The No. 3 ranked, red hot, Vanderbilt Commodores traveled to Columbia to face South Carolina at Founders Park and they left on the plane absolutely stunned after getting swept 8-4, 8-3, and 10-2.
Looking back at the second weekend series, there’s some key things to takeaway as well as some questions. For starters, South Carolina absolutely punched the number 3 team in the nation in the mouth. They outhit, out pitched, and out defended the Commodores all weekend.
It started with Eli Jones on the hill for the Gamecocks in game one who really set the tone for them and the series. Jones looked incredible and fearlessly shut down this Vanderbilt team that came in on a 14-game win streak and a dominating sweep of then No. 18 Auburn 11-1, 13-5, and 9-6 at home. Jones went 6.1IP, 1H, 2ER (HR), 4K, 1BB on only 77 pitches. Even though he struck out less than one batter an inning, he mixed in his changeup much more at 22% vs 14%, he had very low pitch count innings and only surrendered one hit, a two-run homer, giving Carolina another quality start in game one.
Carter Holton gave the Commodores another quality start as well, going 6IP, 3H, 2ER, 10K, 4BB on 114 pitches but the Vandy bullpen then allowed 6 runs, 5 of them unearned which cost them the game. Game two the Gamecocks staff spread out 7 Vanderbilt hits and 3 runs (all in the first 5.2IP). Dylan Eskew had a short but good start, going 3IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2K, 1BB on 61 pitches. Relievers Ty Good and Garrett Gainey were fantastic and combined for 5IP, 4H, 1ER, 7K, 1BB.
Sunday, true freshman Tyler Pitzer got his first start of his collegiate career and did not disappoint and almost completely shut down the VandyBoys, going 6.1IP, 3H, 2R, 0ER, 9K, 1BB on 95 pitches. Pitzer looked phenomenal on the bump, keeping the Commodores off balance and racking up most of his strikeouts with a deadly 12-6 curveball that he threw 39% of the time and recording a 26% miss rate on the day. Matthew Becker came in and picked up a nearly 3 inning close, going 2.2IP, 1H, 0ER, 3K, 0BB on 34 pitches.
The questions around the Gamecocks have been on the pitching side much more than the hitting and they answered a lot of questions on that front. Pitzer absolutely dominated and earned another weekend start. Still however, I think you need more length out of a third starter, whether that’s Eskew, Roman Kimball (who didn’t pitch this weekend), or someone else like Becker who had 11 starts in 2023 and had a 4.83ERA in 54IP.
On the offensive side, the exact opposite occurred from what most analysts expected as the Gamecocks outhit the Commodores in all three games, 24-16, and outscored them 26-9. 5 different Gamecocks had one or more RBI in each game, headlined by Ethan Petry who went 4-8, 5RBI, 2HR, 4R, 5BB. Cole Messina had a great weekend too.
The biggest thing was that Carolina didn’t have to rely solely on those two bats. In game two Tyler Causey went 2-3 with a homer. Game three, Dylan Brewer, Gavin Casas, and Kennedy Jones each homered and combined for 5RBI. Carolina touched up Bryce Cunningham who struggled in game two with 2 homers and 5 runs. Getting more production in this lineup outside of the stars of Petry and Messina is what the Gamecocks need and must have consistently to be successful and win in the SEC.
Before this weekend, it really felt that there was just one guy who stepped in the order and it changed from game to game, allowing teams to approach and pitch to Petry and Messina differently.
As for Vanderbilt, they were really brought back down to earth a good bit and it wasn’t a series in which you expected that to happen. The Commodores struggled a bit at the plate to a pitching staff that isn’t really viewed as one of the top staffs in the SEC with no elite future MLB Draft prospect arms currently. However, the Gamecocks now have the 5th best WHIP (walks + hits + innings pitched) in the country at 1.14 (national average is 1.63), a 3.38 R/G (4th best with 6.66 being the average), and a 2.96ERA (3rd best).
Vanderbilt scores 8 RPG (runs per game) (56th best) and records 10.4 H/G with a .308AVG (36th best). This Commodores lineup is really good, led by RJ Austin, Alan Espinal, Jayden Davis, and Jonathan Vastine who all have +18 RBI, and batting over .315AVG. Having watched this team a lot so far this season, I believe they will be fine. There’s a lot of great hitters in this lineup and power all over it too. The Gamecocks just kept them off balance and had their number this series.
In college baseball, you have to defend the home field. The idea is that you win at least 2 of 3 at home and win at least one on the road (don’t get swept). So far this season, home teams have dominated the road teams, going 11-3 (week one: 7-0, week 2: 4-3). The home field has proved to factor into series results so far this season and I believe it will continue to.
With that being said, was this series a fluke for South Carolina or for Vanderbilt? No. I don’t think so because of the talent all throughout the SEC and the location of the series. That’s not to say that Vandy would’ve swept if the series was in Nashville but they wouldn’t have been swept. The Gamecocks have won the last 5 games vs the Commodores at Founders Park but haven’t swept them since 2009.
This is an enormous series win & sweep for the Gamecocks over the then No. 3 team in the nation but with the upcoming schedule of at now No. 16 Alabama then hosting now No. 4 Texas A&M, there’s more to prove and a lot that can happen. The now No. 18 ranked Gamecocks aren’t satisfied and want to prove they’re an elite team. Mark Kingston and crew have the opportunity to do so over the next two weeks.
As for Tim Corbin and the Commodores, this was a big series they wanted/needed to win with their upcoming schedule. They do have the perfect get right series coming up as they host a struggling and bottom of the SEC Missouri team before what I believe is the toughest three week stretch in baseball in at No. 8 LSU, at No. 4 Texas A&M, and vs No. 6 Florida as they sit in the current week 6 rankings.
The VandyBoys will prove their stripes over the next three weeks in what will be three incredible, must-watch series of teams you will most likely see in Omaha with some of the best odds to win the national championship.
For right now, I’m not buying stock in USC nor am I selling stock in Vanderbilt just yet. Ask me again in 2-3 weeks and I’ll give you a definitive answer.