NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The No. 11 Vanderbilt Commodores defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 7-2 on Wednesday evening at Hawkins Field.

The Golden Eagles will head to Jacksonville, Ala., to face OVC rival Jacksonville State in a three-game series, beginning with a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.

Over the first four innings, both pitchers shut down their opposing offenses. Golden Eagle starter Adam Liberatore struck out two batters over 4.2 innings. Liberatore kept the Commodores scoreless over the first four innings, allowing just a hit and three walks.

Vanderbilt starting pitcher Taylor Hill pitched 6.2 innings against Tennessee Tech, striking out six while giving up one run, four hits and one walk.

The first runs of the game showed up in the bottom of the fifth inning as Vanderbilt went on an offensive rampage, batting 11 over the half inning. After an early single and a pair of groundouts, Liberatore walked the bases loaded. Commodore freshman Steven Liddle lit up the scoreboard as he snuck home off a wild pitch. Ryan Flaherty knocked a single to center field bringing in the remaining baserunners.

Tennessee Tech freshman Chad Oberacker came in to replace Liberatore. Oberacker walked one batter before allowing two hits scoring three more runs for the Commodores. Jake Edwards allowed just one more hit before retiring the last batter of the inning.

Edwards pitched the entire sixth inning as well, putting out three Commodores in a row.

The Golden Eagle offense started to come together in the seventh inning. King singled to the shortstop and then scored as Michael Roeder cracked a double to deep center field.

Tech senior Matt Kearney retained pitching duties for the remainder of the game. After pitching a clean seventh inning, Kearney allowed the bases to fill up in the eighth inning. Kearney kept his cool and retired the next three batters, closing the inning without any further damage.

After two quick putouts in the top of the ninth inning, Tech catcher Brandon Crossman held for a walk, and was sent home as Matt Mihoci hit a double to right field for the Golden Eagles' last run of the game.