Tim Corbin identifies root of Vanderbilt's improved pitching during SEC Tournament

Vanderbilt‘s pitching staff has recorded 28 strikeouts since opening SEC Tournament play in the quarterfinals on Thursday. They opened their postseason with 17 K’s during the 6-1 win over Oklahoma, and turned around to punch out 11 more batters during Saturday’s 10-0 win over Tennessee.

After the victory, Commodores head coach Tim Corbin attempted to identify the pulse of his team’s prowess on the mound. He believes it comes down to one aspect in particular.

“Strikes for the most part,” Corbin explained. “Now, we did give away some free bases the other night, but I just think the ability to get the big strike out — the strikeouts have been a big deal for our pitching staff over the course of the year but certainly in this tournament, as well.

“I think we’ve played pretty good defense behind our pitchers, as well. Rose, the other day, Barczi the other day, as catchers. And then the outfield defense has been a little bit tricky, and always is here because you’ve got to cover a lot of ground, but the wind blowing in today made it difficult in left field for the outfielders, but it’s just that. It’s just getting the ball to the plate, getting the big outs, and playing good defense.”

The Vanderbilt pitching staff has thrown a collective 268 pitches in two games at the SEC Tournament — 171 of those being strikes. That’s good for a 63.8% strike rate from the Commodores arms. Couple that with Vanderbilt taking care of business on the other side of the plate (21 hits, 16 runs in two games), and the Commodores have found themselves one win away from winning the SEC baseball tournament.

Heading into the matchup, Vanderbilt has won its last seven games. The Commodores are seemingly playing their best baseball of the season, especially on the mound, at the perfect time.

“I don’t take that for granted. You’ve got two teams — the one we played today, even I feel like they’re an Omaha team from a pitching standpoint and a hitting team, as well,” Corbin continued. “They had to come through the back ends of this tournament, which is very difficult to do. It’s a lot of games, a lot of baseball.

“But yeah, as far as an offense that we faced yesterday or the day before yesterday and today, yeah, they’re good offenses. Not necessarily looking at strikeouts as being a deal, but it became a deal just because of how the pitchers were throwing.”

First pitch between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt is set for 1 p.m. ET. The Commodores will be seeking their second tournament title in three years, while the Rebels haven’t won it since 2018.