Vanderbilt Baseball took the field for the first time in the 2024-25 school year on Oct. 4 when it hosted in-state opponent Tennessee Tech for two seven-inning contests. Vanderbilt split games with the Golden Eagles, cruising to a 10-1 win in the first before dropping the second 4-2. Transfer pitcher Cody Bowker, an anticipated weekend starter, had a strong showing in his two innings, finishing with a final stat line of 2 strikeouts and 1 BB in 25 pitches and 6 batters faced. Perhaps even more impressive was first-year Brodie Johnston who served as a designated hitter for the Commodores. Johnston, who had an impressive summer in the Northwoods League finished the night going 2-7 with 1 home run and 2 RBIs.
What they said
[Our goal for today] more than anything [was] just to play good baseball,” head coach Tim Corbin said. “I thought we did that at times the first game, and at times in the second game too. Offensively we just didn’t put a lot of runners on base.”
Game One: Vanderbilt 10, Tennessee Tech 1
Final
After a slow first four innings, the Commodores started to heat up on offense, scoring 10 runs over the next three innings. Tennessee Tech’s first run came in the bottom of the sixth inning when first-year Matthew Shorey allowed a home run, but otherwise, the Commodores looked staunch on defense, allowing just three hits. Sophomore Braden Holcomb led the Black and Gold on offense — he went 2-4 with 2 RBI. Johnston went just 1-4 but tallied a home run and 2 RBIs, while transfer Riley Nelsen went 2-2 with 1 RBI.
Top 1: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Georgetown transfer Bowker took the mound for the Commodores for the first time, where he struck out the first batter swinging, Tennessee Tech’s Nicho Jordan. Bowker then walked the next batter, but his catcher — sophomore Colin Barczi — quickly made up for the runner on base, throwing out the Tennessee Tech runner at second. The Commodores got their third out when Bowker forced Tennessee Tech’s Jorsixt Jimenez to ground out to shortstop Jonathan Vastine.
Bottom 1: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
The Commodores got little going on offense, going three-up-three down in the first. Senior Jonathan Vastine led off for the ‘Dores but struck out swinging. Vastine was followed by Barczi, who lined out. Tennessee Tech collected its third out on a well-hit fly ball off Jayden Davis.
Top 2: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Bowker settled in nicely and didn’t give Tennessee Tech any wiggle room. He struck out one batter and forced the others to ground out and fly out, respectively.
Bottom 2: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
At the bottom of the second, the Commodores got more momentum on the basepaths, but despite this, they came back empty-handed. Holcomb got the ball rolling for the VandyBoys when he hit a hard ball to third base, which led to a fielding error by the third baseman. Transfer Mike Mancini then flew out on a well-hit ball to left field. Another transfer, Riley Nelson, reached first when he was hit by a pitch, which advanced Holcomb to second. Holcomb, however, was called out moments later in an attempt to steal third base.
Top 3: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
The third inning saw the appearance of sophomore Alex Kranzler on the mound for the Commodores. While Kranzler allowed the first Golden Eagle batter he faced to single up the middle, he settled in, striking out two. Barczi once again helped his team out from behind the plate, throwing out another Tennessee Tech batter who was attempting to steal second to close the half-inning.
Bottom 3: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Vanderbilt again went three-up-three-down in the bottom of the third when Koby Kropf fouled a ball off high and the Golden Eagle catcher got under it. Following this, JD Rogers grounded out on a ball that hit the bat handle and rolled fair, which the catcher promptly threw to first. Senior Jacob Humphrey rounded out the inning for the Commodores, grounding out to the third baseman.
Top 4: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Kranzler continued his impressive showing, allowing just one Tennessee Tech hit, a single to right field and forcing the other two batters to fly out.
Bottom 4: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Yet again, Vanderbilt’s attempts on offense were fruitless. The top of the order — Vastine, Davis and Barczi — were all sent back to the dugout. Vastine and Barczi struck out swinging while Davis grounded out to third base.
Top 5: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Shorey took the mound for the Commodores in the fifth inning, and the lanky first-year was dealing early. His fastball touched the mid-90s. Shorey forced the first batter he faced to ground out to Vastine and struck the following two batters out swinging.
