OMAHA, Neb. — Carson Fulmer combined with two relievers on a four-hitter, Will Toffey’s two-run double broke a scoreless tie in the sixth, and defending national champion Vanderbilt opened the College World Series finals with a 5-1 victory over Virginia on Monday night.
The Commodores (51-19) need one more win, Tuesday or Wednesday, to become the seventh team to win back-to-back national titles, and the third to do it in the last 10 years.
Fulmer (14-2) struck out eight, walked two and hit two batters in his 20th consecutive start of at least five innings. He outdueled Virginia starter Connor Jones (7-3), who allowed three hits over five shutout innings before the Commodores got to him for two runs in the sixth.
Virginia (42-24), the Commodores’ finals opponent for the second straight year, scored in the ninth to end the Vandy bullpen’s streak of 22 shutout innings.
Fulmer, the No. 8 overall draft pick by the Chicago White Sox, retired nine in a row from the fifth to eighth inning before Adam Haseley bounced a ball over the left-center fence for a ground-rule double. Four of his eight strikeouts ended innings.