Vandy's quick regional exit continues program's downward trend

It’s hard to say a program that has qualified for 18 consecutive NCAA baseball tournaments is in dire need of rebuilding.

But for Vanderbilt, a reassessment of that program certainly seems in order.

The Commodores, by the very lofty standards they’ve set for themselves under coach Tim Corbin, are at their lowest point in years following a quicker-than-expected departure from the Clemson Regional over the weekend.

Tennessee, meanwhile, is rolling right into Super Regional competition, after capturing the Knoxville Regional with three consecutive wins by a combined margin of 33-12. The top-seeded Vols (53-11) will next host the winner of Monday’s game between East Carolina and Evansville.

Sunday’s 12-3 triumph over Southern Miss extended Tennessee’s NCAA regional streak to 12 straight games, as the Vols have gone unbeaten in regional competition in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Tennessee downed Northern Kentucky 9-3 and Indiana 12-6 in its first two games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Things aren’t nearly so cheery for Vanderbilt (38-23), which didn’t have much to look back on for the last couple months of this season — aside from three straight wins in the SEC Tournament and the extension of the team’s NCAA regional mark.

Those accomplishments pale in comparison to what Vanderbilt had done over the previous dozen full seasons — a resume that included nine regional titles, five trips to the College World Series and national championships in 2014 and 2019.

This year’s Commodore team won its fewest overall games since 2018, posted its worst SEC record (13-17) under Corbin and lost in two straight games in a regional for the first time since 2016 — the only other time it’s happened under Corbin. Vandy has failed to win a regional for three straight years, the first time that’s happened under Corbin since 2005-09.

The final nail in the coffin came Saturday, when High Point rallied from five runs down to defeat Vandy 10-9, earning its first NCAA regional victory in the process.

“That’s kind of new territory for us,” Corbin told reporters afterward. “But that falls on myself. Got to look in the mirror and say it’s not good enough, at least from the standard we’ve created, I guess. You’d like to play deeper into this thing. You’d like to give yourself a chance to play for a super and get to Omaha. But at the end, it just wasn’t good enough and … you have to live with that. That’s real.”

Vanderbilt was stung by significant injuries throughout the season, a trend that continued in Clemson, where starting shortstop Jonathan Vastine was sidelined for the High Point game due to illness and starting catcher Alan Espinal had to leave that contest early due to a knee injury.

Still, Vanderbilt never excelled in any particular category throughout the season.

The ‘Dores finished with a .286 batting average that ranked 110^th nationally, a slugging percentage of .465 (109^th), a total of 72 home runs (tied for 103^rd) and a team ERA of 5.18 (tied for 69^th).

“I‘m not [prepared] to just start breaking down everything right now,” Corbin said. “[I’ll] look at a lot of things when we get back. You got to say bye to seniors and people who have been in your program for a long period of time, then I’ll sit down and see what we got to do. But it’s got to get better. That’s with me.”

Vandy had given its fans a bit of hope heading into the regional by winning four of its last five games, including victories over Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi State.

But the pitching staff blew up in the regional, surrendering a combined 20 hits, 23 runs (21 earned), 12 walks and eight hit batters. Vandy also committed three errors against High Point, the last one — made by RJ Austin playing out of position at shortstop — eventually resulting in the game-winning run in the ninth inning.

It was an especially brutal moment for Austin, who had gone five-for-five at the plate, driving in three runs.

“To be honest, we didn’t deserve to win that game,” Corbin said. “We can’t play that way on that side of the ball and expect to win. Now we played hard and we hit the ball and we gave ourselves an opportunity. But from a pitching [and] defensive standpoint, it wasn’t good enough.”

This story was first published by our sister publication Nashville Post.