SEC Baseball: Tennessee and Vanderbilt opening round games were a tale of two worlds

Vanderbilt and Tennessee made their 2019 NCAA regionals debut on Friday night. Vanderbilt took care of business in Nashville, while Tennessee struggled to put the bat to the ball in Chapel Hill.

Vanderbilt was the first game of the two, and the Vandy Boys hopped out to a 2-1 lead at the end of the first inning. The Commodores didn’t look back after that as they added six more runs to finish off the Buckeyes 8-2. Vanderbilt is the top-ranked team in their region and is arguably the best team in college baseball right now, and they showed it Friday night.

Vanderbilt starter Drake Fellows pitched a full nine innings on 116 pitches with nine strikeouts. Fellows pitched five innings on 12 pitches or less, and the short innings allowed him to go the full nine innings. Fellows gave up two runs in the first two innings but was in control from the fourth inning on once he was able to escape a bases-loaded jam. Fellows had plenty of run support throughout the game; Vanderbilt averaged a run per inning through eight innings and finished off Ohio State with an 8-2 first round victory.

Fellows told Vanderbilt coaches after the eighth inning that he had no plans of sitting out the ninth inning. “I told them I was going back out,” Fellows said. Fellows went back out there and closed out the game to get his twelfth win of the season. Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin was certainly pleased with Fellows’ performance.

"“He just left it on the field,” Corbin said, “He did what he’s done for such a long piece of time. He’s a kid who is a bend guy, but doesn’t break. That certainly was the case tonight.”"

Indiana State defeated McNeese before Vanderbilt took the field, leaving the Commodores to face the Sycamores on Saturday night. Indiana State held on late 6-5 to finish off McNeese and will have their hands full in their second-round matchup against the Commodores.

Vanderbilt has a clear home-field advantage playing in Nashville, and it was obvious in their first-round game. From taking advantage of their artificial turf field to the Vandy whistler, the Vanderbilt baseball team was comfortable and easily took care of Ohio State and likely have the same outcome prepared for Indiana State. Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said Kumar Rocker is ready to go for Saturday’s game, but Mason Hickman could also start depending on matchups.

Tennessee had to fight off a long rain delay in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, before their game. The Vols were delayed three hours from their original start time. Garrett Stallings took the mound to start the game for the Vols at 10 p.m. local time in a late night edition of regionals. Liberty didn’t let the long delay prevent them from getting the bats hot at the start of the game. Liberty jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning putting the Vols in a tough situation early.

Tennessee and Liberty seemed to be on opposite ends of the spectrum throughout the game. Liberty came out hot while Tennessee looked lifeless. Wild throws, long innings, and Liberty lighting up Stallings was the story through the first third of the game. The second-third of the game wasn’t much different. Stallings was pulled in the top of the sixth after giving up another run, and Will Heflin came in and finished the inning without adding any extra damage.

Liberty pitcher Mason Meyer was dominant on the mound. His offense backed him up too which allowed him to stay calm, cool and collected while on the mound. Liberty hitters continued to light up Heflin and company as they extended their lead to six in the seventh inning.

The Vols threatened a comeback in the bottom of the seventh. Evan Russell hit a rocket shot solo home run to put the Vols on the board and bring the score to 6-1. Meyer was later pulled by Liberty head coach Scott Jackson who brought in reliever Garret Price to finish the seventh inning. Liberty didn’t have any struggles after the seventh and finished off Tennessee with a 6-1 first round win.

Vanderbilt seemed to be on track to head back to the College World Series on Friday night and Tennessee, while ahead of schedule with second-year coach Tony Vitello, couldn’t get anything going in their opening round game. The Vols will have a chance to bounce back in their elimination game against North Carolina-Wilmington on Saturday.