Getty Vanderbilt Commodores pitcher Kumar Rocker.
The No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team will visit the No. 13 Oklahoma State Cowboys for a three-game series at O’Brate Stadium from Friday to Sunday.
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The three-game series won’t be on TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch all three Vanderbilt vs Oklahoma State baseball games live on ESPN+ right here:
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You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Vanderbilt vs Oklahoma State Preview
The Commodores have dominated their early-season competition en route to a 10-1 record, hitting .332 as a team and holding opponents to a .176 average.
“The maturity. How they’ve handle themselves academically. How they’ve handled themselves in this environment. They’re very intentional,” Vanderbilt manager Tom Corbin said this week of his team, according to the school’s athletics website. “It’s tough for me to even say that about a group because I never want to compliment a group too soon, but I say that because it’s just day after day after day after day. The behaviors are very consistent.”
The Commodores are coming off a 10-4 home victory over the Memphis Tigers on Tuesday, which followed a three-game sweep of the UIC Flames.
They have yet to square off with a ranked opponent this season.
“We’re going to find out a little bit about ourselves,” Corbin said of the series with the Cowboys, per the Vanderbilt athletics site. “We’ve been in a comfort zone here for a lot of these games. Now we’ll get out of our comfort zone and kind of find out another personality trait or at least see who we are as a team.
He added: “It will be great for these young, inexperienced kids to play a team that is a high-level team at an unbelievable ballpark.”
Commodores starters Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter and Thomas Schultz are each expected to take the mound during the series. Rocker and Leiter are both widely projected to be the first two pitchers selected in July’s MLB draft, with some evaluators tabbing them as the top two prospects.
“Those are the challenges you want,” Oklahoma State manager Josh Holliday said of going up against the pair of lefties, according to The Oklahoman. “You gotta see where you’re at, get that idea of what it takes to be at the peak of your performance. If the pre-conference schedule can show you that before conference play, I think that’s a plus.”
The Cowboys are undefeated in 11 games this season, though they had to settle for a rare tie on March 7 due to the Grand Canyon Lopes’ travel curfew.
In their most recent outing, Oklahoma State bested the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 5-0 on the road on Tuesday. Starter Justin Campbell struck out 14 across 7 innings.
The Cowboys have collectively launched 16 home runs, though they’re hitting just .242.
“We’ve been able to put together some big innings on offense,” Holliday said, per the Daily O’Collegian. “We’ve hit some home runs, so that shows strength. We would like to become a little more efficient in our offense.”