Win In Hoover Likely Catapults Commodores To Overall Number One Seed
Tim Corbin and the Vanderbilt Commodores are the SEC Tournament Champions. This follows a 3-2 win over the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday at the Hoover Met. This is the fifth time the program has hoisted the trophy and the fourth under Corbin.
In what was a staple of the Tournament for the VandyBoys, defense was at the forefront in the Sunday win. Following a quick 2-0 Vandy lead, on a Brodie Johnston blast to left field, Ole Miss scored at the top of the fifth, after a pitching change from the Commodores, to cut the deficit to one, at 2-1. This lead was extended for Vanderbilt when Jacob Humphreys snuck an opposite field solo home run inside the right field foul pole to take the 3-1 lead.
Over the final four innings, the Vanderbilt bullpen stifled the Rebels’ batters. In these innings, Ole Miss plated one run and two hits. The staff finished the day with 10 strikeouts as Sawyer Hayes secured the save and win for Vanderbilt.
While in Hoover, Vanderbilt only allowed three runs total through three games. Per the SEC, this is the fewest by a SEC Champion. In addition to this, Vanderbilt is now the first team to have allowed fewer than five hits across three consecutive games in the SEC Tournament, and, second champion to commit zero errors in the tournament.
The win likely catapulted the Commodores to the overall number one seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, with the official brackets being unveiled on Monday. If named the top seed, this would be the second time in program history for the Commodores. The last time this occurred was in the 2007 season. This will be the fourth national seed for Vanderbilt in the last six tournaments.
We do know that Vanderbilt will continue their active streak, the longest in the nation, to 19 seasons with an NCAA berth. The power-hitting freshman, Johnston, was named Tournament MVP. This comes just two seasons after Commodore RJ Austin was named MVP in 2023, also as a freshman.
