COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Vanderbilt and No. 20 Texas A&M combined for 10 home runs in the series opener Thursday with the Commodores coming out on top, 14-8.
For the second time this season, Colin Barczi left the yard three times. He’s the first Commodore with multiple three-home run games in program history. Barczi left the yard in the first inning, marking his first home run since returning from injury. Tommy Goodin then hit his eighth of the season with a two-out blast to right-center to give Vandy an early 2-0 lead.
Texas A&M got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the second to cut Vandy’s lead in half. The Commodores responded with a Mike Mancini solo shot in the top of the third and added two more runs on an error and a sac fly to take a 5-1 advantage. Mancini’s home run was Vanderbilt’s 66th of the year, matching last season’s total.
The fifth home run of the day came off the bat of Texas A&M’s Caden Sorrell in the bottom of the third to make it a three-run game. In the top of the fourth, Barczi belted a pitch 443 feet to left-center for his second dinger of the day. The Aggies pulled within one with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the fifth.
After a leadoff bunt single by Mancini to start the sixth, Barczi hit his third home run of the night to make it 8-5 in favor of the Dores. Vanderbilt extended the lead in the sixth as Rustan Rigdon worked a walk with the bases juiced. The home runs kept coming as Texas A&M hit a three-run blast in the home half of the sixth to again cut Vanderbilt’s lead down to one.
The Commodores once again extended their lead in the top of the eighth on a two-run single by Korbin Reynolds to put Vandy in front 11-8. Max Jensen pushed the advantage to four with an RBI single in the ninth after a Brodie Johnston double. Back-to-back walks with the bases loaded by Ryker Waite and Reynolds made it 14-8. Vanderbilt totaled 18 hits in the win, a mark they’ve reached twice in the last six games.
Brennan Seiber (5-1) earned the win with 2.1 innings in relief of Connor Fennell. Tyler Baird slammed the door with scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth to earn his first collegiate save.
Vanderbilt (19-12, 6-4 SEC) and Texas A&M (23-6, 5-5 SEC) will meet for Game 2 on Friday at 6 p.m.
