Coastal Carolina routs Vanderbilt in NCAA tournament opener

Coastal Carolina’s five-run second inning set the tone for the Chanticleers’ 13-3 romp over Vanderbilt in the opening game of the Clemson regional of the NCAA tournament in Clemson, S.C, on Friday.

All five runs were charged to Vanderbilt starter JD Thompson, who allowed eight runs (all earned) in 3 2/3 innings.

The Chanticleers—one of the last teams included in the tournament’s 64-team field—were never threatened and led 13-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

Starter Riley Eikhoff—who entered with a 5.30 ERA—held Vanderbilt to one run on four hits and three walks over six innings.

Coastal Carolina out-hit Vanderbilt just 10-7. But the Chanticleers, who in 57 games coming in walked 315 times and were hit by 123 pitches, walked six times and were hit by five pitches.

One of the few bright spot for the Commodores was Alan Espinal’s home run, which put Vanderbilt down 8-1 in the sixth.

But Coastal Carolina countered with one of its own from Sam Antonacci in the eighth-a two-run shot off Alex Kranzler—to remove much doubt about the outcome.

Those free passes were a factor in both of Coastal Carolna’s five-run ininings.

In the second, Thompson’s first two pitchers plunked Coastal hitters. A sacrifice bunt moved them over and then Ty Barrango delivered a single through second to score two.

Thompson got a foul tip off Antonacci’s bat on a 1-2 pitch but Espinal couldn’t snag it and the Commodores paid dearly. Two more walks and a Graham Brown single to left plated two more and then Caden Bodine doubled to left for the inning’s fifth run.

Thompson exited with two outs in the fourth, and Greysen Carter allowed a two-run single to Derek Bender for an 8-0 lead.

The Chanticleers strung together three more runs off Sam Hliboki in the eighth after Antonacci's home run. Espinal drove in one of Vanderbilt's two runs in the bottom of the inning with a double.

Friday seemed like a nightmare for Vanderbilt in every way--and it started before the Commodores even got a turn at bat.

Leadoff Jonathan Vastine delayed the game for about five minutes when he disappeared from the dugout for what was deemed "a medical emergency." Vastine eventally stepped into the batter's box and stuck out and the shortstop singled in the third.

But uring a break in the top of the fourth as Vanderbilt was going to Kranzler—its third pitcher—Vastine threw up on the field and left the game.

Two innings before that, Vanderbilt’s Davis Diaz fouled a ball off what appeared to be his kneecap and that deilayed the game for several minutes. Later in the at-bat, a hobbled Diaz had to step out of the box again after fouling another ball off.

Diaz finished the game, but hit into an inning-ending double play in the fifth and struck out in the eighth.

The Commodores will face either Clemson or High Point in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Central on Saturday.