Bottom 5: Vanderbilt 4, Tennessee Tech 0
The Commodores faced a new pitcher in Tennessee Tech’s Eli Huddleston, and the Commodores took advantage, scoring their first game run. Holcomb, the first batter of the inning, flew out to centerfield, and Mancini drew a walk on a full count. Tennessee Tech gained its second out when Johnston lined out to left field, but Mancini was able to advance his position by stealing second. Nelson would bring Mancini into home on an RBI single for the Commodore’s first run of the game. With two outs, the ‘Dores continued to rally. Kropf walked on yet another full count and Nelsen advanced to second. A double by Rogers down the left-field line brought home Kropf and Nelson. The Golden Eagles head coach, Matthew Bragga, then visited the mound and pulled Huddleston, replacing him with Juan Vargas. Humphrey reached on a fielding error by Tennessee Tech’s second baseman and promptly advanced to third on a Vastine single to right field. Rogers also scored on the Vastine single. The Commodores’ four-run offensive stand was ended when Davis grounded out to third base.
Top 6: Vanderbilt 4, Tennessee Tech 1
Shorey returned to the mound for the Commodores in the sixth, and although he worked his way up to a 2-2 count, he gave up a home run that landed just right of the left field wall. He bounced back after getting a big strikeout on a full count and making the next two batters he faced ground out to first and third base, respectively.
Bottom 6: Vanderbilt 6, Tennessee Tech 1
After finishing the fifth on the mound for the Golden Eagles, Vargas returned to the mound. Barczi reached base on a hit-by-pitch. Holcomb hit a deep fly ball that narrowly missed the stands and bounced into the right field to keep it fair. This hit would end up quickly scoring Barczi and advancing Holcomb to third base for the Commodore’s first extra-base hit of the night. Mancini followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, which scored Holcomb. Johnston gave the Golden Eagles their first out when he grounded out to second base, but the Black and Gold would continue to find their way on base. Nelson singled to right field and Kropf walked. The Golden Eagles made a pitching change, bringing in right-hander Drew Mattox, who looked to get out of a two-out jam with Commodore runners on first and second base. After walking Rogers, Waite closed out the inning when Humphrey hit a grounder to the shortstop, who opted to take the force out at second base.
Top 7: Vanderbilt 6, Tennessee Tech 1
The Commodore faithful saw a familiar face take the mound in sophomore Brennan Seiber in the seventh inning. After Seiber struck out the first two batters swinging, he faced some control issues, walking a batter on a full count and advancing the same batter on a wild pitch. He regained his composure, however, and gained a third strikeout, this time looking on Kayne Jinks.
Bottom 7: Vanderbilt 10, Tennessee Tech 1
Corbin and Co. decided to move some things around at the bottom of Game One’s final inning, bringing Aukai Kea in at the designated hitter position for Davis and Hampton to pinch run for Vastine. The Commodores would go on to score four more runs in the inning, highlighted by a Johnston homer to centerfield that landed just shy of the batter’s eye. Also gaining hits in the bottom of the seventh were Hampton (single), AJ DePaolo (single) and Holcomb (single).
Game Two: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 2
Final
Vanderbilt seemed to carry its offensive momentum from Game One over when it put two quick runs on the board in the bottom of the second inning, but these were all the Commodores would get in Game Two. They failed to put runners on base and extend their lead. In the loss, the Commodores had just 4 hits and committed 2 errors, one of which resulted in an unearned run. This inability to score runs allowed Tennessee Tech to crawl back into the game and take the lead at the top of the final inning. The Golden Eagles bats woke up in the second half of Game Two, where they scored four runs off of five hits — two of which were homre runs — en route to the win.
Top 1: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
First-year Hudson Barton got the starting nod for the VandyBoys in Game Two. The 6’3” righty from Franklin, Tenn. yielded a walk to Tennessee Tech’s leadoff hitter, Owen Lee. The Golden Eagles’ second batter, Mack Whitcomb, grounded out to the shortstop on a bouncing chopper, allowing Lee to reach second base. Emery Wright lined out to Vastine, who flashed great range from shortstop to reach the ball but failed to throw out Wright at first base. Barton escaped the inning by striking out the next two batters, stranding the runner at third.
