In what has to be one of the more exciting sets of games in recent memory, Vanderbilt swept Kentucky to move to 39-16 (19-11 SEC) on the year.

The biggest offensive standout for Vanderbilt was Jonathan Vastine, as he went 6-13 with a double, 2 home runs, and 4 RBIs. Behind him there were a number of very solid performances. RJ Austin went 5-13 with 4 RBIs; Braden Holcomb went 3-9 with a homer, 3 RBIs, and 3 BBs; Riley Nelson went 4-12 with 5 RBIs; and Rustan Rigdon went 4-9 with 5 BBs for a ridiculous .643 OBP.

Pitchers who did well were Sawyer Hawks, Brennan Seiber, and Connor Fennell. None of them allowed an earned run over 3, 3.1, and 5 IP, respectively. Levi Huesman also deserves a shoutout for getting out of a bases loaded, no out jam in game 1. Vandy’s bullpen once again asserted the fact that they are one of the elite units in the country this weekend.

With the series win Vanderbilt has secured both a top 8 national seed as well as the number 4 spot in the SEC, meaning that they will receive a double bye in the SEC tournament.

Both game 1 and 2 may have ended similarly but the paths to get there were very different. In game 1 Austin Nye got his first SEC start of the year and it went very poorly. Thanks to multiple hits and 2 home runs Nye got Vandy into a 5-0 hole before the end of the 1st inning. He was pulled for Brennan Seiber after just 0.2 innings pitched. Both teams would go scoreless in the 2nd before a Rigdon walk and Austin FC would be driven home thanks to a no-doubt home run off the bat of Riley Nelson in the 3rd. Kentucky would re-extend their lead to 6-2 in the 4th thanks to a double, steal of 3rd, and a throwing error by Barczi. It became 7-2 in the 5th due to a HBP by Tommy O’Rourke, a steal of 2nd, and a single that drove the runner home. In the bottom of the 5th, however, Vanderbilt responded in a big way. A leadoff homer from Mike Mancini made it 7-3. This was followed by a double by Rigdon (who got to 3rd on a throwing error), double by Austin, and single by Johnston to make it 7-5. Holcomb would walk to put 2 on with 1 out but Barczi and Vastine both struck out to end the Vanderbilt threat.

The score of 7-5 would hold all the way until the bottom of the 9th, but it should be noted that Levi Huesman came in with 2 on and no outs in the 7th and would then get out of a bases loaded, no out jam thanks to a strikeout and double play. In the bottom of the 9th, though, magic would strike for the first time this weekend. Rigdon drew a 4 pitch walk and was moved to 2nd by a groundout by RJ Austin, Riley Nelson was hit by a pitch, then Brodie Johnston struck out to put Vandy in a 2 on, 2 out situation with Holcomb up to bat. Down 1-2 in the count, Holcomb went down and got an offspeed pitch and sent it 440 feet to left-center field to win the game 8-7 for Vandy.

Similar to the previous game, Friday’s contest got off to a suboptimal start. A leadoff hit was eventually driven home by a 2 out double, followed by an rbi single to make it 2-0. This time Vanderbilt didn’t wait to respond, though. Rustan Rigdon drew a leadoff walk then Austin doubled to left field. Riley Nelson got Rigdon home with an RBI groundout and then Brodie Johnston gave Vanderbilt the lead with a line-drive 2 run home run to left field. Holcomb, Barczi, and Vastine all singled to make it 4-2 before Humphrey and Mancini K’ed to end the first. Kentucky came right back in the 2nd, though, with more 2 out hitting. 3 consecutive singles resulted in a run and then 2 walks made it 4-4 before Thompson could get out of the 2nd. Vandy and Kentucky traded 1-2-3 innings in the 3rd and top of the 4th but Vandy would retake the lead in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Mike Mancini fly ball that was dropped by the UK 2nd baseman followed by an RJ Austin single. The Wildcats responded in the top of the 5th with a single, walk, and double that tied things back up. Vandy would promptly retake a 6-5 lead due to a Jonathan Vastine solo home run in the bottom of the inning, though. Vandy would extend its lead in the 7th to 7-5 with a Rigdon bunt single and steal of second followed by a Riley Nelson RBI double. This score would hold until the 9th where Ethan McElvain was brought in for a save. Unfortunately for him, Kentucky batters got two balls into the atmosphere while the wind was gusting up to 30 miles per hour and 2 solo shots tied the game. Neither of those balls would have been home runs in normal conditions, but such is the nature of baseball. After this, a single and RBI double would give Kentucky an 8-7 lead, their first since the top of the 1st inning. In the bottom, though, magic would happen again. David Mendez would strike out, but Colin Barczi doubled to the opposite side which brought up Vastine, who had homered earlier in the game. Just like the night prior, on a 1-2 count Vastine turned on a hung breaking ball and sent it to the left field bleachers, winning it for Vandy 9-8.

