ARLINGTON, Texas — Vanderbilt’s offense could do little to figure out Texas Christian pitching, and the Horned Frogs rode a five-run sixth inning to get past the Commodores 11-4 on Opening Day at Globe Life Field Friday.
Vandy had just five hits and left five runners on base. The Dores also struck out six times.
“It’s early in the year. You can’t base an offense after one game,” Vanderbilt second baseman Jonathan Vastine said. “We most certainly have way more in the tank, and I don’t doubt for one second that my boys are going to come through throughout the rest of the year.”
The Horned Frogs (1-0) hit for five runs in the sixth, all off Vanderbilt reliever Sam Hliboki. Hliboki was making his first appearance in a black-and-gold uniform since April 10, 2021, due to injury.
Vandy (0-1) had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth, but left the bases loaded—which turned out to be crucial as the final innings played out.
Vanderbilt now turns its attention to Oklahoma State (1-0) for an 11 a.m. contest Saturday.
“That was a good team. They played really well,” Vandy head coach Tim Corbin said. “They took a game that was close and made it theirs toward the end. Any time they put guys on base, they did damage with the hits. Give them credit.
“I thought their hitters did a good job with two strikes, did a good job with two outs and they certainly applied a lot of pressure to us.”
Texas Christian struck first Friday when Elijah Nunez rolled a solid single through the middle of the infield off Vandy starter Carter Holton. Brayden Taylor then chopped a 1-1 pitch off the glove of Parker Noland at first, and Nunez scampered to third on the play.
Kurtis Byrne hit a sacrifice fly to right to plate Nunez and make it 1-0 Horned Frogs.
In the second, Calvin Hewett was plunked with a pitch to start the frame and then stole second for the Dores. Hewett went to third on a fly ball to left and then scored on RJ Austin’s grounder to second.
Davis Diaz tripled with one out in the third and fled home on a shallow flyout to center off the bat of Enrique Bradfield to give the Commodores a 2-1 lead.
David Bishop started the TCU fourth with a scorching double into the left-field gap. Luke Boyers was then hit by a pitch, but Holton induced a 6-3 double play to give himself a chance to get out of the inning.
Tre Richardson had other ideas and banged an RBI double off the right-field wall to tie the game at 2-all.
Holton exited after hitting another batter, giving way to Hliboki (0-1), who got a fly ball to center to end the inning.
Holton went 3 2/3, gave up two earned runs and four hits while striking out four, throwing two wild pitches and hitting two batters. He notched his 100th career strikeout during the third inning.
Vandy coaxed a run without a hit in the sixth when Noland drew a bases-loaded walk. That made it 3-2 Commodores.
But Luke Boyers rifled a single up the middle to start the bottom half, and Richardson lined a single to left with one out to put two runners aboard. After a walk, Nunez crushed a 3-2 pitch into the right-field corner to clear the bases and put TCU up 5-3.
Taylor then launched a two-run shot to right to make it 7-3.
That would be all the Horned Frogs needed.
“Those are some good hitters,” Vastine said. “They got to two strikes, or they got ahead early and they put some good swings on it, unfortunately. Some of our guys had really good swings, and they just didn’t land. We’ll just go be a better group moving forward.”
Anthony Silva gave TCU some insurance with a two-run double off Vandy reliever Grayson Moore in the seventh. Austin Davis rolled an RBI single to right after that, making it 10-3, and Nunez plated another to put TCU up 11-3.
Texas Christian starter Ryan Vanderhei went 5+ innings and allowed three earned runs and two hits and while fanning three. Nunez finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs.
Vastine, who went 3-for-4, hit a solo home run in the ninth to provide the final margin.
“That’s a great pitching staff, they’re well-run,” Vastine said of TCU. “They mix their pitches very well, and then they had some timely hitting. Unfortunately, we had some times where we didn’t hit the ball where we needed to. Other than that, we’re going to keep building and keep moving forward.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
