NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jack Bulger came out and said what everyone at Hawkins Field has been thinking.
“I’m pumped,” the junior beamed before training Tuesday. “There’s no better time of the year. I always say my favorite part of a baseball game is right before the start of one. That feeling is almost amplified.
“Anything can happen throughout the year, it’s like a blank canvas. I think I speak for everybody, we’re excited to get to Arlington.”
Bulger and his Vanderbilt teammates will make their 2023 debut at 3 p.m. Friday when the Commodores take the diamond at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. It’s then they’ll face Texas Christian as part of the three-day College Baseball Showdown at the home of MLB’s Texas Rangers.
Vandy, who also plays Oklahoma State on Saturday and Texas on Sunday, will undoubtedly be looking to begin its journey of more than four months on a positive note.
“I’m excited for the boys, just for them to start playing and play against someone else is always encouraging,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said. “It feels right. It’s about the right time right now, you see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Corbin begins his 21st season at the helm of the Vanderbilt program and is 59 wins shy of 900 with the Commodores. His newest squad is marked by some impressive and familiar veterans—more than perhaps usual—and some key newcomers who will likely make an impact early and often.
Vanderbilt has nine seniors and seven juniors on the roster ahead of Friday’s opener. Corbin is confident the experience that group brings will pay dividends for his unit.
“Consistency, maturity, steadiness—those are the things that come to my mind first,” Corbin said when asked to describe his squad. “The group operates well. They pretty localized in what they’re doing. There’s not a lot of conversations about future. We’ve done a pretty good job of getting in this environment right here and taking ownership of it.
“Their minds haven’t been elsewhere and that’s always a concern with 18, 19, 20-year-old kids they start looking ahead and there is no reason to look ahead because you just don’t know what’s going to be ahead. They’ve gotten in this environment and done well in staying here, both physically and mentally.”
Who becomes a regular starter on the diamond and in the lineup may take a week or two to shake out, but that group with certainly be led by Enrique Bradfield Jr. A junior with 93 career stolen bases and a career .433 on-base percentage, the centerfielder will once again have his sights set on performing at an All-American level.
Corbin has options, too, on whom to field on either side of the speedy Bradfield, including Troy LaNeve, Calvin Hewett, T.J. McKenzie and Duke transfer RJ Schreck.
Vandy’s infield could see any number of permutations (this weekend and throughout) as well.
“The uniqueness of the group is there is some similarities in players,” Corbin said. “There’s not a lot that really differentiates between (any) two. I think there’s guy that we can’t put out there in certain moments and other guys, because of the pitcher, might not play. It’s really close in a lot of areas.”
“We got pretty good options at some spots. With the catching position, you have some good options. With infield, you have good options. The outfield, there are some good options out there. I know there are right and left-handed differences, but they’re all pretty good.”
Vanderbilt’s pitching rotation this weekend may very well mimic what is seen for the remainder of the season, but the hurlers who start the first three games may not be stretched too far out into the later innings. It’s a staff led by sophomores Carter Holton and Devin Futrell and by an array of veterans on the back end.
Vandy also has just three freshmen pitchers on the ’23 roster.
“I think we have so many options that I don’t think we really have to worry about that,” Holton said of starting and bullpen roles. “We have so many guys, a lot of seniors as well, on this staff that will be able to take a lead in whatever roles they are for everybody.”
After opening the season on the road with three games this weekend, Vandy returns home to host Central Arkansas at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. That begins a stretch of 16 of the next 19 in Nashville for the Dores.
Southeastern Conference play is scheduled to begin March 16 when defending national champion Ole Miss come to Hawkins Field. The SEC Tournament is scheduled to begin May 23.
It’s all part of what the Commodores will hope to be a road that leads back to the College World Series.
“I think it’s just a mature group of players,” Bulger said. “We’ve got a lot more seniors that last year. It’s a very low-maintenance group. And we’re just really athletic, I feel like, on the baseball field. We play with a lot of energy, we play with a lot of passion and it’s just a fun group to be around.
“Every team is new, every team has different strengths, every team has different weaknesses. It’s our own unique year and we’ll just go have fun with and take it one game at a time.”
Here is more information on Vanderbilt’s opponents this week at the College Baseball Showdown:
TCU (38-22), 3 p.m. Friday
Texas Christian went 38-22 and had its 2022 season end in the College Station Regional.
This season’s squad is led by Big XII Preseason of the Year Brayden Taylor, a third baseman, and Big XII Preseason Freshman of the Year Anthony Silva, an infielder. The Horned Frogs are the preseason favorite to win the league title as well.
Vandy is 4-2 all-time against TCU and the two programs actually played the penultimate game of the 2020 season before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oklahoma State, 11 a.m. Saturday
Vandy and Oklahoma State have become familiar foes in recent seasons thanks to the friendship between Corbin and former Vanderbilt assistant coach Josh Holliday.
The Commodores took 2 of 3 from the Cowboys in 2021 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and then dropped 2 of 3 in a three-game series in Nashville to open the ’22 campaign.
Oklahoma State was picked to finish second in the Big XII preseason poll and features the Big XII Preseason Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year in Juaron Watts-Brown. The Cowboys went 42-22 and were eliminated in the Stillwater Regional last season.
Texas, 10:30 a.m. Sunday
Texas advanced to the College World Series in 2022, but went 0-2 in Omaha, Nebraska, with losses to Notre Dame and Texas A&M. It finished with a 47-22 mark overall.
This season’s team was picked to finish fourth in the Big XII’s preseason poll and has two pitchers, Lucas Gordon and Tanner Witt, on the league’s preseason all-conference team.
Vandy and Texas have split 14 previous meetings with the last coming during Vanderbilt’s 2014 national title run in Omaha, Nebraska.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
