Vanderbilt walks off FAU in season opener

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Vanderbilt blew a six-run lead but recovered with Jonathan Vastine's two-run double in the ninth to walk off FAU with a 12-11, Opening-Day win. .

Vastine's single scored Davis Diaz and Jacob Humphrey with the winning runs with two outs in the ninth.

RJ Austin was Vanderbilt's offensive star, going 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs.

Lefty JD Thompson--the only of five Vanderbilt pitchers not to allow a run--got the victory after throwing a scoreless ninth.

The Commodores led 6-0 after three full innings, but allowed four runs in the fourth and five in the seventh. Jack Bulger and Austin hit early home runs to stake the Commodores to a 6-0 lead, and Vastine added a solo shot in the sixth.

The Owls took their first lead in the seventh by touching Carter Holton for five runs.

After Vanderbilt tied it in the bottom of the inning, FAU's Brando LeRoux touched Sawyer Hawks for a two-run home run for the Owls' biggest lead of the day.

Vanderbilt rallied in the ninth. With one out, Calvin Hewett beat the throw from third for an infield single and FAU's Braden Ostrander plunked Troy LaNeve with a 2-2 pitch.

Diaz then laced a 1-2 pitch past short to get Vanderbilt within a run and send pinch-runner Humphrey to third. A wild pitch got Diaz to second.

Vastine then dumped a 2-1 pitch off the handle into left, where it fell in front of Jake Millan (on to replace the injured David Alvarez) to score the winning runs.

Bulger hit the first pitch the Commodores saw this season out to center.

Vandy tacked on two more later in the inning and then Austin launched one way over the big wall in left in the bottom of the second for a six-run lead.

The Commodores' Ryan Ginther gave up four runs in the fourth on a pair of doubles (three runs were charged to starter Greysen Carter) as the lead shrunk to two.

Vastine homered to lead off the sixth, but made a costly mistake in the bottom of the inning. With men on first and second and nobody out, FAU's Mike LaRocca hit a grounder to him at short.

Instead of taking an out elsewhere, Vastine bounced an ill-advised throw to Diaz at third. That bounced and rolled to the railing to load the bases..

It was ruled a fielder's choice and it helped open the floodgates.

A single, a double and another single, sandwiched around a strikeout, then plated five runs and gave FAU its first lead. All runs were charged to Holton.

Vanderbilt tied it in the seventh when Jayden Davis had a one-out single. Hewett pinch-ran and stole second and then catcher John Schroder launched a high throw in center that scored a run when it got past the outfield.

In the eighth, Sawyer Hawks came in and looked terrific in getting the first two outs with a mid-90s fastball with cutting action.

But Brando LeRoux fouled off several of them and after Hawks couldn't snap off a breaking ball for a strike on a 2-2 pitch, LeRoux hammered a fastball seven rows deep in the left-field bleachers to put the Owls up, 11-9.

The game started five minutes late after umpires spotted something in Carter’s delivery they felt was problematic. That forced Carter to pitch from the stretch from the jump.

He then threw a six-pitch walk and went 2-0 on the next hitter before there was a mound visit. Then came two more balls for another walk and a double steal in which Espinal threw out the trail runner.

Carter walked another and then got a foul pop-up to first, then, got a called strike, a swinging strike, a foul ball to left.

He got a 1-2-3 second, walked two more in the third (but got out of it) and then loaded the bases on two walks and a double start the fourth before being pulled for Ginther, who then gave up a bases-clearing double.

- Hitting coach Mike Baxter coached third, where Corbin is normally stationed in games. Corbin said after the game that he plans to keep it that way.

- Vanderbilt didn’t strike out until its 14th at-bat (LaNeve in the third).

- Austin started in center and moved to second in the eighth after Davis was pulled.

- Davis and freshman Cam Kozeal made their Commodore debuts and hit in the fifth and third spots, respectively.

VU 1: Bulger homer to left. VU, 1-0

VU 1: Espinal single scored Austin. VU, 2-0

VU 1: LaNeve sacrifice fly scored Kozeal. VU, 3-0

VU 2: Austin home run to left scored Vastine, Bulger. VU, 6-0

FAU 4: Gonzalez double scored Schroeder, Alvarez and Frank. VU, 6-3

FAU 4: DeBose double scored Gonzalez. VU, 6-4

VU 4: Austin infield single scored Diaz. VU, 7-4

VU 6: Vastine home run to right. VU, 8-4

FAU 7: LeRoux single scored Adams, Rich. VU, 8-6

FAU 7: Schroeder doubled, scoring LaRocca. VU 8-7

FAU 7: Frank double scored Schroeder, LeRoux. FAU, 9-8

VU 7: Hewett steals second and scored on two-base throwing error. Tied-9

FAU 8: LeRoux homer scored Rich. FAU, 11-9

VU 9: Diaz single to left scored Hewett. FAU, 11-10

VU 9: Vastine double scored Diaz, Humphrey. VU, 12-11

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