The bigger the stage, the better Austin Martin gets.

The Commodore third baseman ripped a pair of homers, including a two-run bomb in the seventh that opened a tie game, leading Vanderbilt to a 3-1 win over Louisville in its first game of the College World Series at T.D. Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. on Sunday afternoon.

Martin’s second came off right-hander Bryan Hoeing, scoring first baseman Julian Infante.

Starter Drake Fellows threw seven innings, scattering seven hits, a walk and a hit batsman while allowing one run. The junior struck out six and was especially effective with his slider, which sat 85-6.

Closer Tyler Brown pitched a scoreless inning and a third for his 15th save, which came in front of 22,714 fans.

The Commodores (55-11) established a school record for wins, eclipsing the mark shared by the 2007, 2011 and 2013 teams. It’s the first win in Omaha for any player on this team.

Vanderbilt will face the winner of Sunday night’s game between Mississippi State and Auburn at 6 Central on Tuesday. That game will be on ESPN.

It was never easy.

Vanderbilt managed six walks and three hits off Louisville first-team All-American lefty Reid Detmers, but other than Martin’s bomb, struggled to get that key hit.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals scored the tying run on catcher Henry Davis’s single in the fifth. Louisville left the bases loaded in that inning, and a sense of nervousness set in as Vandy’s bats, after squandering early opportunities, had gone cold. VU managed lone walks in the fourth and sixth, and went in order in the fifth.

Hoeing struck out DH Ty Duvall to start the seventh. But Infante ripped a double over third setting the stage for Martin, whose ball got out by maybe a foot or two over the wall near the 375-foot marker in the power alley.

“It hurts when their best player beats you,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. “Nothing against J.J. [Bleday] or anyone on their team. … But you can say their best player beat us today.”

Fellows settled down in the sixth and seventh, allowing a runner in each before turning the game over to Zach King in the eighth. The junior got a ground-out to start the eighth but walked Jake Snider on four pitches before yielding way to Brown.

Brown got a ground-out, then, struck Drew Campbell out swinging to end the eighth.

In the ninth, Brown gave up a two-out infield single before first baseman Logan Wyatt flied out just in front of the warning track to end the game.

Martin ripped Detmers’s first pitch of the game out to left center, giving Vandy a 1-0 lead. It was the second-straight game he led off with a homer.

But the Commodores wasted numerous scoring opportunities, stranding the leadoff man each of the next three innings and twice leaving two on.

The Cardinals tied it in the top of the fifth.

Louisville’s Justin Lavey doubled down the line in left with one out, and Davis singled him in next. Two more singles—making for four-straight hits—loaded the bases with one out, but Fellows got out of it with a foul pop-up to Infante at first, and a grounder to Infante, who flipped to Fellows covering.

"It's what we expected," Martin said of Fellows. "You've to going to have your best stuff every day, but the way he came bouncing back every single [time], it's impressive. We had a lot of confidence in him and he had a lot of confidence in himself."

“Drake was really good on the mound today,” McDonnell said. “We had our one chance to score against him and he pitched out of it.”

VU will start Kumar Rocker, who threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter his last time out, in its next CWS game.

Martin has four homers in his last two games.

Detmers’ six walks were a career high.

VU extended its program record to 95 home runs.

Vandy hit into double plays to end the second and seventh.

The Commodores are 9-1 against the CWS field. Vanderbilt has won all four openers in the CWS in program history.