'It's a suck pill': Unpacking Vanderbilt baseball's season-ending loss in Nashville Regional

Vanderbilt baseball's 2023 season ended with just a smattering of fans in the stands trying to bring energy to a Hawkins Field that had long since been sucked of it.

Coach Tim Corbin pinpointed the moment the Commodores' energy fell as even earlier than the four-hour lightning delay that chased most fans from the ballpark in the Nashville Regional. Instead, it was, he said, an emotional game the day before in which the Commodores battled with Oregon and two attempts at late comebacks fell short in a one-run loss. On Sunday, Vanderbilt (42-20) fell prey to another one-run loss of an even more emotional variety: a 2-1 loss to Xavier (39-24) that ended the Commodores' season short of even the regional final for the first time since 2016.

"It's tough to finalize something," Corbin said. "It's tough to put it to bed and that's what takes the energy out of you really is putting the final touches on a team, and it's only one that can do it, but I guess you always dream about it being you, but it's a tough deal and we'll manage, the sun will come up tomorrow, we'll move forward."

Vanderbilt had fought back from emotional starts before, like when it won series against South Carolina and Arkansas after losing the first game, the latter with an eight-run comeback in the second game. The Commodores had also advanced through the losers bracket to win the SEC Tournament.

But there were also moments like sweeps at Tennessee and Florida where things seemed to pancake after an early loss. Whether Vanderbilt didn't have the emotional capacity for another comeback, whether it was gassed from the SEC Tournament run, whether it was just a matter of too many injuries to overcome, neither Corbin nor junior outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. could quite put their finger on it postgame.

"I'm a competitor, so of course it hurts, it hurts more than anything," Bradfield said. "Especially feeling like I'm a leader on the team, I didn't have my best go, and it's life, it happens."

HAWKINS FIELD RENOVATIONSTim Corbin on Vanderbilt baseball's Hawkins Field renovations: 'Wanted something ... totally unique'

GREYSEN CARTERA wildfire torched his home and Vanderbilt cut him. But Greysen Carter wouldn't be stopped

Offense goes cold again

Vanderbilt played seven games this season in which three or fewer total runs were scored: three 2-1 wins (over UCLA, Loyola Marymount and Evansville), a 2-0 win over Loyola Marymount, a 3-0 loss to UCLA and two 2-1 losses (to Alabama and Xavier).

Although the Commodores had their moments offensively throughout the season, they went through ice-cold streaks. For one stretch in mid-May, Vanderbilt went eight straight SEC games without scoring more than four runs. Only RJ Schreck hit double-digit home runs, and just Schreck and Chris Maldonado finished with a batting average over .300 or slugged over .500.

Against Xavier, Vanderbilt tallied just four hits and two walks. Only one of those hits, a Davis Diaz double, was for extra bases.

Corbin declined to answer big-picture questions about the program's future or what could be done to improve the offense.

"I'm not thinking like that right now," Corbin said. "From Aug. 22 to right now, and going hard, it's every day, it's just days in Y, no fricking days off. Jesus. You just go and go and go and go and then it shuts down on you. It's a suck pill. It just sucks. But it's what it is."

Pitching 'what if's

Vanderbilt didn't pitch poorly Sunday. Sam Hliboki made the longest start of his career with 5⅓ innings of one-run ball, allowing no walks and three strikeouts. Patrick Reilly followed him in relief and allowed one unearned run with one walk and three strikeouts in his 2⅔ innings. He took the loss when he relinquished the winning run by hitting a batter with the bases loaded after second baseman RJ Austin booted a ready-made double-play ball.

On Saturday against Oregon, though, left-handers Hunter Owen and Ryan Ginther − both coming off injuries − gave up all eight of the Ducks' runs. Carter Holton, who started the season as the Friday starter, didn't pitch at all in the regional after getting hurt in May. Andrew Dutkanych, Vanderbilt's top recruit, was unable to return after suffering a hamstring injury on March 8. Had the Commodores' full complement of pitching stayed healthy, things may have turned out differently. Even if Vanderbilt had advanced, it had no proven starting options left for what would've been two games against Oregon.

"Our health was challenged all year," Corbin said. "But I'm not gonna sit here and talk to talk like that. We did the best we possibly could."