Riley Nelson's grand slam highlights Vanderbilt baseball at MLB Desert Invitational: What we learned
Vanderbilt baseball won two of three games in its season-opening MLB Desert Invitational over the weekend.
The Commodores (2-1) won a pair of one-run games, beating Grand Canyon 4-3 on Friday and UC Irvine 9-8 on Sunday, but lost to Nebraska 6-4 on Saturday. The games were held at three ballparks in the Phoenix area.
In Sunday's game, Vanderbilt blew a 5-0 lead and trailed by two in the eighth inning when first baseman Riley Nelson blasted a go-ahead grand slam. It was the first grand slam for the Commodores in nearly two years.
Their new-look lineup, which returns just three starters, showed more power potential than in the past, but that didn't always translate into run-scoring. While the starting pitching and high-leverage relief was strong, the middle relief struggled.
In all three games, Vanderbilt ran out a top three of RJ Austin, Nelson and Jayden Davis. The trio rewarded Tim Corbin's faith.
Austin was 6-for-14 across the three games with a home run, a double and a walk. Davis, who only hit two home runs last season, was 4-for-12 with a walk, two doubles and a home run.
Nelson was 6-for-13 with a double, a hit by pitch and the grand slam, which was the biggest hit of the entire tournament.
Another hitter who raised his stock was catcher Colin Barczi. Although Barczi had just two hits on the weekend, he made lots of hard contact, with three deep flyouts to the warning track.
Ace JD Thompson, the lone player with significant starts in 2024 to return for 2025, had a strong performance Friday. He threw 4⅔ shutout innings with one walk and six strikeouts against Grand Canyon. Georgetown transfer Cody Bowker had four shutout innings with one walk and six strikeouts against UC Irvine.
Second starter Ethan McElvain was more of a mixed bag. He allowed four runs in 2⅔ innings against Nebraska and took the loss. He walked three and struck out seven. Facing 17 batters, McElvain generated a team-high 16 swings and misses, but he struggled with his command at times, allowing a lot of hard contact.
Vanderbilt's bullpen struggled all weekend to bridge the innings between the starters and the closer. On Friday, after the Commodores had taken an early 4-0 lead, Matthew Shorey gave up four runs and got just one out to make the score a bit too close for comfort. On Saturday, Brennan Seiber gave up two runs in two innings. On Sunday, Hudson Barton pitched one scoreless inning before giving up four runs without recording an out in his second inning of work. Shorey was charged with two runs without recording an out, and while England Bryan was not charged with any runs, he allowed three inherited runners to score.
The saving grace of the weekend was Vanderbilt's two best high-leverage arms: Sawyer Hawks and Green. Hawks came in on Friday in relief of Shorey and fired three shutout innings, allowing two hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Green picked up saves in both the Friday and Sunday games, totaling three innings with one run allowed, no walks and three strikeouts.
Alex Kranzler (2⅓ IP, 0 R) and Jakob Schulz (2 IP, 0 R, 3 Ks) were also effective on Saturday.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt baseball at MLB Desert Invitational: What we learned
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