Trust: The Key To Vanderbilt Baseball’s Turnaround

Vanderbilt seems to be peaking at the right time. From winning three consecutive SEC series to finish the regular season to their conference tournament play in Hoover, Alabama, the Commodores have put both the offense and defense together down the stretch of the season.

Saturday’s 10-0 victory over No. 8-seed Tennessee was a perfect example of Vanderbilt’s red hot play of late. The Commodores got a great outing from starting pitcher Cody Bowker, who threw for 4.0 innings and recorded nine strikeouts, including striking out the first five batters he faced. 

In addition to Bowker’s start, his teammate, Connor Fennell, backed him up as Fennell threw 3.0 shutout innings in a run-rule win over the Commodores’ rival. The combination of Bowker and Fennell has been lethal in recent weeks and the semifinal win over the Volunteers was no different. Whether it is Fennell or another reliever that has backed up Bowker, there is one thing that gives Bowker confidence in the rest of the pitchers: trust.

“It's awesome,” Bowker said of Fennell pitching behind him. “Again, it just has to go to trust. No matter who it is coming out of the bullpen, I know when he takes the ball from me that I trust the guy that's coming in after me. So whoever it is, happened to be Fennell a few times, but he's been amazing. Whoever it is, I'm confident in, and all of us are confident in, so it's a good feeling for sure.”

But trust is not just in the pitching staff, it is in the offense, too. Vanderbilt has scored at least five runs in each of its last seven games after scoring five or more just seven times in a 14-game stretch.

Riley Nelson feels that the reason for the offensive turnaround is also rooted in trust and confidence in each other. Nelson was one of three Commodores to drive in multiple runs and get multiple hits at the plate against Tennessee.

“Yeah, it's a lot of trust in one another. We have confidence in what we do on every pitch. We feel like we're the best team out there and trust in each other throughout the whole field,” Nelson said.

The trust and belief the players have in each other was echoed by Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin after Saturday’s win.

“Yeah, I mean, it's easy to say this after a win, but I think the biggest piece of the team, and Riley mentioned it, and I think it's important, it's trust. Trust is not easy to come by. But when you have guys that are reliant on one another, it's like, okay, I didn't pick them up, but I know he's going to pick them up. But I really believe that. That's a difference maker,” Corbin said.

Vanderbilt will look to continue to fire on all cylinders Sunday at noon CT as the Commodores will go for their fourth SEC Tournament title against No. 7-seed Ole Miss.

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