NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Vanderbilt jumped out to a early lead and never trailed in a 13-5 win over Indiana on Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores (15-3) battered the back end of the Hoosier pitching staff for 12 hits, including home runs by Matthew Polk and Alan Espinal. RJ Austin led Vanderbilt with three hits while Polk and Espinal each had two.
Starting pitcher JD Thompson threw four innings, allowing four runs (one earned), three hits and a walk, with six strikeouts. Sawyer Hawks got the win with a scoreless relief inning.
The night was not without bad news as pitcher Andrew Dutkanych left the game with an apparent injury. Dutkanch had just thrown a pair of strikes on curve balls to Josh Pyne in the seventh inning, but coaches and trainers left the dugout immediately to meet Dutkanych on the mound after the second.
After a brief conversation, Dutkanych was pulled from the game for Sam Hliboki, who finished Pyne with a strikeout.
"He threw two (curve balls) and he felt it and when he felt it there was no hesitation," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "Let's get him out and get him checked."
Vanderbilt jumped out to an 8-0 lead and then answered IU’s four-run rally in the fourth with four of its own in the bottom of the inning.
The good pitching news: David Horn made his season debut, pitching the ninth and didn't allow a run despite hitting a batter and walking another. Horn’s fastball sat 92-3.
Austin and Davis Diaz led off the game with doubles, making for a 1-0 lead. Espinal and Jayden Davis added singles to make it 2-0 with nobody out and then Troy LaNeve singled hard to right for two more.
Logan Poteet bounced a single up the middle for a fifth and Calvin Hewett grounded to second for the first out, but another run scored.
Espinal barely got one into the bleachers in left-center to score Austin in the second and make for an 8-0 lead.
The Commodores melted down in the fourth. Thompson allowed a single, hit a batter and then walked a man to load the bases.
Davis tried to bare-hand a slow roller to second, resulting in an error and a first run. Polk, steadying to catch a fly ball to medium right and make a throw home, lost his concentration and saw the ball glance off his glove for another error.
Thompson couldn’t field a tough chopper that was ruled a hit, scoring a third run. A sacrifice run plated another.
The Hoosiers returned the favor in the bottom of the inning, with three walks setting the stage for four runs that included a Polk homer to left.
Vanderbilt got a run in the seventh on an Austin single and the Hoosiers answered in the top of the eighth with a run off Hliboki.
Corbin did not have an update on injured first baseman Chris Maldonado (shoulder), but said catcher/left fielder Jack Bulger (hamstring) took batting practice and is getting closer to a return.
Dutkanych suffered a hamstring injury in early March of 2023 that cost him the rest of the season. He was expected to be a key part of the Commodore bullpen or rotation this year.
The Commodores open Southeastern Conference play with a three-game series with Auburn starting Friday.
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