Vanderbilt opens their 2025 campaign with a 4-3 win against GCU. The ‘Dores had 10 hits and no errors compared to ‘Lopes’ 9 hits and 3 errors.

Vanderbilt was led offensively by RJ Austin, Riley Nelson, and Jayden Davis, all of whom had multiple hits, with Austin having 3. Rustan Rigdon also reached base 3 times with a double and two HBPs. Defensively, none of JD Thompson, Sawyer Hawks, and Miller Green allowed a run, pitching 4.2, 3.0, and 1.0 innings, respectively.

GCU’s Connor Mattison pitched 5 scoreless innings and slugger Zach Yorke hit a 2 run homer.

First and foremost, playing in a hostile environment against a perennial NCAA tournament team as your season opener is a big ask for any team, so getting a win in that situation is significant. With all of the struggles that this team has had on the road the last few seasons, to show grit and not fade in big moments while away is a big step for this team. If they can get used to these feelings early, they’ll be well prepared for SEC play.

Vanderbilt started the game extremely hot, scoring 4 in the first 4 innings and getting 8 hits. However, some familiar patterns reared their heads, as Vanderbilt left 10 runners on base (including many in scoring position) and the offense stagnated late in clutch moments. Given, it should not be overlooked that Mattison is a very talented pitcher who was really on tonight, but to go 5 innings scoreless is not enough to win regardless of opposing talent.

Another painfully familiar occurrence for Vandy fans occurred, with Vandy players getting great contact many times and not being rewarded for it. Colin Barczi and Jayden Davis blasted 3 balls that would be home runs in most SEC ballparks that were both caught on the track; Nelson, Barczi, and Holcomb both had very hard hit balls get snagged by infielders as well. This can be taken one of two ways: A) Vanderbilt is getting a lot of hard contact and eventually luck will regress to the mean, especially when you play in more hitter friendly SEC parks, B) progress has not been made on one of Vandy’s biggest problems the last few years: hitting the ball hard but not lifting it out of the park or into the gaps. A one game sample size is not enough to make judgements on these things, but it’s something to watch going forward.

It should also be mentioned that the offense was hampered by Chris Maldonado (who was batting cleanup) having probably the worst game of his Vanderbilt career. He went 0-5 with 4 Ks and was responsible for multiple runners in scoring position being left stranded. Maldonado had some rough scrimmages, and I have yet to come away impressed with even a single performance from him. If Maldonado is going to be a staple in the top of the lineup, he has to get better - and quickly.

The best sign for Vanderbilt tonight was that the veteran pitchers who will be relied on heavily did not allow a single run against a strong offense. Last season GCU was in the top 15 nationally in batting average and walks drawn, and yet they were completely nullified by those guys. All runs given up were at the hands of freshman Matthew Shorey, who did not project to be in many high-leverage situations this year. While one certainly cannot expect Thompson, Hawks, and Green to be as good as they were tonight every night, if this is a sign of things to come Vanderbilt could be winning a lot of Friday night games regardless of their offense.

Hawks also deserves a mention of his own. Green and Thompson were great last year and have picked up where they left off, but Hawks was downright bad in his few appearances. He looks like a totally new pitcher with higher velo, better offspeed pitches, and a stronger mentality. He’s primed to be an elite high leverage relief pitcher.

While many Vanderbilt fans will certainly be unsatisfied with the offensive stagnation and close game against a mid-major opponent, I believe that the good outweighs the bad. Vanderbilt went against an NCAA team with far more top-level talent than the median mid-major team in a hostile environment and came out on top. They had 10 hits even with some horrible luck and no errors. Oh, and none of their veteran pitchers allowed a run. There’s plenty of good and bad to take from this performance, but a win is a win regardless.