Austin Walks Off the Hilltoppers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – RJ Austin hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to help Vanderbilt defeat Western Kentucky 5-4 on Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.

Austin Nye got the start for the Dores on the mound and turned in the longest outing of his freshman season, going 5.1 innings. Nye didn’t allow an earned run and totaled a career-high nine strikeouts.

WKU opened the scoring in the top of the first on an error and an RBI double to go up 1-0.

Vanderbilt answered with a three-run bottom of the second.

Rustan Rigdon laid down a bunt single to start off the inning and moved up to second on a Jonathan Vastine single. A double play erased Vastine but moved Rigdon up to third. Rigdon would come home on a single by Mike Mancini to tie the game at 1-1.

Jacob Humphrey followed Mancini’s single with a RBI triple off the wall in left-center, scoring Mancini all the way from first with two outs. Humphrey then scored on a balk to make it 3-1.

Brodie Johnston extended the lead with a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth, his sixth homer on the season.

WKU roared back to pull even with a three-run eighth inning.

The Hilltoppers put the go-ahead run on third in top of the ninth with one out but Alex Kranzler kept the game tied with a groundout and a big strikeout to end the frame.

The game headed to extra innings, Vandy’s second extra-inning contest in the last three games.

Humphrey reached on a single with one out in the bottom of the 10th and moved up to second on a throwing error. Mac Rose singled to move Humphrey up to third, bringing Austin to the plate.

Austin worked a 3-1 count before hitting a ground ball to the right side that allowed Humphrey to touch home for the winning run.

Vanderbilt improves to 21-8 on the season and 17-3 at Hawkins Field. The Commodores travel to Florida this weekend to face the Gators for a three-game series beginning Friday.