OMAHA, Neb. – Vanderbilt’s Austin Martin crushed two homers — including a two-run shot in the seventh inning — to lift the second-seeded Commodores to a 3-1 win against seventh-seeded Louisville in their College World Series opener on Sunday afternoon at TD Ameritrade Park.
Martin became the first Commodore to record a multi-home run game at the College World Series. His two-run blast in the seventh unlocked a one-all tie and followed a one-out double by Julian Infante. It also lifted Vanderbilt (55-11) to a single-season school record 55th victory.
Martin deposited his first pitch into the left field bleachers to open the scoring. It marked the first leadoff home run for any player at the College World Series since June 17, 2015. The Jacksonville, Florida, native has four homers in his past two games.
Cheat code: Austin Martin. 💥
— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) June 16, 2019
Louisville evened things in the fifth by connecting on four consecutive one-out hits, including a first-pitch RBI-single from Henry Davis into center. Right-hander Drake Fellows (13-1) buckled down, inducing an infield pop out to first and inning-ending groundout to leave the bases loaded.
Left-hander Reid Detmers limited the Commodores to 1-for-10 (.100) with runners aboard including 0-for-4 (.000) with runners in scoring position. The sophomore worked around a career high six walks, permitting just three hits and one run while striking out five.
Davis recorded two of Louisville’s eight hits. Bryan Hoenig saddled the loss after surrendering two earned runs on two hits in 0.2 frames of relief.
All-American reliever Tyler Brown made his SEC-pacing 15th save this season, one shy of Brian Miller’s program-best 16 set in 2013. He fanned one batter in the final 1.2 frames.
The Dores return to action Tuesday and will face the winner of the matchup between Mississippi State and Auburn. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on ESPN, and the game can be heard on WNSR 560 AM/95.9 FM and VUCommodores.com.
