Vanderbilt Commodores' RJ Austin (42) celebrates after catching the final out as Ole Miss Rebels take on Vanderbilt Commodores during the SEC baseball tournament championship game at Hoover Met in Birmingham, Ala., on Sunday, May 25, 2025. Vanderbilt Commodores defeated Ole Miss Rebels 3-2. Jake Crandall/ Montgomery Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Scouting Analysis: How Wright State Matches Up With Vanderbilt Baseball

Originally posted on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI
By Graham Baakko | Last updated May 26, 2025 6:02 PM ET

Vanderbilt is coming off a three-game run to a SEC Tournament Championship in Hoover, Alabama over the weekend and found its way all the way up to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Commodores will start their tournament run hosting the Nashville Regional Friday evening against Wright State and will play either Louisville or East Tennessee State in their second game of the regional.

While Vanderbilt is the heavy favorite to come out of the Nashville Regional, let's examine how the Commodores can take advantage of its first regional game and how Wright State could cause Vanderbilt trouble.

Advantages

Going into Friday, the clearest advantage Vanderbilt will have over Wright State is pitching. Vanderbilt ranks 9th in the country in team ERA, allowing 3.76 runs per game to opponents while Wright State is 168th in the country with a team ERA of 6.31. In addition, the Commodores rank 6th in the country in WHIP at 1.21 while Wright State ranks 152nd with a WHIP of 1.64.

The path to avoiding what would be a major upset Friday night is clear: win the pitching battle. Not to mention, Vanderbilt’s offense has been red hot of late. Vanderbilt scored at least five runs in seven consecutive games up until it scored just three in the SEC Championship over Ole Miss.

Regardless, if Vanderbilt is able to keep its offense anywhere close to what it has been performing lately combined with the pitching side of things, the Commodores will be able to avoid a disaster Friday.

Where Things Could Go Wrong

If Vanderbilt’s pitching happens to have an off day or does not perform up to what fans are used to seeing, the Commodores have to be prepared to combat Wright State’s potentially lethal offense.

Wright State ranks 35th in the country in batting average at .305 while Vanderbilt’s team batting average is .270, 206th in baseball. The Raiders also rank 10th in the country in team scoring, putting up 9.1 runs per game this season compared to Vanderbilt 6.7 runs per game.

Two players Vanderbilt cannot let get hot are Boston Smith and JP Peltier. Smith leads Wright State in home runs with 23 and is third on the team in batting average at .337. Peltier is second on the team in home runs with 20 and is sixth on the roster in batting average. The Raiders boast of eight players on the roster with a batting average of over .300.

It is noteworthy to point out that the teams Vanderbilt and Wright State have played are very different. Coming out of the SEC, the Commodores played the second hardest schedule out of 307 Division 1 baseball programs while Wright State had one of the easier schedules in the country with a strength of schedule of 254.

Vanderbilt will look to start its NCAA Tournament run off on the right foot against Wright State Friday at 5 p.m. CT.