The Blueprint For Vanderbilt Baseball To Make A Run In The SEC Tournament Is Clear. Column

HOOVER—With his helmet ripped off, Brodie Johnston jumped and chest bumped as he moved back into the direction of the first-base dugout in Hoover with his USA skullcap wrapped around his hair. As he did it, a relief appeared to radiate off of him and the rest of Vanderbilt’s players in the vicinity.

In that moment, Vanderbilt had pulled away from Kentucky and appeared to know that it was set to extend its season another day. That wasn’t a guarantee for this Vanderbilt team, but there it was celebrating, slapping hands and soaking in the possibility that it’s got at least one more game together. That was never a guarantee for Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin and his team, but it’s reality after its 8-5 win on Tuesday.

“Tough win,” Corbin said. “I think they're in a pretty good place right now.  It's easy to say after a win, but I do. I think the conversations when Jelkin was going through the lineup, I thought were very positive. The kids were good. I felt like that game was going to come back at some point in time.  I didn't know if we'd put up a four spot, but, in order to do that, you have to have pretty good energy in the dugout. If you don't have energy in the dugout, you're not making a comeback like that with two outs.”

This Vanderbilt team still has a whole lot of work ahead of it if it’s going to reach the NCAA Tournament, but the first step of the journey it will have to take if it’s going to get there is complete. Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin says that the best way to win a tournament is to play it one game at a time, and it appears he’s onto something.

If Vanderbilt considered the big picture and what making a run here in Hoover could’ve required of it, it would’ve been demoralized by the time it was down 4-1 in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s game and Connor Fennell was close to exiting it. Instead, though, it came back to win and kept its bullpen intact while doing so.

And Tuesday indicated that it has some parts of its profile that promote the idea that it may be able to stay alive here for long enough to get itself into the NCAA Tournament. It indicated the blueprint the rest of the way. Its pitching has to be just good enough, while its offense has to demonstrate some dynamic elements like it did on Tuesday.

Vanderbilt baseball proved to have some dynamic elements on Tuesday. | Vanderbilt baseball

Despite Kentucky ace Jaxon Jelkin–who all but shut Vanderbilt down during the regular season–getting the nod, Vanderbilt put up eight runs despite going for just two extra-base hits and one homer. The day wasn’t entirely indicative of the way this Vanderbilt offense has evolved since its last appearance in Hoover, but it was one of a number of outings that indicate that Vanderbilt’s offense is dynamic enough for it to make a push.

“They’ve got a lot of good bats,” Jelkin said. “You gotta be on top of mixing speeds and locations with those guys and they show that they can put the ball in play when they need to. [I] didn’t execute enough pitches today and that was the story of the game.”

For all the faults of this Vanderbilt team in its 33-24 season–in which it’s firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble and has an RPI that will effectively disqualify it if it loses on Wednesday–its offense isn’t one of them. Vanderbilt is No. 6 in the league in batting average, is fourth in home runs and has as complete of an offense as it’s had in years. That makes it decidedly difficult to count out.

After the first day of the SEC Tournament, this Vanderbilt team still has a chance to write the wrongs of a regular season that’s placed it on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Vanderbilt finished the regular season with a 32-24 record, 14 SEC wins and an RPI of 73, but that didn’t matter all that much on Tuesday–it will later in the week when the available arms dwindle down–but on Tuesday, Vanderbilt had a new lease on life.

Vanderbilt’s RPI will be the issue the rest of the way–although it moved up four spots to 69 on Tuesday–but it may be able to find a way into the field if it wins two more games this week in this place. And if the trends in which its offense continued on Tuesday continue, it’s got a chance to beat anyone it runs up on this week.

“We're just manufacturing runs,” Vanderbilt designated hitter Colin Barczi said. “Obviously, we hit the long ball a lot, but being able to score runs, singles and short games is something that we also pride ourselves on.”

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