Without star power or hype, Vanderbilt baseball is again doing Vandy Boys things | Estes

Evidently, those fears about the demise of Vanderbilt baseball were a wee bit exaggerated.

To modern-day talk of NIL and the transfer portal and a rapidly changing college landscape rendering Tim Corbin’s powerhouse an outdated relic, the Vandy Boys are quietly clapping back.

Nine and zero.

So far, three SEC series for Vanderbilt in 2023. So far, no SEC losses.

David Price never did that. Neither did Sonny Gray or Dansby Swanson or Walker Buehler or Kumar Rocker or Jack Leiter. Neither had Corbin, for that matter.

The first 9-0 start to league play in Vanderbilt history has been by a team largely devoid of big-name talent and big-time expectations.

These Vandy Boys were picked to finish in the middle of the SEC. You could have made a case that’s only because the league is loaded, just as you could plausibly say their wins thus far over Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Georgia weren’t against the strongest competition. But it’s difficult to argue both.

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After Sunday’s 4-0 victory at Hawkins over the red-and-black Bulldogs, the Commodores (23-5) have won 17 of their past 18 and 11 in a row by an average score of 12-3. None of their SEC wins have been closer than Sunday's four-run margin. Before that, they’d scored at least seven runs in each of their eight SEC games and scored 11 or more five times.

There's a long way to go this season, of course, but Vanderbilt is already overachieving – with the league’s strongest nonconference schedule mostly in its rearview mirror – to an extent that it’ll take a significant, prolonged slump to keep Hawkins Field from again hosting NCAA Tournament games after a year’s absence.

“I know there's more talented teams throughout the country and throughout the conference,” Corbin said Sunday. “We haven't seen them all, but it doesn't matter. It gets down to your talent level in the locker room and your talent level off the field. I mean that.”

And what Corbin means by that is he likes the makeup of this team, and not just on the field. Always has, really. Prior to the preseason, Corbin noted how well they are collectively faring academically as an encouraging, tell-tale sign of hope.

“Just having a care level about what you’re doing, small things. But they do,” Corbin said. “They’re just mature about what they’re doing. … If they handle those hours (away from baseball) well and enjoy being around one another, it creates harmony inside the group. That part, they do well.”

The baseball part is going well, too, despite some fair questions about whether it would.

It wasn’t just that last season’s Vandy failed to get past an opening NCAA regional. It was that those Commodores were shaky in a way that Corbin’s teams seldom have been when it matters most: untimely defensive miscues, unreliable pitching and a lineup that consistently wasn’t productive from top to bottom.

But this season's Vandy Boys have been good, basically, because there’s nothing they do badly.

Outside of maybe outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., and pitcher Carter Holton, their roster isn’t a showcase for elite prospects. Their stat totals aren't overwhelming. But they are deep. They can pitch. They can field. At the plate, they had 26 of 27 starters this weekend against Georgia reach base at least one time in each game.

“I've been part of a lot of teams in college baseball. This has been the first team in a long time that it truly is one through nine (in the lineup) and one through 13 in the pitching staff, where it's whoever comes in they're going to get the job done,” said RJ Schreck, a grad transfer from Duke.

Schreck leads Vanderbilt with seven home runs, but overall, the Commodores have 10 hitters with at least three home runs. All of last season, they had nine hitters reach that mark.

On Saturday, Vanderbilt blew an 8-2 lead by permitting Georgia six runs in the sixth inning. Oh well. The Commodores slugged back with a three-run and five-run inning to win 16-8.

On Sunday, Vanderbilt left seven runners on base in the first three innings. Oh well. Starting pitcher Devin Futrell fired an eight-inning gem, allowing three hits in a shutout. Two wins in two days by far different means was another sign of a complete, confident, well-coached team – one that doesn’t get rattled.

The Vandy Boys, in other words, look like the Vandy Boys again.

Maybe that should have been predictable, but it wasn’t.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Without hype, Vanderbilt baseball is quietly thriving again