Series Preview and Thursday Game Thread vs. The Ramajama Gumps

A fan wearing his Forrest Gump jersey watches the early playoff game between Clemson and Notre Dame before the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capitol One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Florida Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018.

Thursday at 6pm CT on ESPN2, Friday at 6pm CT on SECN+, and Saturday at 1pm CT on SECN+.

After letting a potential season-altering series win over Tejas slip through our fingers, the Diamond Dores head to Gumpland for a much needed road series (potentially season saving) victory.

It’s… a lot. And we won’t be favored.

Here’s to hoping Ramajama’s coaches bet the underdog this weekend.

The Ramajama Gumps (#24)

‘26 Record: 29-16 (10-11 SEC). In OOC play, The Gumps played one ranked team for one game (an 8-7 win over the Beavers of Oregon State), but otherwise, fattened themselves up on cupcakes.

In conference play, they opened getting swept by The Lexington Wedding Jerseys in Jerseyton (that’s bad), then swept both The Gainesville Jorts and The War Tigers at home (that’s frighteningly good!). They then went to Norman and took 2 of.3 from the OK Boomers (that’s good!) before getting swept at home against Arky (that’s… well, not exactly bad, but still not good!). In the last two weeks, they dropped 2 of 3 to Tejas in Austin (that’s… to be expected!), and then took 2 of 3 from The Chuggers at The Wigsphere (that’s… also to be expected!). In short, that 6 game undefeated stretch against The Jorts and War Tigers is pretty much the only thing keeping them ranked. They’re basically us with one stretch of strong play against good teams.

Against common conference opponents, The Diamond Dores are 7-5 to The Gumps 4-8. Huh.

Whatever you thought about Oklahoma, you should probably think the same about Ramajama. Win tonight and we have a chance to take the series. Lose tonight, and… well, buy your screaming pillows in bulk, or start trying to figure out how to make a late run in Hooverville.

**Player to Watch:**Everyone and their mamas expected this answer to be top prospect Justin Lebron, but their hottest hitter, by far, has been #10 Sr. C/RF Brady “The Bunch” Neal (.355/.466/.599 with 14 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR, and 40 RBI). They don’t bat him in the 3 hole for nothing. Lebron is only hitting .264 in his draft year, but he’s probably going to make you draft his dumb kid or something, too.

Anchor of Gold Tiger Beat Hottest Pitcher: Honestly, there’s not really anyone on the team whose stats make you stand up and take notice (a single tear falls down my cheek as I realize that’s also true of this year’s Vanderbilt pitching staff, for the first time in the Corbin era). I guess the most promising stat is their ace’s win-loss record? Let’s go with #8 RS Jr. RHP Tyler “Tina” Fay (7-3; 4.71 ERA; 9.83 K/9). Yeah… not exactly frightening. We might be on equal footing, pitching-wise, this weekend.

Andrew VU ‘04 2026 All-Name Team Nominee: #16 Grad RHP Bobby Alcock. All? Honestly, that’s too much cock.

On the Mound

Thursday @ 6:00pm on ESPN2

Vanderbilt #39 Jr. RHP Connor “The Spice” Fennell (3-2; 5.66 ERA; 10.89 K/9)

vs. Gumps #8 RS Jr. RHP Tyler “Tina” Fay (7-3; 4.71 ERA; 9.83 K/9)

The Lineup

*Will update when posted.

See you in the comments.