Vanderbilt Commodores (20-6, 3-3 SEC) vs. Missouri Tigers (10-15, 1-5 SEC)
Game 1: Thursday, March 28 @ 6 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 2: Friday, March 29 @ 6 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 3: Saturday, March 30 @ 1 p.m. CT • SEC Network
Nashville, Tenn. • Hawkins Field
Series Preview: Vanderbilt hosts Missouri for a three-game series at Hawkins Field beginning Thursday.
- The Dores lead the all-time series 27-5 since the first meeting vs. Missouri in 2013. Vandy has won every home series and nine of the last 10 games vs. the Tigers.
- The first two games will air on SECN+ and Saturday’s contest will air on SEC Network.
Last Time Out: Vanderbilt won its 11th consecutive home game Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory over Valparaiso.
- Jonathan Vastine hit a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Ossenfort also homered in the win for his first collegiate hit.
- Ethan McElvain allowed one run on two hits over six innings. Brennan Seiber picked up his fourth save with a perfect ninth inning.
- On Saturday at South Carolina, Carter Holton recorded his 200th career strikeout. Among active pitchers who have spent their entire careers at an SEC institution, Holton’s 202 career strikeouts is second behind Arkansas’ Hagen Smith.
Stat Spotlights: Vanderbilt ranks top-25 in DI in hits (21st), doubles (18th), stolen bases (17th) and hits allowed per nine innings (13th).
- Jonathan Vastine’s nine doubles are fifth in the SEC. His two triples are tied for second.
- RJ Austin ranks seventh in the SEC with 36 hits. Austin’s 15 stolen bases are second in the conference and 10th in DI while Calvin Hewett’s 14 steals are third in the SEC and 18th in DI.
- Jacob Humphrey’s 86 career steals is fourth-most among active DI athletes.
- Carter Holton ranks third in the SEC with 49 strikeouts while Bryce Cunningham is sixth at 45.
- Getting On Base: Six different Commodores have tallied on-base streaks of 10 or more games this season.
- Jayden Davis reached base in each of his first 24 games as a Commodore this season. Alan Espinal reached base in the first 23 games and owns the team’s longest hit streak this season at 11 games.
- Matthew Polk’s six-game hit streak entering this weekend is the longest active streak.
Weekly Awards: Three Commodores have earned weekly awards from the SEC this season.
- March 18: Alan Espinal (Player of the Week) had eight hits over the weekend to help the Commodores sweep No. 18 Auburn. His eight hits tied for the most in the SEC. For the week, Espinal had 10 hits and walked five times for an OBP of .714.
- March 11: Devin Futrell (Pitcher of the Week) recorded the first complete-game shutout by an SEC pitcher this season. Futrell carried a no-hit bid to the final out of the fifth inning and struck out seven batters. The southpaw did not allow a walk.
- March 4: Camden Kozeal (Freshman of the Week) led all DI hitters with 14 hits, helping the Commodores to a 5-0 sweek against Indiana State, Evansville, Louisiana, Houston and #15 Texas.
Scoring Early: Vanderbilt has scored 56 runs in the first two innings this season.
- Vandy is outscoring its opponents 28-15 in first innings and 28-8 in second innings.
- The Dores are 9-1 when they score in the first frame and 13-2 when scoring first.
