Our No.3 Vanderbilt Baseball team (D1 Baseball.com rankings) completed a tremendous sweep of Auburn over the weekend at the Hawk, and last night got stellar pitching and defense in a 3-1 victory over Belmont at First Horizon Park in Nashville.

First to the Auburn series’ victories. Friday Night, our great junior Carter Holton went 7, gave up one earned run, 4 hits with a walk and 9 K’s in a spectacular performance as our Dores blasted the Tigers, 11-1. Freshman Brennan Seiber of Newport Beach, Cali, finished off the final 8th inning with 1 hit, 0 runs, and 1 walk. We run-ruled them in the 8th as we went up by 10 runs , 11-1 after 7, and if a team is up by 10 at that point, the game is over. Jayden Davis had a tremendous night going 4 for 5 with a triple and 2 Ribbies. Catcher Alan Epinal, maybe the leader of this team, but there are several, had two hits, and shortstop Jonathan Vastine hit a there run shot, his third of the season. We don’t hit a ton of home runs, but when you pound out 13 hits and score 11 runs, just enough home run hitting is enough. And we CAN hit it out of the yard. We seem to do so in the clutch, which is what you need. After the Belmont game last night, we are hitting .326 as a team and have posted a 3.85 ERA as a pitching staff. Our defense is fielding at a .982 clip, which is excellent. Coach Corbin calls it, “solid.” We are a complete team right now, but Corbs says we will not get complacent. He is not going to let that happen. I certainly believe our great coach and our stellar players also won’t allow that to happen. Want to be playing deep into June, so we’re going to have to battle every day in practice and in games. There are no let-ups in the SEC.

Saturday, our awesome first baseman RJ Austin, more on RJ in a second, was 3 for 4 with 3 Ribeyes including his second homer of the season; a leadoff shot to start the game. And the great Espinal was 4 for 4 with 4 RBIs. Davis was 2 for 5 with an RBI, and Calvin Hewitt and Vastine both had two hits and each drove in a run. We pounded out 17 hits on the day. Junior Bryce Cunningham went 5, gave up 4 hits, with 3 runs, only one of which was earned, 3 walks and 5 K’s. Miller Green, Alex Kranzler and Ryan Ginther finished it off.

Sunday, we won 9-6 pounding out 17 hits again. Vastine was 4 for 5 with 3 Ribeyes. Austin, Espinal, Troy LaNeve, who’s another leader on the team as a fifth year senior, and Davis, each had two hits. Devin Futrell got roghed around a little bit giving up 5 earned on 9 hits with a walk and 2 K’s, but I like having Devin on our team because he’s such an awesome competitor and a tremendous strike thrower. Love Futrell. Greyson Carter came in and hit 99 and 101 on the radar gun. Wow. Greyson went 3, gave up 3 hits, 1 earned with 0 walks and 4 K’s. Greyson was totally stellar. And Ginther came in for the 9th, gave up a walk but 0 runs and earned his third save. Feel good with Ginther as our closer. He’s got great stuff, and, like a lot of our guys, throws a lot of strikes.

Last night, freshman stud left hander Ethan McElvain started in place of JD Thompson, whom I guess was getting a break. Ethan pitched well, going 4, giving up 3 hits, 0 runs with a walk and 3 K’s. Sam Hliboki, Kranzler, sophomore lefty Levi Huesman, David Horn Jr., and Seiber finished it off as we emerged victorious, 3-1. Sophomore catcher Logan Poteet, giving Espinal a break behind the dish, hit a homer, his second of the season. Poteet has been impressive in midweek games as Espinal’s replacement. Alan still DH’s. Have to have his bat in the lineup as much as possible, along with his competitive spirit, leadership and superior defense.

RJ did not play last night as he took a ground ball to his face, sorry to be graphic, in warmups and was unable to go. Coach Corbin just said he was sore afterwards. Don’t need to lose RJ for any length of time. We’ve shown to have great depth as we’ve had injuries with Chris Maldonado out for the season and Jack Bulger missing a lot of time though Jack is back. Some other nicks and bruises. Hoping we can get RJ back for South Carolina this weekend.

