This one hurt in the way only Vanderbilt losses can. Duke Miles had 30 on 11-of-14 shooting and simply would not miss, and a 7-point lead in the second half evaporated in about three minutes of bad defense and missed free throws. Ja'Kobi Gillespie gave us 21 and competed his tail off. Nate Ament went 1-of-13 from the field — he knows it, he said it clearly in the postgame — but he was also playing on 24 hours of rest after returning from a high-ankle sprain. Barnes isn't wrong that a week off before the NCAA Tournament is probably the better outcome here. The question is whether Ament is right when he says he has to make those shots if this team is going to win. He does. We know it. He knows it. Selection Sunday will tell us what bracket we're dealing with.

A walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh from Taylor Troutman — on a 3-2 pitch, of course — ended the program's best start in history. Maddi Rutan was excellent through 4.2 innings of no-hit ball. Erin Nuwer came in and held it together until she didn't. Mississippi State's Peja Goold was just better on the day: complete game, two hits, ten strikeouts, no walks. A 1-0 loss that stings precisely because nothing catastrophic happened — no blowups, no errors in the narrative. One swing. They've still got a rubber match Sunday at 1 p.m., and at 26-1 with a trip to Omaha still very much in view, the season is far from off track.

Henry Ford and Manny Marin carried the offense in Athens, combining for six RBIs and three home runs as Tennessee knocked off No. 8 Georgia 7-4 to open conference play. Tegan Kuhns was sharp until the fifth, and then Brandon Arvidson was flat-out dominant the rest of the way — 4.1 innings, two hits, four strikeouts, first win of the year. Elander called him a "different animal" when talking about Ford, which is about the most you can say about a transfer hitting .383 with seven homers and 33 RBIs through 18 games. Game two is Sunday afternoon in Athens, and this team needs to be thinking series clinch.