No. 8 Vanderbilt delivers No. 12 Auburn its first conference loss

Losing 11-1 in eight innings on Friday night, the No. 12 Auburn Tigers (13-4) suffered their first conference loss to the No. 8 Vanderbilt Commodores (16-3) in game one. 

With morale running high in Auburn’s dugout, the Tigers’ offense radiated with confidence, coming into the Southeastern Conference opener and didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard. 

Batting second in the lineup, Ike Irish doubled down right-center field and then advanced to third thanks to Deric Fabian’s groundout. During Cooper McMurray’s at-bat, Vanderbilt’s Carter Holton made a mistake in the form of a wild pitch, which Irish took full advantage of to score. 

But that offensive rhythm was shut down by the Commodores’ defense – who held the Tigers to seven scoreless frames after the first.

“If you try to put it in the simplest form, they got on the fastball,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “I thought that was huge in the second inning. They got the base hit with two outs up the middle, and then they got the home run. All that damage was with two fastballs. We never could answer, and we could not get on his fastball. Not enough linking up and not enough being able to get on his fastball.”

After that wild pitch, LHP Holton (3-0) dominated on the mound in seven innings pitched. Facing 26 total batters, Holton tallied nine strikeouts and one walk alongside four hits and one run – earning his third win. 

In 29 at-bats, Auburn had one run and five hits that only three players contributed. Cooper Weiss and Irish recorded two hits each, and Mason Maners added one. 

Auburn’s defense kept Vanderbilt’s electric offense off the board in the first inning, but the Tigers couldn’t keep the Commodores down for long. 

The Commodores’ dynamic lineup contributed 11 runs, 13 hits – two doubles, one triple and one home run – and 10 RBIs in 37 at-bats. 

Third baseman Davis Diaz got things rolling for Vanderbilt with a single and later scored thanks to center fielder Calvin Hewett’s single up the middle. Hewett got his turn to score soon after as shortstop Jonathan Vastine hammered his ball to right field for a two-run homer. 

Leading 3-1, the Commodores’ offensive assault carried to the bottom of the fourth.  

Vastine struck again, this time with bases loaded, reaching second base on a fielder’s choice while Diaz scored. With two runners on base, first baseman RJ Austin singled to third base, sending designated hitter Braden Holcomb home to make it 5-1. 

Diaz struck again, this time in the fifth, with a single up the middle that sent catcher Alan Espinal home and left fielder Troy LaNeve to third. Right fielder Matthew Polk added an RBI to the stat sheet with a double that got LaNeve home to score – making it a 7-1. 

Auburn’s defense rallied to hold Vanderbilt to two scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh innings. However, the Commodores came out in full force in the eighth to score four runs. 

The Tigers’ performance on the mound wasn’t as refined as head coach Tim Corbin’s Commodores – relenting command as the game progressed. In 7.2 innings pitched, Auburn had eight strikeouts, five walks and three wild pitches, allowing 13 hits and 11 runs. 

RHP Chase Allsup (1-1) started on the mound and pitched four innings. Earning the loss, Allsup allowed nine hits and seven runs with four strikeouts, two walks and one wild pitch. 

RHP Parker Carlson relieved Allsup in the fifth, pitching two innings. Facing nine batters, Carlson had three strikeouts, one wild pitch and one walk with only one hit. 

RHP Hayden Murphy and LHP Zach Crotchfelt finished things off on the mound for the Tigers. Murphy took over in the seventh and pitched one inning while Crotchfelt pitched 0.2 innings in the eighth. Collectively, the young pitchers added one strikeout, two walks and one wild pitch – alongside four runs and three hits. 

Auburn will return to Hawkins Field for game two on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.