Takeaways From Vanderbilt Baseball's Season-Ending Loss in The SEC Baseball Tournament
HOOVER—Vanderbilt baseball’s season ended on Wednesday in Hoover in the midst of a push that could’ve taken it to the NCAA Tournament had it gone far enough in the SEC Baseball Tournament.
Instead, though, it walked off the field knowing this was over after its 8-3 loss to Florida. Now, it has perhaps its most interesting offseason in a decade ahead of it.
Here’s a few takeaways from its final game of the season.
That’s likely it for Vanderbilt’s NCAA Tournament hopes
In another life where Vanderbilt’s RPI wasn’t preventative, it would’ve been in with 15 league wins and a number of SEC series wins. That’s not the case, though.
Vanderbilt was playing for its life on Wednesday–and it likely would’ve been on Thursday, as well–and it couldn’t meet the moment. This was it for this team. This was it for the 19-year regional streak that this program held. This was history, and a type of history that this group of Vanderbilt players was hoping to avoid at any cost.
Instead, though, it will be the first season since Corbin’s third at the helm of this program that the program doesn’t have something to play for on regional weekend. That makes this the most unsuccessful Vanderbilt baseball team since Corbin’s 34-21 team in 2005.
That’s a reality that will stick with this group all summer, all fall and all winter.
Vanderbilt just didn’t have enough pitching to make the run it hoped to
Vanderbilt’s dynamic offense offered it some hope of making a run in Hoover, but it had a nearly impossible task ahead of it because of the lack of pitching it had to turn to throughout the week.
It pitched a solid game on Tuesday as it rode Connor Fennell and Alex Kranzler to an 8-5 win, but it was virtually out of pitching by the time it took the field on Wednesday. It really only had one reliable starter down the stretch and could only consistently turn to a few bullpen arms.
That left it with Tyler Baird–a talented, but inconsistent–freshman on the mound on Wednesday and a number of relievers that had to pick up the slack. Its offense would’ve had to put together an outstanding showing against an SEC weekend starter for it to win on Wednesday, and that’s a whole lot of pressure for it to take on.
Even if Vanderbilt had gotten to Thursday of this thing, its staff would’ve been nearly entirely depleted and Corbin would’ve had to piece together nine innings from a group of arms that he couldn’t have trusted all that much.
This just wasn’t going to work unless Vanderbilt’s offense was excellent.
Oddly enough, Wednesday was more about Vanderbilt’s offense than its pitching staff
It felt as if Vanderbilt’s offense could carry it through the week here in Hoover, but it fell relatively flat when it ran up on Florida’s ace and had some real pressure that it couldn’t live up to.
Vanderbilt went for just six hits, three runs and no homers on Wednesday afternoon. That wasn’t good enough to keep it alive. It continued a trend of Vanderbilt struggling against the SEC’s best arms.
There’s no way to blame Vanderbilt’s season on its bats, but they didn’t live up to expectations on Wednesday.
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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