NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Vanderbilt spotted South Carolina four first-inning runs, withstood a tough break that ended a big inning, got its best outing of the season from Patrick Reilly and cobbled together a comeback that included back-to-back home runs by RJ Screck and Jack Bulger, winning a wild 8-5 game on Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field.

With Vandy trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the third, Screck's two-run home run, followed by Bulger's solo shot, cut Carolina's lead to one. The Commodores got the go-ahead run in the fifth on an inning-ending double-play that took several minutes of review and then tacked on three more in the seventh with the help of some defensive misplays.

"You never want to go down 4-0 in the first. .... You see one ball in, you get a couple of runs, and it just makes the whole team come to life, and you're right back in the game," Screck said.

Bulger and RJ Austin led Vandy with two hits and two RBIs each.

Carolina managed just four hits. Two came in the first off surprise starter Carter Holton, Vandy's regularly-scheduled Friday night starter who hadn't pitched in two weeks due to arm soreness.

Holton didn't make it out of the first and left things to righty Greyson Carter. He stopped the bleeding in the first--allowing no runners and leaving the bases loaded--and bridged the gap to Reilly and later Nick Maldonado. The latter was perfect in two innings with the exception of a two-out, ninth-inning solo homer to Braylen Wimmer, the first run Vandy's closer has yielded this season, picking up a save while Reilly got the win.

"I think the pitching and picking up Carter, picking up your teammate, just getting into the game, ... just getting out Wimmer with the bases loaded, I thought that was a really important piece of the game. .... I thought Grayson did a good job of patching that inning and Patrick was really good, throwing strikes, was aggressive, throwing strikes and pitching well and Maldo finishing," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said.

The biggest story was Reilly, who mixed a formerly-seldom-used-cutter, a fastball that sat 95-97 and fair control. Reilly threw four shutout innings, allowed one hit and two walks. Reilly, who spent part of his freshman and sophomore years in the weekend rotation, had thrown just a third of an inning in Southeastern Conference play this weekend coming in.

But Reilly ability to keep the ball in the yard--Carolina hit five home runs in Friday's 14-6 demolition--was huge. The junior got four ground-ball outs and two fly-ball outs in a 62-pitch outing.

"It's always been there, the percentage of which we used was down," Reilly said of the cutter. "When I've got some feel for it, it's a pretty good pitch."

Holton was not sharp in his first appearance in 16 days. He got two outs in the first after allowing a leadoff walk, but then Messina doubled to score a run. A 3-2 walk to former Commodore Gavin Casas presided another walk, a Michael Braswell single that scored two, a walk and a hit batsman before Vandy went to Carter after 44 pitches.

Carter stopped the bleeding through the third and after Davis Diaz reached on an error by Braswell, Screck hit a bomb to center to make it 4-2. Bulger then followed with a homer to the alley in left to cut it to a run. Both came on fastballs.

Reilly entered and shut Carolina down with a fastball-cutter combo. Then, the Commodores’ Vastine led off with a double and Enrique Bradfield Jr. walked before Carolina yanked starter Jack Mahoney and went to right-handed change-up specialist Chris Veach, who threw a game-tying wild pitch with Schreck at the plate in the fifth.

After a sacrifice bunt and a Schreck hit-by-pitch, the bases were loaded and Austin hit a screamer that center fielder Evan Stone appeared to catch running into the wall.

The ball was inches from living the yard. Bradfield scored. Carolina threw to third to appeal, where Bradfield was ruled safe. Schreck stood on second, Bulger on first and Austin, in the dugout.

And then everyone stood confused for several minutes about what happened.

Umpires made no call. A several-minutes-long review ensued, after which Carolina went into the dugout. The ruling was that Stone didn't catch the ball, resulting in an inning-ending double play. Screck was out by failing to advance to third and Austin out by failure to occupy first.

"At the end, it was the right call," we got one run out of it at the time, Corbin said, adding, "[The runners] did what they thought they should do, that was, they felt like the ball was caught and so they went back and stayed at their bases.

"Knowing that the ball hit the wall, they would just move up, and everyone would move up and RJ would take first base. But because we didn't, they got the force-out at third and then they got the force-out at first."

Bulger singled through short off James Hicks in the seventh, expanding the lead to two. Chris Maldonado's sacrifice fly later in the inning padded the lead to four.

In the bottom of the inning, Screck made a spectacular catch, snagging a fly ball off the bat of Cole Messina, hitting the short brick wall in right, toppling head-over-heels from view and then emerging holding the ball in his glove.

"I've been practicing for a time when I can actually get to it and it paid off," Schreck said.

The Commodores (28-7, 12-2 Southeastern Conference) ended Saturday a game and a half ahead of South Carolina in the SEC's overall standings, ensuring they'd exit the weekend in first place. Vandy went 2 1/2 up on Kentucky, which lost at LSU.

The teams play a deciding game on Sunday at 1 Central.