Vanderbilt Commodores

Vanderbilt Shows Its a Contender After Huge Sweep of Georgia

The Commodores went from a middle-of-the-pack SEC team to one of the top five SEC teams with three wins against the Bulldogs.
Taylor Hodges|
Vanderbilt pitcher Sawyer Hawks (88) celebrates with teammates after the team’s 5-2 win against Georgia in a NCAA college baseball game at Hawkins Field Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.
Vanderbilt pitcher Sawyer Hawks (88) celebrates with teammates after the team’s 5-2 win against Georgia in a NCAA college baseball game at Hawkins Field Saturday, April 19, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. | Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Contender or Pretender? That is the question.

Whether it’s a fair question or not, is another column, but it’s a question I wrote about last week. That, of course, was before No. 19 Vanderbilt swept No. 5 Georgia at Hawkins Field and looked really good doing it.

Winning the series changed a lot for the Commodores. They went from not getting a bye in the SEC Tournament to now being one spot away from getting two byes. They’ll also get a bump in the national top 25 polls that will likely put them inside the top 16 and host an NCAA Regional in the NCAA Baseball Tournament Predictions next week.

As for the answer to the question, Vanderbilt is most certainly a contender. The Commodores have only had two “bad” SEC series this season, against Arkansas and Oklahoma. They also lost a close series to Auburn and have swept Texas A&M, Florida and Georgia.

Vanderbilt’s pitchers were lights out against the nation’s leader in home runs and the offense looked the best it had all season. In fact, the Commodores (6) hit more home runs than Georgia (5). Brodie Johnston had a big weekend, hitting three home runs and nine RBIs. But so did Riley Nelson, Braden Holcomb and Colin Barczi.

It was a good bounce-back series for JD Thompson and Cody Bowker, who had uncharacteristically bad outings last week against Oklahoma. Against Georgia, Thompson struck out a season-high 14 batters and Bowker had six. Connor Fennell also returned his role the third game starter and looked great doing so.

The Commodores also have an excellent closer emerging in Sawyer Hawks, who leads the team with six saves and has a 1.26 ERA.

So, yes, Vanderbilt is a contender. But in the SEC it doesn’t take long to go from contender to pretender. Just look at Ole Miss. The Rebels were ranked No. 6 nationally two weeks ago, but has gone 3-5 since, including a loss to Little Rock and two losses at South Carolina. Or look at Texas A&M, who started SEC play 1-9 and is now 8-10 and a team nobody wants to play. Is Ole Miss a pretender? Is Texas A&M a contender?

It's hard to tell, but it’s going to make for an exciting finish to the regular season.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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