For the third weekend in a row, Vanderbilt Baseball was part of an SEC weekend series sweep. After the Commodores’ swept Texas A&M the second weekend of conference play, they dropped all three of their games against then-No.2 Arkansas at Hawkins Field from March 28-30. The series against the Razorbacks marked the Black and Gold’s first winless weekend at home in three seasons and their first home loss this season. 

Head coach Tim Corbin’s team got back on track with 6-0, 3-2 and 11-3 wins over Florida between April 4-6. Vanderbilt might not be the dominant national contender that we’re used to seeing, but this group is still resilient and clearly capable of winning through pitching and hitting. 

Three up

Sawyer Hawks. That’s it. 

Hawks’ efforts this year cannot be overpraised; he is the backbone of Vanderbilt’s bullpen and has been arguably the most consistent arm on the entire roster — starter or not — all season. His 1.80 earned run average during SEC play leads the team for players who have pitched more than three total innings. He came into the Saturday game during the sixth inning and pitched four clean frames to end the matchup, allowing just three hits and walking none while adding six strikeouts. 

Vanderbilt is still figuring out who its third starter is going to be, and it’s tempting to advocate for Hawks to slot in after Cody Bowker and JD Thompson. However, his value in middle and late relief is simply too significant to ignore. 

Finding a groove

Jonathan Vastine had himself a series against the Gators. The senior had his ups and downs early this year and struggled specifically with power, but you wouldn’t have known that this series. He went a cumulative 6-for-10 in Gainesville with 3 RBIs, 3 walks and a home run. Vastine is known for his defensive prowess at shortstop, but he’s batting a scalding-hot .385 — which leads the team — in SEC play. Moreover, he is one of only two players on the team who has three home runs during conference play. (The other being Colin Barczi.) Vanderbilt gets a massive offensive boost when Vastine produces at the bottom of the order. 

Bounced back

The biggest win for Vanderbilt this weekend? Not coming out flat. What would have happened if Vanderbilt went out against a Florida team that was 1-8 in the SEC and unranked and lost the series? What would Vanderbilt’s season look like today if it had just dropped its third SEC series in four weeks? If Corbin’s seat wasn’t hot, its temperature would certainly have risen. Instead, Vanderbilt gets a sweep and proves that it’s more than capable of beating up on the inferior SEC teams while keeping its head above .500 in conference play. Now, it’s time for the ‘Dores to show they can hang with the big guys. 

Three down

The power is still out

Vanderbilt’s power problems haven’t gone away, and while this weekend’s performance — which featured four home runs — was a step in the right direction, I’m still concerned. Florida isn’t the type of team to blow you away with power, so it’s no surprise that Vanderbilt’s elite pitching, backed by some strong situational hitting, got it the sweep. That said, it’s probably going to take a lot more than four home runs for Vanderbilt to win any of its upcoming series.

It just means more

This is the SEC — the best conference in the country — so it makes sense that Vanderbilt is getting five top-10 teams in the span of five weekends. The road ahead isn’t easy; the Commodores will continue the SEC portion of their schedule on the road in Norman for their first matchup with their newly-minted SEC foe Oklahoma Sooners. 

Red light

Miller Green was used twice against Florida, both times with two outs, but pitched just one total inning. Green had a rough March, and the coaching staff has seemingly lost some of their trust in him. Corbin and Co. utilized Hawks and Connor Fennell to close out the first two games of the series against Florida. While both are great, neither seems to be a true closer, at least as of right now. 

Fennell has gotten multiple SEC starts and Hawks is the team’s top middle reliever. With Ethan McElvain struggling to command pitches and other arms like Brennan Seiber and Alex Kranzler being used for multi-inning outings, Green needs to return to his early season form, when he allowed just one earned run through his first eight innings pitched. 

Vanderbilt will take on the Dayton Flyers at Hawkins Field on April 8 at 6 p.m. CDT as it seeks its fourth consecutive win.