by beating Indiana State 12-1 on Sunday night to clinch the Nashville Regional.
This will be the eighth super regional in 10 seasons for the Commodores (52-10), and they will host Duke after the Blue Devils clinched the Morgantown Regional with a 4-1 win over Texas A&M.
Vanderbilt now has won 11 straight and 25 of its last 26. This time, the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament champs scored seven runs off home runs, and Mason Hickman (8-0) struck out nine over seven innings for the win.
The Sycamores opened Sunday by eliminating Ohio State of the Big Ten, 10-5. Against Vanderbilt, Indiana State started Zach Frey, a right-hander making only his second start with only 5 1/3 innings to his credit this season.
Roby Enriquez gave Frey a 1-0 lead with a home run in the second, and Frey protected that until Philip Clarke’s lead-off home run in the fourth. Frey turned in his longest outing this season, going 3 1/3 innings as the first of six pitchers.
Infante gave Vanderbilt its first lead at 2-1 with his second home run of the regional in the bottom of the fifth. He hit another right after Duvall padded the margin with a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth for a 7-1 lead. Infante’s second homer gave Vandy a school record 87 this season. The Commodores added three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth.
