Seldom has Vanderbilt baseball looked as much an underdog as it does vs Tennessee | Estes

No one is going to feel sorry for Vanderbilt baseball, especially those dudes across the state in orange.

The fact that Tennessee entered this weekend’s series at Hawkins Field ranked No. 1 in the nation isn’t some outlier in our state’s best college sports rivalry. It was the continuation of a shift that dates back a few years now.

So, too, was the Vols’ 8-4 victory over the unranked Commodores in Friday’s Game 1, which made it eight in a row in the series. With a monstrous offense and overachieving pitching staff that keeps piecing together outs and wins, Tony Vitello’s Tennessee (41-9, 18-7 SEC) is barreling toward a return to the College World Series, likely hosting the NCAA regionals and super regionals along the way.

In the coming weeks, there will be plenty more to say about these Vols.

As for the rest of this weekend, that looms far more important for Vanderbilt (33-17, 11-14).

It'll have two more opportunities to break the in-state jinx and start turning a sinking season before it’s too late. Not impossible.

But seldom have Tim Corbin’s Vandy Boys looked as much an underdog as they do right now.

All is not well on that side of the diamond. Vanderbilt’s sub-standard hitting is now paired with an underachieving pitching staff that’s banged-up, hurting for confidence and increasingly unreliable in critical situations.

Friday’s loss — during which the Commodores’ bullpen blew a 4-3 eighth-inning lead — wasn’t just another deflating setback to their in-state rival. It was their sixth SEC loss in a row, period. During that stretch, they have been outscored 58-26.

Hopes to host an NCAA regional are all but gone. You’d think an NCAA bid remains assured. But look at Vanderbilt’s five remaining regular-season games: Two more this weekend against Tennessee, followed by a three-game series at No. 5 Kentucky.

Something needs to go right for Vanderbilt. Quickly.

And that’s why Friday night’s blown lead felt especially cruel. Because the Commodores and their home fans had started to sense a turning point was at hand. Starting pitcher Bryce Cunningham gave them that belief, striking out 10 and allowing only three runs in 6⅔ innings.

“He attacked, obviously, a good offensive team,” Corbin said of Cunningham. “I thought he did what he needed to do to put us in a good position to win.”

Down to their final six outs, the Vols just grabbed their bats and swatted aside the Commodores like a minor annoyance. A five-run eighth inning featured home runs by Kavares Tears and Cannon Peebles. Vanderbilt’s freshman relief pitchers Miller Green and Brennan Seiber combined to allow five hits and five runs in 2⅓ innings.

That Corbin, facing the nation’s most powerful offense, chose to hand a one-run lead to a freshman in Green suggested a lack of faith in the rest of his (healthy) pitching staff.

“I mean, we've got what we've got, OK,” Corbin said when asked afterward about his bullpen’s struggles, “unless Jesus comes into the picture.”

It wasn’t just the pitching. The 3-4-5 hitters in Vanderbilt’s lineup were a collective 0-for-11, with five strikeouts. Tennessee’s A.J. Causey, who slipped to allow three runs in the sixth inning that put Vanderbilt ahead 4-3, was able to stay in the game. He threw the final 6⅓ innings, thus saving Vols arms for the remainder of the series.

After losing the starting role on Friday nights, Causey has been effective out of the bullpen for Tennessee, which has gotten by without injured pitcher A.J. Russell, who was expected to star atop the Vols’ rotation this season.

Entering this weekend, they haven't lost an SEC series since the first one in March.

They are a legit powerhouse and national title contender.

If this Vanderbilt team wants to have a chance to be viewed that way again this season, it’ll need to figure out a way to finally beat them before the losing streak grows.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: For Tennessee baseball and Vanderbilt, Game 1 was more of the same