NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 12 Auburn dropped its Southeastern Conference opener at No. 8 Vanderbilt 11-1 in eight innings Friday night at Hawkins Field.
The Tigers (13-4, 0-1 SEC) jumped out to a lead with a run in the first inning but surrendered its advantage with three runs in the second and ultimately allowed Vanderbilt (16-3, 1-0 SEC) to score 11 unanswered.
"If you try to put it in the simplest form, I think they got on the fastball. I thought that was huge in the second inning. They got the base hit with two outs up the middle and then they got the home run. All that damage was with two fastballs," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We never could answer and we could not get on his fastball. Not enough linking up and not enough being able to get on his fastball."
Auburn jumped out to an early lead in the first as Ike Irish doubled for the third time in the last two games and moved to third on a ground ball from Deric Fabian before scoring on a wild pitch.
After Chase Allsup worked around a two-out double in the first, Vanderbilt evened the score on a two-out RBI single in the second and took the lead on a two-run home run three pitches later.
Allsup and Auburn nearly escaped the fourth inning scoreless, but a double-play ball that was originally called out on the field was overturned by video review and ultimately led to two runs, extending Vanderbilt's lead to 5-1.
The Commodores started the fifth inning with four straight hits and added to their lead on a RBI single followed by a RBI double. Parker Clarson entered in relief of Allsup with two on and one out and minimized the damage with a groundout and back-to-back strikeouts to strand a pair of baserunners.
Carlson also worked a scoreless sixth, stranding a pair of runners. The junior righty logged a season-high 2.0 scoreless innings with a walk and season-high three strikeouts and hasn't surrendered a run in five straight outing to start the season.
Mason Maners hit a two-out double to left in the seventh to break up a streak of 13 straight Tigers being retired by Vanderbilt starter Carter Holton, but a flyout to center ended the inning.
Vanderbilt scored four runs in the eighth inning and ultimately ended the game early on a passed ball with a runner on third.
Irish and Cooper Weiss, playing in his first career SEC game, accounted for four of Auburn's five hits in the game.
Game two in the series between the Tigers and Commodores is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.