The 2019 season was a magical one, as the Commodores finished 59-12 and won conference and national titles. Here's a look back and key games and moments that shaped the season.

Vanderbilt (then 11-2) entered a three-game series with Illinois State with Drake Fellows on the hill to start Game 1. He served up a grand slam to Joe Aeilts before recording an out.

Remarkably, he settled down from there and didn't allow a run again, striking out nine over four innings. The offense scored three in the bottom of the first and took the lead for good in the third with two runs. Tyler Brown pitched the final three innings for his second save.

That was a scene that repeated itself several times in 2019. Fellows often didn't begin games with his best stuff, but two things usually happened: the offense usually came back with a harder punch, and Fellows often worked through the rough starts to go deep into games.

Vanderbilt opened its Southeastern Conference season at Texas A&M. The Commodores won Game 1 and then, holding a 7-2 lead against the Aggies on Saturday, blew the lead and lost 8-7. VU was a virtual no-show in a 7-0 shellacking in Game 3, perhaps the only time that happened.

Vandy rebounded with a 3-0 win over Belmont before Florida came to town. Throughout the Tim Corbin era, no team has owned the Commodores like UF. The14th-ranked Gators, at 16-8, seemed like the last team VU needed to face at that juncture.

But Fellows dominated Game 1, striking out eight in a complete-game, 5-0 shutout. On Saturday, VU smacked the Gators with a 6-spot in the third, two more in the fourth and four in the sixth, while Patrick Raby threw six shutout innings in a 15-2 shellacking. The Gators took a 2-0 lead heading into the fourth in Game 3, but a Stephen Scott grand slam that inning catapulted the Commodores to a 14-4 romp.

The Gators have always known how to get in the Commodores' heads, and had been chirping a good bit before Scott's blast. Vanderbilt made a statement when it bullied the Gators back. It seemed a harbinger of things to come--and it was.

Vanderbilt was going through its roughest patch of the year, having gone 3-3 its previous two SEC weekends and in between, needing a ninth-inning comeback to force extra innings in a 5-4 win over a mediocre Western Kentucky squad. With a series against Arkansas pending, wasn't the ideal time for a road trip to MTSU in what's perhaps the most anticipated game of the Blue Raiders' year.

It was a spot that's tripped VU teams up in previous years, but not this time.

Middle got two runs in the second off Mason Hickman--both unearned--to cut VU's lead to 3-2. Again, Vandy's bats responded with seven in the third and three in the fourth. J.J. Bleday, Julian Infante and Isaiah Thomas had home runs, and the Commodores came home with a 15-3 win.

That game was emblematic of the remarkable focus VU showed in mid-week games all year. VU lost just one of them, that, a 7-6, 10-inning defeat to Austin Peay on Feb. 27.

Vanderbilt had a pair of seven-game winning streaks early in the year, but the Commodores had difficulty closing out Game 3s. Heading into April 21, VU was 2-6 in Game 3 of a series, and 28-3 in every other game.

It was something that frustrated Corbin, who, after VU blew an 11-8 lead by giving up six runs to Arkansas in the final two innings the previous Sunday, said he "should be fired."

Bleday's early home run provided one of VU's two second-inning runs. Raby threw six strong innings, Hugh Fisher added one and Brown got the save in a 2-0 win.

From then on, VU won all 10 of its "Game 3" situations between weekend series and tournament formats.

South Carolina was limping through a tough SEC season, but playing the Gamecocks has never been easy for VU. The Commodores trailed 5-1 after four innings, with Fellows eventually allowing eight runs in 3 2/3.

As usual, the offense picked Vandy up. Bleday homered and first baseman Julian Infante added a grand slam as the Commodores erupted for seven in the fourth and six in the ninth in a 22-11 Friday win.

Vanderbilt's pitching wasn't at its best, but again, the offense picked the Commodores up in the late innings of 9-3 and 6-2 wins in a seven-inning Sunday doubleheader.

The Commodores ended the weekend on an 11-game winning streak--one that stretched to 13---and thanks to Arkansas losing a Game 3 at Kentucky, held sole possession of the SEC lead with two weekends to play.

Vanderbilt was in good shape when it held a nine-run lead after three innings in Lexington in Game 1 on May 16. But as the offense went silent for four innings, the Wildcats put up 10 in that span to take a one-run lead heading to the eighth.

The Commodores nearly went to the ninth with a deficit, but Philip Clarke's two-out triple in the bottom of the eighth gave Vanderbilt back the lead. It added five in the ninth while Zach King threw two scoreless innings for his third save.

Vandy's 22nd SEC win assured the Commodores the SEC's regular-season crown.

Vanderbilt's winners' bracket game with Mississippi State may have been its most anticipated single-game matchup of the season to that point. The teams looked almost dead-even as the conference's best, and VU had to face the National Pitcher of the Year in Ethan Small, a former Commodore commit. MSU was also the team that ended VU's 2018 season with a super regional triumph in Nashville.

Small was brilliant that night. But Vanderbilt got a two-out bloop single just inside the left field line from Infante to take a 1-0 lead in the second.

That was the offense for the evening. Fellows scattered five hits and a walk over six innings, while King, Brown and Ethan Smith combined for three innings of scoreless relief.

In a winner-take-all game for the SEC Tournament title on a hot Sunday in Hoover, Ala., neither Raby (the starter) or King could find the plate. The two combined for seven walks and nine runs, just five earned due to some defensive lapses behind the two.

But Jake Eder stabilized things, holding the Rebels to one unearned run in 3 2/3 relief innings. Meanwhile, the bats came around, with Vandy getting two in the third and then three in the fifth, keyed by Pat DeMarco's three-run homer.

