In what will be regarded as a disappointing weekend against Oklahoma for the Commodores, Vanderbilt played 3 games that each had 3 entirely different outcomes: heartbreak, dominated, and domination.

Vanderbilt lost the first two games of the series by scores of 9-4 and 14-0 but salvaged a win on Sunday by a score of 13-2.

Riley Nelson was one of the sole offensive standouts for Vanderbilt, going 4-12 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Pitching-wise Luke Guth, Connor Fennell, and Sawyer Hawks all had standout appearances. Guth didn’t allow a hit in his one inning, Fennel went 4.1 innings while allowing only 1 run and 3 hits (on top of 5 strikeouts), and Hawks only allowed 1 run and 2 hits in 3.2 IP.

Friday’s game got off to about the worst start imaginable, as after a 1-2-3 top of the 1st JD Thompson had his worst individual inning of the year. He could not find the zone as he walked 4 and gave up 2 hits to give Oklahoma a 4-0 lead to start. Thompson would settle in, though, as he did not allow another run in his next 4 innings. Vandy would chip away at the Oklahoma lead for the next several innings, as a 3 hit 3rd inning scored 1 and an error in the 6th allowed Vastine to score after a single of his own, cutting the lead to 4-2. Luke Guth would come in to relieve Thompson in the bottom of the 6th and go 1-2-3 before Jacob Humphrey made it a one-run game with an oppo solo home run. In the 7th, however, disaster would strike when Tim Corbin elected to put Miller Green in over allowing Guth to continue. Green would give up a solo home run on his first batter faced and then allow 2 more runs on a single, double, and 2 throwing errors by Green and Rose. This extended the OU lead back out to 7-3 and Vandy could never respond. The ‘Dores went 1-2-3 in the 8th and then Tristan Bristow was put into pitch, who gave up 2 runs before ever recording an out. Matthew Shorey came in and did an admirable job getting 3 consecutive outs and limiting the damage. A Colin Barczi leadoff double in the 9th would eventually come in to score thanks to a groundout and sac fly but it was too little too late.

Saturday’s game was a massacre from the start. Cody Bowker, too, struggled with command as he issued free passes to the first two batters he faced and gave up a 3 run homer before ever recording an out. Oklahoma would never look back as top SEC pitching prospect Kyson Witherspoon pitched a complete game shutout. Oklahoma added one more in the 3rd and Bowker was pulled heading to the 4th. Brennan Seiber did not give up a hit in 0.2 innings but issued 3 free passes and had another reach on a Brodie Johnston error (which was caused by an Oklahoma runner intentionally blocking his path to the ball, but that’s neither here nor there). England Bryan came in and promptly gave up another 3 run homer to score all of Seiber’s men (Seiber was only charged with 1 earned run). He then allowed 4 runs of his own (only 1 earned) thanks to 3 hits, 1 free pass, and an error. Ethan McElvain would come in during the 6th and give up 2 runs thanks to 3 BBs and a hit in his 1.2 IP. Mac Rose and Riley Nelson were the only Vandy players to record a hit. 6 of Oklahoma’s runs were unearned.

Sunday’s game was as different as humanly possible from the first two, as Vanderbilt took a 1-0 lead in the 1st thanks to Riley Nelson solo shot and never looked back. Braden Holcomb sent a rocket over the right field wall to make it 3-0 Vandy in the 2nd. In the 3rd Austin was hit by a pitch (his first of 3 HBPs of the day) before stealing 2nd and 3rd and having a Nelson single send him home. Brodie Johnston then reached on a dropped fly ball by the CF and Rustan Rigdon’s single got Nelson around the bases. Oklahoma would respond in the 4th with a single that scored a walked batter, but that’s about all they would do. Sawyer Hawks would relieve Fennell in the 4th and shut Oklahoma down the rest of the way. Vandy made it 6-1 in the 5th thanks to yet another Nelson single followed by a double by Johnston, then 9-1 in the 6th after 2 HBPs, a walk, a FC, then a 2-rbi single by Rigdon. In the 7th Humphrey was HBP and then driven home by a Vastine bloop single. Run-rule territory was finally entered in the 8th inning thanks to a Holcomb double that scored Rose and Rigdon, who had reached on a single and error, respectively. A Vastine single would score Holcomb to make it 13-1. Oklahoma finally got to Hawks in the 8th, as a double and a single made it 13-2, but Hawks finished things out before there was any danger of having to play a 9th inning.

The struggles of the offense have been well documented this year but the things that Vandy has been able to rely on day-in and day-out has been an elite defense and pitching staff that does not give up free bases. That could not have been more different this series. In the first two games, there were 5 Vanderbilt errors that led to 6 unearned runs over the two games. Vanderbilt pitching also gave up 15 free passes through walks and HBPs over these two games, almost all of which ended up scoring. I don’t care what team you are playing, if a team allows their opposition to have that much free offense, it will be almost impossible to beat them.

Tim Corbin is clearly still unsure about what lineup will get the most out of his team and it’s showing. Every day had a different lineup, and they were so different day-to-day that not a single batter in the entire lineup batting in the same spot every day. Jayden Davis got his first SEC starts in a while, and although his bat was not horrible his defensive limitations really showed. Braden Holcomb started the Saturday and Sunday games, and after an 0-2 game on Saturday he had a 4 RBI performance on Sunday, going 2-5 with a home run and double. Mike Mancini did not play the first two games despite some strong outings recently and then went 0-4 on Sunday’s game. I certainly do not have any answers myself, but we are now 2/3rds of the way through the season and the lineup is a point of contention every single night. That has to change soon if there will be any amount of consistency developed by this team.

Sunday’s dominant performance certainly lessens the sting of this weekend, and going 1-2 away in the SEC against a top 20 team is not “bad” prese, but with the gauntlet Vandy has coming up this may feel like a big missed opportunity. Oklahoma came limping into this series after having really struggled and Vandy had the advantage in just about every statistical category both offensively and defensively in-conference. Oklahoma is certainly not more talented than Vandy, nor are they an amazing at-home team. This seemed like the perfect series for Vanderbilt to win away and position themselves in a very strong spot to host a regional at the end of the year.

In the end, though, Vanderbilt will have to settle for 1 win and fight their way to a hosting spot through what may be the most difficult stretch that any team will have to play this season. The decision to put in Miller Green when Vandy had all the momentum and 3 of the next 4 batters were strong right handed hitters cost Vanderbilt both the series and a much less stressful path to a Nashville regional.

At the end of the day, Vanderbilt sits at 8-7 halfway through conference play, if they do that again then Vanderbilt will be hosting 3 teams in the NCAA tournament in June. The problem, though, is that their next 4 weekends will all be against ranked opponents who have some top-tier wins on the year. We saw a great response on Sunday after arguably the most demoralizing two days of the season, but that has to be carried over for the rest of the year. Now is the time to figure things out, or risk the consequences. Vandy takes on Georgia (who just beat #1 Arkansas in Athens) next week in their return to Hawkins field. Games are on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.