NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On March 14, when Vanderbilt arrived at First Horizon Park to face crosstown rival Belmont, Vandy head coach Tim Corbin had a message for his team.
“We felt like they’re a group of kids that trained themselves really well, but weren’t really letting it go once they got on the field,” Corbin explained this week to WGFX radio. “We wanted them to be more aggressive. I remember that night, them swinging the bat early and I think we scored 15 runs. I think one thing led to another.
“Having aggressive behaviors at the plate is essentially is just letting your mind say, ‘Yes.’ When the ball tells you, ‘no,’ then you don’t offer at it. But you can’t go up there and be in between. I think we got to that frame of mind during that game and then the very next weekend when we started off against Ole Miss. Since that time we’ve been pretty good.”
The Commodores (27-6, 11-1 SEC) scored 15 runs that night in a 15-6 victory over the Bruins and are scoring nearly 11 runs per game since as they approach the tougher part of their 2023 schedule. Vanderbilt opens a three-game set with South Carolina starting at 6 p.m. Friday at Hawkins Field.
Vandy, 17-3 at home this season, goes into the weekend with the best record in the Southeastern Conference and a 1 1/2-game lead on the Gamecocks in the East Division standings. But South Carolina (29-4, 9-2 SEC) represents the first test in a long stretch of quality opponents to end the regular season.
The Commodores also host Indiana State (19-12) next week before traveling to rival Tennessee (23-10, 5-7 SEC). A reinvigorated Kentucky squad (27-5, 9-3) then comes to Nashville before the end of the month.
Vanderbilt also has trips to Alabama (24-10, 4-8 SEC), Louisville (24-7) and Florida (28-6, 9-3) left on the docket before ending the campaign against West Division leaders Arkansas (26-6, 8-4 SEC) at home.
Corbin said not being concerned with the difficulty of this part of the schedule, while also not getting caught up in recent success, will be key for his club.
“It’s just getting to a point where you balance yourself before every game,” the veteran head coach added. “It’s being able to take the outcomes, whether you win or lose, and being able to put them to the side. Learn from them, but you can’t carry anything over. It’s centering yourself to a point where you haven’t done anything yet. You’ve got to redeem yourself every time you play.
“I like the way they’ve done that so far. Just understanding who you are and not going outside your lane. I think staying in our lane is so important for us.”
Saturday’s middle game of this weekend’s series is scheduled for 2 p.m. while the finale is penciled in for 1 p.m. Sunday. Corbin said he expects his Commodores, who are 15-1 in their last 16, to come ready to play just as they have throughout the first two months of the campaign.
“What I’ve liked the most is just the consistency and balance of the boys themselves, I think more than anything else,” Corbin said. “It’s like a parent, you’re living at home and you know what to expect out of your kids when they wake up and go to bed. And I think when you got some older kids at the top—you’ve got some younger kids that, really, from an 18-year-old standpoint are quite mature, too.
“There’s some balance with how they show up and how they get to the field and what they do on the field. But their presence and how they’ve played has been pretty consistent.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