Saturday’s game was very different from either of the others. Kentucky starter Ben Cleaver put together one of his best starts of the year, as he didn’t even give up a hit until the 5th. Both teams exchanged scoreless innings until the 3rd but two solo shots by Kentucky batters made it 2-0. In the 4th Cody Bowker got two quick strikeouts, but an error by Braden Holcomb in the outfield gifted the Cats a runner on 2nd who would be driven in with a single by the next batter. Connor Fennell would come in for the 5th and pitch 3 scoreless innings. In the 6th Vandy would finally break through with Cleaver, as Mike Mancini drew his 2nd walk of the day, Rustan Rigdon hit a single up the middle, RJ Austin got HBP to load the bases with no outs, and Riley Nelson got an RBI groundout. Brodie Johnston would then pop up to the 3rd baseman and Braden Holcomb was intentionally walked to re-load the bases with 2 outs for Colin Barczi. Barczi then sent a rocket the opposite way for a 2-out, 2 RBI single that tied things up at 3 a piece. In the 7th Vandy took the lead behind walks from Humphrey and Rigdon, a productive out from Riley Nelson, and a 2-RBI double by RJ Austin to get to 5-3. Both teams were scoreless in the 8th

All of the best teams have a unique ability to fight through adversity and succeed in tough situations. Whether that means clutch performances or catching breaks, things just tend to happen for the teams that have the indescribable qualities that define winners. Over the last few weeks this team has embodied that “it” factor. Clutch performances by both pitchers and hitters, indomitable belief in oneself, and just overall mental strength has been the story of the last few weeks. If this can be maintained throughout the postseason, this team could go really far.

While Saturday’s game did not have much power for the ‘Dores, they still hit 6 homers in the first two games and have continued to produce power at an elite level over the last several weeks. The emergence of Braden Holcomb and Colin Barczi, as well as the consistent play (and power surges) of Riley Nelson and Jonathan Vastine has been great to see and takes this team to a new level. Brodie Johnston, while he strikes out too much and doesn’t have the greatest hit tool, continues to produce elite power. This surge has translated to great results for the team, and figures to continue to do so if they keep it up. Everyone has known that the pitching and defense are there for Vandy, but now the offense is getting scary, too.

As I just said, everyone knows the pitching is there for Vandy, but the results of the last 2 weekends have been somewhat suboptimal. Vandy has only gotten one quality start out of their last 7 games and has allowed a few more runs than fans and the coaching staff would like to see. It’ll be important to settle the staff down and re-center everyone for the postseason. It will be interesting to see how the pitchers are managed in Hoover as the coaching staff tries to get these results.

Some Vandy fans are still under the impression that, like last season, the bullpen is a weakness of this team. Let me dispel any notion of that immediately: this unit is one of the premier and deepest pens in the country. If there are any questions about that just look at the last 3 weekends. As previously mentioned, there has only been one quality start in the last 8 SEC games played by Vanderbilt. However, Vanderbilt has won each series and is 6-2 in those matches. That’s all thanks to the bullpen.

Against Alabama the bullpen allowed 7 runs in 9 innings pitched, against Tennessee the pen allowed 6 runs in 12.1 IP, and against Kentucky they allowed just 4 runs in 17.1 IP.

For comparison, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky all have “average” bullpens that either have elite top end talent but aren’t deep, or are deep but lack that top end stuff. Against Vanderbilt, these pens allowed 16 runs in 8.1 IP, 11 runs in 12.2 IP, and 9 runs in 11 IP.

You don’t have to be a mathematician to see how good Vandy’s numbers are relative to those “average” squads. The depth of this staff will pay massive dividends going into the postseason, especially in regionals.

With Vanderbilt’s series victory a top 8 national seed is 100% secured, a feat almost nobody would have believed coming into this season. With the victory on Saturday, a top 4 seed in the SEC is secured, meaning that they have a double bye in the SEC tournament this week.

A successful and dramatic final regular season series at the Hawk caps off a season that can be described well with the same adjectives. These will not be the final games played at Hawkins this season, though, as Vanderbilt will surely host a regional and potentially a super-regional, if they make it that far.