Vanderbilt Baseball's RPI is Heading in The Right Direction, But Can it Get it Where it Needs To? – Sports Illustrated

NASHVILLE—-Turns out that when you win, things start to take care of themselves.
Vanderbilt’s RPI sits at No. 68 following its 12-6 Tuesday night win over Louisville that gave it back the bragging rights in the Battle of the Barrel. Vanderbilt moved up three spots as a result of its Tuesday-night win. 
That RPI would all but disqualify it from the NCAA Tournament if it were to start today despite the Commodores’ Tuesday win, but it’s progress.
The highest RPI team that got an at-large that I can find was TCU at 59th in the RPI in 2019. However, TCU won two games and made a run in the semis of the Big 12 tournament that year. Vanderbilt will likely have to make a similar push to get its RPI to that point. Perhaps it doesn’t have to get it all the way there, but it’s got to be nearly perfect the rest of the way to get it close. 
Only seven guaranteed games remain for Vanderbilt; three on the road against Missouri, three against South Carolina and at least one at the SEC Tournament in Hoover. Missouri and South Carolina are the only two SEC teams with a worse RPI than Vanderbilt at this stage of the season. 
Vanderbilt knows the importance of its RPI at this stage, but it also knows that it can’t raise it if it’s consumed by it. If this program was consumed with the results, it would have fallen flat after it was swept by Alabama in Tuscaloosa over the weekend. 
Instead, though, it bounced back on Tuesday with a win over Louisville in which it recorded 11 hits, pieced together nine innings with six pitchers and finally had a night to remember in a season full of forgettable ones. As a result, it raised its RPI and postseason hopes in the process. 
“When you create that momentum, you create that positivity, the game becomes a little bit lighter, Corbin said. “I just don't want it to be too heavy. We got back from Alabama on Saturday, and I met with them right away. I just felt like I just don't want that series to just keep replaying in their brain on Sunday. We just didn't need to do that. We needed to shed it really quick because it doesn't matter. Now it's not important. It's everything that you do forward that is important.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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