Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Tim Corbin and his team celebrate with the championship trophy 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

Vanderbilt Baseball’s Run To A College World Series Starts Tonight. Can Vanderbilt Win The Whole Thing? Extra Point

Originally posted on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI
By Graham Baakko | Last updated May 30, 2025 3:46 PM ET

Vanderbilt Baseball’s run to a College World Series begins tonight at 5 CT as the Commodores take on Wright State at The Hawk.

Vanderbilt is coming off a SEC Tournament Championship where the Commodores took down three teams in Hoover and earned the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Vanderbilt has been certainly playing like a No. 1 overall seed, too.The Commodores had an excellent week at the conference tournament on the mound, giving up just three runs in the three games they played.

As a result, Vanderbilt has been a popular pick to go on a deep postseason run in this year’s tournament. But can Vanderbilt go all the way? The Commodores are looking to capture their first national title since 2019.

This year, Vanderbilt has a seemingly favorable draw and roster to not only get to Omaha, but potentially win the whole thing. In the Nashville Regional, Vanderbilt has to go through Wright State, East Tennessee State and Louisville. While the Commodores are the heavy favorite, it is college baseball and anything can happen, but it would certainly be a shock to fans and viewers if Vanderbilt lost twice and had its season ended this weekend.

Assuming Vanderbilt made it to Super Regionals next weekend, the Commodores would face the winner of the unpredictable Hattiesburg Regional. Southern Miss, who is entering the tournament on a 18-game winning streak, is the top seed in the regional, but Alabama also has the opportunity to meet Vanderbilt next weekend.

Whether it is Southern Miss or Alabama or even Miami, Vanderbilt would certainly go into the Super Regionals with an advantage and would be quite the surprise if Vanderbilt didn’t get to Omaha.

If Vanderbilt is able to find its way to Omaha, the competition is certain to get tougher, but the Commodores are battle-tested. Vanderbilt finished the regular season with the second best strength of schedule in college baseball. After running the SEC gauntlet, it feels like Vanderbilt has seen it all in terms of pitching and hitting, which gives itself an experience advantage.

So can Vanderbilt win the national championship this year? If the Commodores pitching can continue to throw consistently well and the offense continues to heat up, Vanderbilt will certainly be one of, if not, the favorite to win it all. But as always, Vanderbilt has to take it one game and one round at a time and it all starts this weekend as a regional host.