MT Whips Vandy 19-3

Middle Tennessee's bats lit up early in Wednesday's 19-3 thrashing of Vanderbilt at Reese Smith Field and never cooled down.

The Blue Raiders (21-6) banged out 22 hits with nine going for extra bases against the Commodore (16-15) pitching staff. In contrast, Blue Raider hurlers combined to allow only eight hits with two extra base hits factored in.

Jason Moates (3-1) turned in another solid outing in picking up the win with five innings pitched. He allowed only one run and three hits while striking out six during his tenure. Steve Kline provided two solid innings of relief work while Matthew Griffith and Kyle Sparkman combined to slam the door in the face of the visitors.

Vandy starter Steven Faulkner (3-2) lasted only 1-1/3 innings after allowing five runs on six hits in taking the loss. Four more Commodores would pitch in the game with each allowing at least two runs to cross the plate.

The Blue Raiders jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings with the big blow coming compliments of Brandon Johnson's fourth homer of the year that plated three runs in the bottom of the second and chased Faulkner from the contest.

Johnson had the biggest offensive performance of the night by going 5-for-6 in the game with a homer and a double. He drove in four runs and scored four more to lead the Blue Raider attack.

Justin Sims continued swinging a hot bat with a 3-for-5 outing that included his team-leading fourth triple of the year.

Kyle Thomas blasted his second homer of the year and went 3-for-5 with three RBI's. Marshall Nisbett, Kris Lammers, and Jason Howarth also turned in multi-hit ledgers at the game's conclusion.

Chris Broadus went 2-for-4 for the only multi-hit performance of the night for Vanderbilt.

The Blue Raiders are set to re-enter conference play on Friday night against #21 ranked Florida International. Friday's contest is slated to begin at 7 PM and the series will continue with a 2 PM contest on Saturday and a 1 PM affair scheduled for Sunday.

Each game of the series will be broadcast locally on WMTS FM 88.3 beginning 10 minutes prior to the first pitch.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter @MTAthletics for continued updates.