As I wrote earlier, we are hitting .326 as a team. Our hitters are superb. Espinal is our leading hitter at .392. RJ is hitting .376 and has stolen 15 of 18 bases. Jayden is hitting .341. Vastine, who is a weapon in the nine hole in the batting order, is on fire hitting .329. Calvin Hewitt is hitting .322 and is 14 of 15 in stolen bases. LaNeve is hitting .313 and leads us with 23 RBIs. He also has 7 doubles on the season. Vastine leads us in that category with 9. We have 54 doubles on the season in 22 games. That’s awesome. Third baseman Davis Diaz has his bat going again and is hitting .286. He was at .260 going into last weekend, so it’s good to see our junior back to hitting like he can. He also plays excellent third base. I love our entire defense. Calvin is doing a tremendous job in centerfield. RJ’s been good at first and Jayden Davis has really improved as a second basemen, and looks highly capable there. Love Vastine at short. He’s a stud there. Jacob Humphrey provides great depth in the outfield. If we have any injuries there, Jacob can start. He has great speed, defensive skills and an excellent bat. He’d start for a lot of teams. He’ll get his opportunities this season. Freshman Braden Holcomb started in RJ’s spot at first base last night. The frosh is trying to get his sea legs under him on defense, but his bat will be electric for us. A lot of power there, and he might need to help us soon. Camden Kozeal is just getting back from injury. Cam has an awesome bat, so he’s a factor at DH.

Holton is 3-0 with a 3.96 ERA, and it keeps getting better and better. Love our Friday Night lefty from Guyton. GA, near Savannah. Our Saturday guy, Cunningham, is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA. Holton has walked 8 and K’d 39, Cunningham has walked 12 and K’d 36. Futrell is 2-0 with a 4.67 ERA. He’s walked three and struck out 20. I’m sure Devin wants to get his ERA down, but give me Devin Futrell all day on Sundays. Love his competitive spirit. He’s a warrior.

Ginther has an 0.90 ERA, has walked 4 and K’d 9. Our middle relief has been solid.

So I love where our team is at right now. We are now 19-3 and ranked No.3 in the country by both D-1 Baseball.com and Perfect Game. In the D1 poll, Arkansas is No.1, Oregon State is No.2- it’s been a minute since they’ve been back in the top 5 though they won it all in 2006, 2007, 2017 and 2018-we’re No.3, Clemson is 4, LSU is 5, Florida is 6, A&M is 7, Tennessee is 8, Duke is 9, and East Carolina is 10. Alabama is 11, Mississippi State is 21 and Auburn is 22.

South Carolina fell out of the poll this week after going 1-2 @ Ole Miss last weekend. They are 16-5 overall and 1-2 in the SEC.

Friday’s game is at 6 PM CT, Saturday’s is at 3 PM CT, and Sunday’s first pitch is at 12:30 PM CT. All three games will be broadcast by SEC Network+.

One last note: Espinal was selected SEC player of the week for his performances against Indiana last Tuesday and over the weekend against Auburn. Espinal posted eight hits for the weekend, which tied him with Jayden Davis for the most in the conference. For the week, he had 10 hits and had multi-hit performances in all 4 games, including a four hit game on Saturday. So great stuff from our senior from Viera, Florida.

We’ve got an outstanding team of terrific competitors. Just need to stay as healthy as we can. Will keep you posted on Gamecocks series. Another big weekend for us in the SEC.

