ARLINGTON, Texas — No. 23 Vanderbilt (1-1) collected its first win of the 2026 season Saturday, beating Texas Tech 13-3 in eight innings at Globe Life Field.
The Commodores smashed four home runs, including two from Brodie Johnston, to give them eight over the first two games.
The Red Raiders took advantage of a pair of errors in the first to go up 1-0.
That score would hold as Vandy starting pitcher Austin Nye turned in three consecutive scoreless innings, exiting after four frames without allowing an earned run. The sophomore struck out six batters on the day.
The Dores broke through in a big way in the bottom of the fourth, putting eight runs on the board. Braden Holcomb got things going with a two-run blast down the line in left.
With one out, Rustan Rigdon reached on a bunt single before scoring on a double by Logan Johnstone. The next batter, Ryker Waite, tallied his first collegiate hit with a two-run homer into the Vandy bullpen in right-center.
The frame continued with a pair of two-out errors. The Dores would load the bases when Holcomb came back up for the second time in the inning. The junior ripped a bases-clearing double to give him five RBIs in the frame.
Texas Tech cut the deficit to 8-2 in the top of the fifth before Johnston got the run back with a solo shot to center in the sixth.
The Red Raiders pushed a run across in the seventh to once again pull within six.
Johnston belted his second homer of the game, and third on the weekend, with one out in the eighth. Two more runs came home on a bases-loaded walk and an RBI single. Waite ended the game with a single to put the Dores up by 10.
Vanderbilt is back at Globe Life Field on Sunday to face Oklahoma State at 10:30 a.m. CT on FloSports and 102.5 The Game.
