Nashville, TENN--Vanderbilt picked up its 14th-straight win on Tuesday night over Belmont at First Horizon park.

Here are three quick takes, two questions and a prediction as Vanderbilt rides its hot hand into South Carolina this weekend.

Three quick takes:

D1 Baseball's #3 ranking seems to be hard to argue with

Vanderbilt being as high as third in the nation feels like a high bar for it to live up to, but not entirely unfair.

Tim Corbin's team was outscoring its opponents 128-53 in the 13 games prior to Tuesday's 3-1 win over Belmont.

The Commodores' pitching has generally been good to great, its lineup has exceeded expectations and it hasn't even played all that many close games since its February 25th loss to Gonzaga.

Throw in a sweep of then No. 18 Auburn and this team has about as impressive of a rèsumè as you'll find.

Perhaps the biggest redeeming trait of this group is its quality of depth

It's hard to find much of a weak spot anywhere on this roster.

Whether it's in the pitching staff that has put together a good start in all but a few of Vanderbilt's games, a bullpen that has taken a step forward after some early season struggles or a lineup that seems to have no easy outs in it, this feels like a group that is about as complete as can be.

Heading into Tuesday night, eight out of Vanderbilt's normal nine starters were hitting over .300 on the season. Pair that with consistent pieces like Calvin Hewett, Matthew Polk and Jacob Humphrey off the bench and you've got a solid lineup in every aspect.

That feels like a microcosm of Vanderbilt's team at this point.

Jonathan Vastine's offensive leap

Take some individual stats with a grain of salt this time of year, but Jonathan Vastine seems to have improved in just about every offensive category.

Vastine came into Tuesday slashing .329/.412/.630, those would all be career highs if the season were to end today. The junior shortstop slashed .287/.355/.448 last season and hit just two more home runs than he's already hit this season.

Vanderbilt's shortstop has proven to be a heck of the bottom of the order bat thus far.

Two questions:

Can Vanderbilt's defense improve?

The only aspect of this team besides power that's raised some concern is its defense.

It feels as if Vanderbilt's numbers defensively haven't been all that poor but it isn't necessarily the lockdown group that it has been in past years.

Some of that is personnel based while some of it is good defenders not making plays that they're capable of.

The question is whether it can look more reminiscent of a typical Corbin robotic defense a month or two from now as it does now.

How much pace can Vanderbilt keep?

This has all the makings of a really, really good group but it likely won't be one that consistently strings off 14 straight in the heart of SEC play.

The bigger question is whether Vanderbilt can keep pace enough to get to 20 SEC wins for the first time since 2019. Can it get anywhere near 50 total wins?

Vanderbilt is red hot, but we'll learn some things about it as the going gets tougher in the coming weeks.

One prediction:

Vanderbilt wins the series this weekend in Colombia

Corbin's team will have a ranked opponent ahead of them for the second-straight weekend. It feels as if it's difficult to bet against his group right now, though.

South Carolina is talented and should finish respectively in a tough league, but its series loss to Ole Miss in the first weekend of conference play and loss to Belmont inspire some confidence that it is beatable.

The prediction is more about Vanderbilt, though. It'd feel foolish to bet against a team that has won 14 in a row.

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