Anchor Drop, May 9, 2018: Is it panic time yet?

Good morning. We’re back with the morning Anchor Drop after a short hiatus.

Vanderbilt baseball dropped its sixth in a row on Tuesday night, falling 6-4 to Tennessee Tech at Hawkins Field. Losing to Tennessee Tech isn’t as bad as it sounds — after all, Tech is 40-6 on the season and has an RPI of 23, so this isn’t a bad loss by any stretch. But it is the Commodores’ sixth loss in a row after getting swept by Auburn over the weekend, and, well...

Okay, breathe for a minute. Vanderbilt’s RPI entering Tuesday was 39, which is right on the borderline of a team that will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The problem now is that the Commodores are 25-23 on the season. At the bare minimum, Vanderbilt will have to finish at least .500 overall to qualify for the tournament — them’s the rules. With a three-game series in Knoxville looming this weekend, followed by a home game against Middle and a three-game series against Kentucky at home, Vanderbilt has to stop the bleeding soon. In recent years, it’s been a rare occurrence that Vanderbilt has something on the line other than pride when playing Tennessee on the diamond and yet here we are.

Forget about hosting. This team is going to have to fight just to make the tournament.

Yeah, that’s been our year. At least we’re good at women’s tennis and men’s golf and women’s bowling, though!

Women’s golf finished the second day of the Tallahassee Regional in 10th place. The top six teams in the regional will advance to the NCAA Championship, and Vanderbilt currently sits ten strokes behind sixth-place Arizona entering the final day of the regional.

Vanderbilt lacrosse announced its 2018 signing class on Tuesday, and to tell you a bit about where the talent is in that sport, the Commodores’ seven-player recruiting class includes three players from New Jersey, three from California, and one from Connecticut.

Off the West End

Two very different kinds of pitching outings: the Mariners’ James Paxton pitched a no-hitter in Toronto, while the Orioles’ Dylan Bundy gave up four home runs without recording a single out.

On to the NBA Western Conference Finals, where the Warriors will play the Rockets. You know who I’m rooting for in that one.

On the SB Nation main site, a guide to how football coaches dress. I, of course, like basketball a lot better than football and that’s why I really wish football coaches would copy basketball coaches and wear suits on the sideline. Or at least suit jackets. I mean, seriously, Derek Mason’s Vest has nothing on George MacIntyre’s gold jacket:

Also, those jerseys and the helmets with the script “Vandy” on them. Seriously, this is a classic look. What are we thinking with our current uniforms?

Arkansas once almost hired Lane Kiffin because of course they did.