Bottom 1: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Tennessee Tech rolled out right-hander Lucas Vega to start the game. Vega hit the ground running by striking out Vanderbilt’s leadoff hitter, Vastine, on a 2-2 count. Davis drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch that just missed the inside part of the strike zone, earning Vanderbilt their first base runner of the game. He stole second on a fastball out of the zone and took third off a wild pitch. However, Vanderbilt stranded Davis on third, following a strike out by Barczi and a groundout to third base from Holcomb.
Top 2: Vanderbilt 0, Tennessee Tech 0
Barton took to the mound for his second inning of work and continued to dominate by striking out Aaron Moffitt, earning his third consecutive K. Barton ran the count full to the following batter before surrendering a walk to Tennessee Tech’s Landon Smelser. Barton was then removed from the game, giving way to 6’5” lefty Miller Green. Green came out of the gate hot, punching out the first batter he faced on a 93-mile-per-hour fastball. Green escaped the jam on the following pitch when Tennessee Tech’s Jinks lined out to third base.
Bottom 2: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 0
Nelson led off the second inning with a line-drive double to left-center field. He came in to score two batters later after junior catcher Mac Rose doubled down the right-field line. Rose scored two batters later off a single from left fielder Tommy Goodin.
Top 3: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 1
Senior pitcher Sawyer Hawks started the third. After retiring the first batter, Hawks allowed a mammoth home run to Whitcomb. Hawks limited the damage to one run, retiring the following two batters to end the inning.
Bottom 3: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 1
The Commodores were retired 1-2-3 in the bottom of the third. Davis led off the frame with a fly ball to right field, followed by a Barczi strike out and then a Holcomb ground ball to third.
Top 4: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 1
Levi Huesman came into the game for Vanderbilt to kick off the fourth. The 6’0” lefty looked dominant, striking out the first two batters he faced before surrendering a 3-2 walk to Smelser. Huseman escaped the inning on a chopper to third baseman Holcomb, who completed a smooth throw to first.
Bottom 4: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 1
The VandyBoys went three-up, three-down in the fourth in an unconventional fashion. Nelson led off the inning with a popout to shortstop. Johnston hit next and lined a rocket off the left field wall but was thrown out at third on a bang-bang play. The following batter, Rose, struck out swinging to end the inning.
Top 5: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 2
England Bryan, a first-year righty from Hillsboro, Tenn. entered the game to start the fifth inning. Bryan retired the first batter, then surrendered a bloop hit, which was misread by Vanderbilt’s left fielder, Goodin, allowing the runner to reach second base. The runner advanced to third base on a passed ball and then came in to score on a ground ball after a throwing error by shortstop Vastine.
Bottom 5: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 2
It was a quiet half-inning for the VandyBoys. They had just one baserunner in RJ Hamilton, who reached on a walk, but were otherwise retired in order. Right fielder David Mendez struck out to start the inning, followed by a flyout and groundout from Goodin and Waite, respectively.
Top 6: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 3
Left-handed pitcher Jakob Schultz replaced Bryan to kick off the sixth inning. Tennessee Tech’s Moffit led the inning by taking a ball off his helmet, then advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt. He reached third base following an infield single by Smelser before coming in to score off a wild pitch. Schultz struck out the next batter, limiting the damage to one run.
Bottom 6: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 3
Vanderbilt earned one baserunner in the sixth off a Holcomb two-out walk. The following batter, Nelson, lined out sharply to right-center field just shy of the warning track.
Top 7: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 4
Connor Fenell took over to start the seventh for Vanderbilt. He made quick work of the first two batters, striking out each on three pitches. His dominant run would end there after Tennessee Tech’s cleanup hitter, Wright, crushed a no-doubt home run over the left-field wall.
Bottom 7: Vanderbilt 2, Tennessee Tech 4
Tennessee Tech sent out right-hander Houston High to close the seventh. He retired Vanderbilt’s hitters 1-2-3 to seal the victory for the Golden Eagles, capped off by a 3-2 strikeout to Mendez.
