Vanderbilt baseball can still be dangerous in postseason. SEC tournament win vs Vols showed why
HOOVER, Ala. — Miller Green has been thrown into the fray early and often as a freshman.
The team leader in innings among Vanderbilt pitchers who have not started a game, Green has seen plenty of high-leverage situations already and the ups and downs inherent in that role.
Green has taken four losses this season. He gave up the deciding run in the Commodores' first loss of the season to FAU. He was the one on the mound when South Carolina loaded the bases − one of those baserunners coming on an error − and later scored all three on a dropped fly ball when Vanderbilt dropped the first game of that series on March 23. On April 28, Green gave up a two-out, two-run home run in the ninth inning to drop a vital rubber match to Mississippi State. And in the first game against Tennessee on May 10, he gave up a two-run homer to Kavares Tears with the Commodores holding a one-run lead in the seventh inning.
But Green got another shot and proved Wednesday why he has been one of Vanderbilt's most reliable bullpen arms all year long. He pitched the final four innings of the Commodores' 13-4 win over the Vols (46-11) in the second round of the SEC tournament, scattering three hits and striking out four. Vanderbilt (37-20) will face either Mississippi State or Texas A&M on Thursday (8 p.m., SEC Network).
That loss to Mississippi State started a tailspin for Vanderbilt, which fell onto the NCAA tournament bubble by losing its next five SEC games. But the Commodores have almost certainly played their way into a regional now, sitting at No. 20 in the RPI with four wins over teams ranked in the top 10 in that metric.
Vanderbilt will likely enter its regional as a No. 3 seed. But the Commodores have proven they're still a team that can put a scare into any host. Players like Green who have taken their lumps early on are a big part of that.
"Me and (pitching coach Scott Brown) worked on some stuff out there, just worked on a little bit of pitching mechanics type stuff," Green said. "It was good to get back out there for sure."
To go along with Green, Vanderbilt has breakout junior Bryce Cunningham, who threw six shutout innings against Florida on short rest Tuesday to open the tournament against Florida, veteran lefty Devin Futrell − who has gone back and forth between starting and the bullpen since returning from a midseason injury and threw the first four innings of Wednesday's win − ascending sophomore JD Thompson, and more.
"It's not about redemption, it's just, got to get better," coach Tim Corbin said of Green. "You learn by making mistakes and we talked about that home run against Tears. And we talked about the one against Mississippi State. No one feels worse than the person that gives that up. But at the same time he's learning."
Vanderbilt's offense, too, has shown a late-season surge. The Commodores have scored six or more runs in each of their past four games dating back to the series against Kentucky.
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Against the Vols, Vanderbilt tied a season high with four home runs. Alan Espinal hit two, Jonathan Vastine had one and Colin Barczi delivered his first of the season. Another freshman, Braden Holcomb, had three hits. The Commodores are averaging 6.77 runs per game in 2024, but their performance late in the season against top teams is a positive sig.
"The 13-17 teams are playing pretty good," Corbin said about Vanderbilt's SEC record. "I wouldn't say out of desperation but I think at the same time they want to dignify what kind of team that they are and the dignify the body of work. It's a tough league, man."
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Vanderbilt baseball's win vs Tennessee shows postseason potential