Men’s Golf dominates at Pauma Valley Invitational

Our Vanderbilt Men’s Golf team bounced back from a fourth place finish at the Cabo Collegiate with a resounding victory at the Pauma Valley Invitational played Monday and Tuesday in California. We finished 20 under and defeated second place San Diego by 7 shots. They finished -13. Cole Sherwood finished tied for 4th individually with a score of six under par. Wells Williams, competing as an individual, shot 5 under. Gordon Sargent shot -3, with a 4 under 67 in the first round. Matthew Riedel and Jackson Van Paris, coming off his stellar 10th place showing at the Puerto Rico Open on the PGA Tour where he got an exemption to play, shot 2 under for the tournament. And, collectively, our team was a machine. I know Coach Limbaugh was happy with the guys bouncing back from Cabo. What a performance. Fourth place at Cabo is good for a lot of teams, but our expectations are so high, we feel like we can win every time out, and a lot of times we do. Just gotta keep building off this victory.

Our No.3 ranked team heads to Palm City, Florida next Monday to play in the Valspar Collegiate Invitational. The tournament is a two day event Monday and Tuesday. I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m thinking there will be two rounds Monday, like there were at the Pauma, and then a third round on Tuesday. Will keep you posted on our tremendous team. Good to have them back in the winners’ circle. Fourth place in a loaded field at Cabo is a good showing for a lot of teams, and it’s fine for us. We’re just so good, we expect to win every time out. That’s what Scott Limbaugh has built at Vanderbilt. We’ve got a shot to go a long way this season and win it all like we always do. Auburn is presently ranked No.1 in the country and UNC is 2. We’re next. Just gotta keep building during the regular season. The Valspar is next.

Women’s Basketball at the NCAA Tournament

Our terrific women’s basketball team will play Columbia at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, VA. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with tip off at 8 PM CT today. The game will be broadcast by ESPNU. We are 22-9 and they are 22-6. Both teams are 12 seeds. Hoping Coach Shea Ralph and the team can emerge with a victory and advance in the tourney. It’s great to be good again in women’s basketball. Love what Coach Ralph is doing with our team and the program. If you can’t watch it, I’ll let you know what happens tomorrow in a blast and a tweet.

Another name in our Men’s Basketball Coaching Search

Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang is another name that has come up for our job. He’d be a good hire. His K-State team went to the Elite Eight last season in his first year and made the NIT this season. His teams are fast, athletic, play great D and can score a lot. I like the look of his teams. He was Scott Drew’s assistant at Baylor for several years before getting the K State job. Still like the Bucky McMillan (Samford), Mark Byington (James Madison) or Darian DeVries (Drake) options also, but Tang would be an excellent hire, too. Byington is linked to the West Virginia job as well. There are others. Pat Kelsey of Charleston is a hot commodity. Dusty May of Florida Atlantic took his team to the Final Four last season and they’re back in the NCAA Tournament this season as is Kelseys’ Charleston team. Both of those guys would also be excellent hires. Some really good names out there along with these guys, so there are stellar possibilities. Will keep you apprised.

Spring Football has commenced

Football has started spring practice. We don’t have a spring game this year because of all the construction in and around FirstBank Stadium, so will miss seeing the guys compete. Might have to head up for a practice and give you guys a report. I’m excited about what Clark’s “Team 3” can do. We’ve got a lot of talent at quarterback through the transfer portal, Drew Dickey, who’s been on our team, and the two freshmen. There are good players around the QB’s and I really like our talent on defense with Clark coordinating. Love Tim Beck as our offensive coordinator and associate head coach. It’s going to be like having a second head coach on the field and in practice. Beck came over from New Mexico State and brought two of his quarterbacks by the transfer portal. Like Nate Johnson, the transfer from Utah, as well at QB for this upcoming season. Clark also hired Jerry Kill, who was the head coach at New Mexico State last season and who’s had a lot of success as a head coach. He’s going to be a special adviser to Clark. That’ll really help, too. Recruiting for 2025 is active. We have one commit, 89, 3 star Carson Lawrence, a safety from McCallie School in Chattanooga.

So, great stuff going on at West End. Love what our baseball, men’s golf and women’s basketball teams are doing. Looking forward to keeping you posted on our next men’s basketball coach as well and our football team’s progress this spring.