But Vandy couldn't solve Ole Miss lefty Austin Miller, who struck out the first six Commodores he faced, the game tied at 9 in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and none one.

However, Miller tired late. His 66th and final pitch was one of three walks that inning, forcing him from the game with one out to go. Ole Miss went to two-way player Ryan Olenek to try to escape.

Clarke lined Olenek's first pitch up the middle for a single. Vandy became the first team since the 2009 LSU squad to win the SEC's regular season outright, and follow with a conference tournament title. (Florida won the 2011 event after finishing in a three-way tie with Vandy and South Carolina for the regular-season crown.)

After Fellows threw a complete game in an 8-2 win over Ohio State, Vanderbilt hung on for dear life, nearly blowing a seven-run, ninth-inning lead in an 8-5 victory over Indiana State to stay in the winner's bracket in regional play.

ISU had talent on the mound, but playing an extra game early on Sunday took its toll. ISU started seldom-used Zach Frey, who held the Commodores down until the fourth, departing after 66 pitches.

Vandy's lone run against Frey came on a Clarke home run. with Frey gone, VU tacked on at least one run against the five subsequent Sycamore pitchers and rode Hickman for seven innings, with King firing two scoreless to close out the regional title game.

It was a nervous Commodore crowd that showed up at Hawkins Field on June 8. Duke, a significant underdog to Vanderbilt, stunned the Commodores by an 18-5 score in the Nashville Super Regional opener. Vandy now had to win two in two days to advance to the College World Series.

There were questions as to whether a freshman was up to the task in that spot. Those questions amplified briefly after a line-drive out, followed by a beaning of Kennie Taylor that hushed the crowd for several minutes as Taylor lay on the field writing in pain.

But a strikeout-caught stealing on the next play got Rocker out of the inning. Two ground-outs sandwiched around a strikeout got him out of the next, following a leadoff walk to open the second.

From there, Rocker pitched about as well as anyone can possibly pitch. He allowed two runners from there--one on a strikeout/wild pitch with two outs in the fifth, another on a four-pitch walk with two outs in the seventh--and ended the game with four straight strikeouts.

The final tally: 19 strikeouts (all on sliders, swinging) and no hits. Some have speculated it's the best-pitched game in the history of college baseball.

As for the offense, Clarke's two-out RBI single in the fifth was all VU needed in a 3-0 win.

Rocker's masterpiece--which still had the baseball world buzzing the next day--provided some relaxation for the next day. Martin led off Game 3 with a homer and DeMarco added one later in the first. Vandy ran out to a 9-1 lead and eventually scored a 13-2 win that secured its place in the College World Series.

Vanderbilt had about as tough a pitching match-up as it could get in its CWS opener, facing Louisville All-American Reid Detmers on Sunday, June 16. But Martin, who'd blasted two homers in Game 3 vs. Duke, hit the lefty's first pitch out to right center to stake VU to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

The Cards tied the game in the fifth when Fellows seemed to tire. But Fellows got a second wind to get through the seventh with the game tied. Infante ripped a one-out double off Bryan Hoeing in the bottom of the inning, setting up another Martin bomb.

Brown closed things out with 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings, and Vandy won its first CWS game by a 3-1 score.

Vanderbilt uncharacteristically struggled to string together big innings throughout its stay in Omaha. Left fielder Stephen Scott staked VU to a 1-0 lead heading into the fifth inning against Mississippi State on June 19, then, added a three-run bomb off Riley Self as part of a five-run fifth.

That was all Vanderbilt needed. Rocker threw six innings of one-run ball, and Brown closed things out with 2 1/3 scoreless innings in a 6-3 win.

What was Luke Smith thinking?

Louisville's right-hander was cruising, staking the Cardinals to a 2-1 lead after eight innings. His 106th pitch struck out Infante to end the top of the inning, and Smith felt compelled to taunt Vandy's popular senior with several profanities as both exited the field.

The outburst nearly broke Twitter for the remainder of the evening. It also fired up VU.

Eder, who had a rough seventh in giving up Louisville's only two runs, pitched a scoreless eighth. Bleday drew a one-out walk from Smith in the ninth and then shortstop Ethan Paul smoked a double down the line in right to score the tying run.

Two hitters later, DeMarco bounced a double just over third to score the go-ahead run.

In the ninth, Brown pitched around a hard-luck double, getting a strikeout followed by a spectacular fielding play from second baseman Harrison Ray to end the night.

Vandy's 3-2 win that advanced it to the national title series.

Vanderbilt, coming off one of its worst games of the season in a 7-4 loss to Michigan, faced NCAA Tournament elimination on June 26. Once again, Rocker delivered.

The freshman begin with five strikeouts in two perfect innings. He ran into trouble in the third and fourth, allowing two runners each time, but pitched out of those jams with a strike-out and a ground-out to Paul in the third and fourth, respectively.

In the fifth, Rocker mowed the Wolverines down with a pair of strikeouts and a ground-out. In the sixth, after a Ray error and a Jordan Brewer single started the inning. Rocker got a strikeout and a pair of air outs to keep the shutout intact.

Vandy didn't generate much offense, but scored a pair of runs on wild pitches for a 3-0 lead, which seemed plenty the way Rocker was throwing, and Brown available in relief.

It was, indeed.

Rocker gave up a single to start the seventh, but struck out Joe Donovan with his 104h and final pitch of the evening for his 11th strikeout. Brown allowed a run-scoring double--that was charged to Rocker--but closed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

The next evening, the Commodores, thanks to six innings from Hickman and three from Eder, beat the Wolverines by an 8-2 score to earn the national title.