Stats and Takeaways From Vanderbilt Baseball’s Exhibition Games Against Murray State

Vanderbilt baseball closed out fall ball with two exhibition games against Murray State. Here are a few takeaways from Friday’s wins.

Vanderbilt third baseman Brodie Johnston (9) tries to throw out Louisville's Alex Alicea during the ninth inning of the Nashville Regional NCAA Baseball Tournament game at Hawkins Field Saturday, May 31, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. | Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt played two home exhibition games against Murray State Friday evening and gave fans a free opportunity to get an early look at the 2026 team.

Vanderbilt took down Murray State in both games, which lasted seven innings each. The Commodores took the first game 7-1 before taking the second game 10-1. There was offense and there was pitching both on display. Here are the stats from the games and four takeaways.

Hitting Stats

Game 1

Mike Mancini - 1-for-3, single, 2 stolen bases, walk, 2 K’s

Rustan Rigdon - 1-for-4, 3-run home run, 3 RBI, 1 K

Logan Johnstone - 1-for-2, home run, 1 RBI, walk, hit by pitch

Mack Whitcomb - 0-for-2, walk, 2 K’s

Tommy Goodin - 0-for-2, walk, strikeout

Brodie Johnston - 1-for-3, home run, 1 RBI, 1 K

Carter Johnstone - 0-for-3, walk, 2 K’s

Ryker Waite - 1-for-3, home run, 1 RBI, walk

Collin Brightwell - 0-for-2, walk, 1 K

Aukai Kea - walk, stolen base, run scored

Game 2

Collin Brightwell - 1-for-5, single, 1 stolen base

Cade Sears - 2-for-4, 2 RBIs, 2 singles, 1 K

Carter Johnstone - 1-for-2, RBI double, 2 walks, 1 stolen base

Tommy Goodin - 1-for-2, 2 RBI, 1 walk 

Mike Mancini - 1-for-2, walk, 1 K

Rustan Rigdon - 2-for-3, 2 singles, 1 K

Brodie Johnston - 1-for-3, grand slam, 5 RBI, 1 K

Logan Johnstone - 0-for-0, 2 walks

Will Hampton - 1-for-2, single

Ryker Waite - 0-for-2, hit by pitch

Aukai Kea - 0-for-1

Pitching Stats

Game 1

Austin Nye - 2.0 IP, 1 walk, 1 hit, 2 K’s, 0 ER

Connor Fennell - 2.0 IP, 2 walks, 0 hits, 2 K’s, 0 ER

Luke Guth - 2.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 2K’s

Wyatt Nadeau - 1.0 IP, 1 walk, 0 hits, 0 ER

Game 2

Matthew Shorey - 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 1 K, 0 ER

Tyler Baird - 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 K, 0 ER

Brennan Seiber - 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER

Alex Kranzler - 1.0, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 ER

Jacob Faulkner - 1.0 IP, 0 hits, 0 ER, 1 K

Nate Schlote - 1.0 IP, 1 walk, 0 hits, 0 ER

Nate Teague - 0.1 IP, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 ER

Connor Hamilton - 0.2 IP, 2 walks, 0 ER, 2 K’s

Takeaways:

Do not Overreact One Way or Another

This is a must when fans see results from exhibition games like this. Whether the team does really well in the case that Vanderbilt displayed tonight or an exhibition game goes really wrong for one team, it is a natural instinct to overreact.

But do not overreact or read too much into these two games. Yes, Vanderbilt did have guys that showed good signs, but the Commodores did not win a championship because of this. Not to mention, there are still four months before the regular season starts. It is always fun to get an early look and preview into what 2026 could look like.

Nye Looks Even Better than Last Season

Austin Nye left off last season on a good note as he helped his team pitch its way to a SEC Tournament Championship against Ole Miss. Coming into this season, Nye is expected to be one of the top two starting pitchers on the roster for 2026.

In his fall ball appearance on Friday, he pitched like it. Nye went two innings and collected a couple of strikeouts and only allowed one hit and one walk. His pitches looked nice, too.

Plate Discipline was Good 

Vanderbilt did a good job of drawing walks. The first time through the order in the first game, the Commodores were able to draw four walks and six walks total in the game. In the second game, Vanderbilt was able to draw three walks and a hit by pitch the first time through the order.

Additionally, Vanderbilt did not do too much chasing. There were not many times where batters would swing at pitches well outside of the strike zone. The result of that more certainly has a lot to do with Jason Esposito now on the coaching staff. The players are learning from him and you can see visible results from that.

Offensive Improvement

The achilles heel for Vanderbilt for a majority of last season was the offense. The pitching staff and defense was always solid and gave Vanderbilt a chance to win tons of games in 2025. But what led to the downfall of Vanderbilt last season was ultimately the lack of offensive production when it mattered the most. 

So, heading into this season, the need for a more consistent offense was a notable one. Friday, the offense did seem to come alive early and often. In the first game, the offense was started by a Rustan Rigdon three-run home run in the bottom of the 2nd inning before Washington State transfer Logan Johnstone hit a solo shot just a couple pitches later.

Ryker Waite also hit a solo home run himself shortly after Johnstone did. The offensive firepower was on display with a 7-1 victory.

In the second game, again the bats came out firing with five runs scored in each of the first two innings. Brodie Johnston hit his second home run of the night with a grand slam over the left field wall.

There were also runs driven in via hits from Cade Sears, Carter Johnstone and Tommy Goodin to help Vanderbilt take a 10-0 lead early.

Will Vanderbilt be scoring that many runs on the regular? No, probably not. But it was certainly a good sign for the bats to get going early and often during both games, and Corbin is hoping that will carry over into the spring.