No. 22 Vanderbilt Baseball, after going 15-3 in nonconference play, opened up its first conference weekend series at Auburn. After a disappointing offensive performance on March 14, the ‘Dores evened the series at one win apiece with an 8-6 win. Going into the final two innings on March 16, it seemed like a road series win was in hand for the Commodores, but things went awry from there.
A disastrous bullpen performance that allowed four runs via a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth gave Auburn the 7-6 win in dramatic fashion. Outside of the loss, there’s still plenty to take away from Vanderbilt’s performance in its first SEC weekend series of 2025.
Three up
Vastine at the bottom
Jonathan Vastine has really impressed in the nine and eight-hole slots this year, adding much-needed depth to Vanderbilt’s batting order — and to sweeten the deal, he seems to have a lot more power than he did in past years. Against Auburn, the Bowie, Florida, native went 3-for-10 at the plate but tallied 6 RBI and 2 home runs — with all of these hits coming when the Commodores were losing. Vastine has almost half as many RBIs (20) and home runs (4) 21 games into the season as he did the entirety of last season (42 and 10, respectively). Vastine’s offense, if it continues at this pace, could be a difference-maker for this team.
Seven innings in March? No problem
Bowker’s performance on Sunday warrants his second “up” section of the year. Many were impressed with his six-inning performance against Xavier, which featured 10 strikeouts and 1 hit. In the series finale against Auburn, the junior leveled up. He continued his streak of great performances against Auburn with a seven-inning outing, allowing just five hits and three runs while striking out four, bringing his season ERA to 2.64. Not much seems to rattle Bowker on the mound and he impressively got out of a jam in the fifth inning after a series of errors by the infield. Bowker continues to turn heads across the nation.
Auburn on the rise
An evaluation of SEC opponents isn’t normally my focus in a Vanderbilt column, but this weekend’s performance, especially given it was an away series, wasn’t altogether upsetting. I foresee this SEC baseball season being akin to its basketball season for its members — one where teams almost need to win a home game (or in this case series) and where a road loss to an upper-half team won’t make or break a season. While at first this series loss undoubtedly stings, winning one of three games on the road, and getting close to taking the rubber match, is certainly no reason to take up arms.
Three down
Saturday starter questions
As much as the Friday and Sunday starters in JD Thompson and Bowker have impressed this season, the lack of a true Saturday starter at the start of conference play is concerning. It is obvious that head coach Tim Corbin and longtime pitching coach Scott Brown are confident in the abilities of sophomore Ethan McElvain, yet he averages just 2.4 innings per game and has the second-worst ERA on the team (9.95). In his start against Auburn, McElvain was pulled after just 1.1 innings and 43 pitches. The lack of quality innings on the part of McElvain created a domino effect in the rest of the bullpen — Vanderbilt used a lot of arms from the ‘pen on Saturday and had almost none left on Sunday.
Corbin and Brown were forced to use five relievers in the second game but couldn’t find a solution in the final three innings on Sunday. Vanderbilt might need to look at other options for its Saturday starter if it wants to win some conference series.
Five through seven-hole production
Vanderbilt’s middle-of-the-order batters failed to produce against Auburn. The five through seven-hole hitters generated just four hits on the weekend. The Commodores thrive not on power but on extra-base hits in timely situations. For this approach to be successful, the middle-of-the-order guys need to get on base more. As the season continues, expect middle-of-the-lineup production to be the ceiling for how truly good the VandyBoys can be.
A talent clog
Vanderbilt’s roster — as it always does — possesses a large talent pool. That feels like a detriment right now. Braden Holcomb and JD Rogers, who were projected as potential starters, are getting few reps despite their brilliant showcases of power. Jayden Davis and Mike Mancini have flip-flopped at second base.
This doesn’t include players like David Mendez who have come in during midweeks and impressed. Vanderbilt has the depth to survive an injury, but at the same time, this talent clog can also lead to switches for quicker solutions, rather than working through slumps and creating sustained production.
Vanderbilt Baseball will take on a floundering Texas A&M team at home for a Thursday-to-Saturday series. The first pitch on March 20 will be at 6 p.m. CDT.
