Jones, DeMarco homers help Vandy down Indiana State

Vanderbilt used sixth-inning home runs from Alonzo Jones and Pat DeMarco in a come-from-behind, 8-5 win over Indiana State on Wednesday afternoon at Hawkins Field.

With Vandy trailing 4-3, DeMarco led off the sixth with a bomb to left to tie the game. With two outs in the inning, Jones clubbed his first home run since 2016 to give the Commodores their first lead of the day at 7-4.

From there, the Commodores hung on to get their eighth win in a row despite giving up a second home run on the day to Dane Giesler, the Sycamore slugger who homered 17 times last season.

Freshman Aaron Brown picked up his first collegiate win by hurling two scoreless innings. Reid Schaller pitched the last two innings, and gave up Giesler's second homer, but struck out three.

Jones led Vandy with three hits, while DeMarco and shortstop Connor Kaiser each had two.

The game was played in the rain, but that didn't stop ISU's Romeo Harris from blasting a three-run home run off starter Jake Eder in the first.

It wasn't the start Eder hoped for. The freshman had a tough-luck outing, as all four runners he gave up in five innings scored. The other run came on Geisler's solo home run.

Vandy started its comeback in the bottom of the fourth when Ethan Paul doubled, and DeMarco doubled him in with a laser beam about halfway up the big wall in left.

Kaiser then had a big two-out double to center to pull Vandy within one the next inning.

The Commodores travel to Houston to face Sam Houston State on Friday as part of the Shriner's Classic at Minute Maid Park. That game will start at noon Central on Friday.

Games on Saturday (Louisiana) and Sunday (Houston) will follow.

Vanderbilt has never faced any of those teams in its history.

RPI numbers this early in the year are essentially meaningless, but VU ranked eighth according to WarrenNolan.com, with a No. 15 strength of schedule, as of Wednesday evening.

Starting first baseman Julian Infante didn't start for the third-straight game. He pinch-hit on Wednesday. Austin Martin again started at first.

DeMarco started in center, with Jones in left and J.J. Bleday in right.

Every member of the Wednesday starting lineup was hitting over .300 following the game.

The three homers Vanderbilt pitchers yielded were one more than it had given up all season coming into Wednesday.

It's the first time the teams have met since 2015. VU holds a 5-3 edge in the series after Wednesday.

ISU 1: Harris homer scored Watkins and Dungan. ISU, 3-0

ISU 4: Giesler homer to center. ISU, 4-0

VU 4: DeMarco double scored Paul. ISU, 4-1

VU 5: Kaiser double scored Jones, Scott. ISU, 4-3

VU 6: DeMarco homer to left. Tied-4

VU 6: Jones homer to left scores Scott, Bleday. VU, 7-4

VU 7: Clarke's sacrifice fly scored Kaiser. VU, 8-4

ISU 8: Giesler homer to right. VU, 8-5