Jeren Kendall powers Commodores to victory against Texas A&M

Vanderbilt Hustler
The Commodores (15-8, 2-2) won just their second weekend opening series game by defeating No. 23 Texas A&M (15-8, 0-4) in their first SEC home game. A solid start by Kyle Wright, a strong bullpen and a grand slam by Jeren Kendall powered Vanderbilt to a 4-3 victory on Friday night.
Wright, who entered the game winless, finally earned his first of the season while allowing three runs over five innings. The Aggies got six hits off of Vanderbilt’s ace and drew four walks, as they struck early with three runs over the first two innings. However, Wright would allow just two hits over the next three innings, tallying six strikeouts during the game.
“For tonight, for us to scratch a few runs and get him a W for the first time this year is nice,” Jeren Kendall said.
Just before Wright settled down, Kendall gave him the much needed run support he was missing in his previous starts. A leadoff single by Stephen Scott against Aggie starter Brigham Hill and two later walks loaded the bases for Kendall in the second inning. After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Kendall saw two more pitches in the at-bat, including one that he launched for a grand slam over the right field wall.
“It’s hard to say I was really sitting on anything,” Kendall said. “With two strikes, bases loaded, you’ve just got to try to make some defense, play some defense, just to put it in play and make an aggressive run at it.”
The Commodores are no strangers to allowing their opponents to score first, as the Aggies’ first inning run marked the twelfth game an opponent scored before Vanderbilt. However, Vanderbilt improved to 9-3 in such games, compared to just 6-5 when scoring first.
As Wright maintained the lead through five innings and 110 pitches, the ...


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