April 23, 2009
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Mississippi State (21-21, 6-12 SEC) at Vanderbilt (24-17, 7-10) — Hawkins Field (3,700)
Friday, April 24 at 6 p.m. CT; Saturday, April 25 at 1 p.m. CT; Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m. CT
Important Saturday Parking Note
Many events are taking place around the Vanderbilt campus on Saturday, April 25. In addition to the baseball game against Mississippi State, the annual Music City Marathon will be run as well as a Dave Matthews Band concert at Vanderbilt Stadium.
All parking areas close to Hawkins Field will be charging for parking on Saturday. Fans can park at the Wesley Place Garage (21st Street and Scarritt Place near CVS and Brueggers) and the Terrace Place Garage (21st and Terrace Place between 21st and 20th Street) for free until 1:30 p.m. After that those lots will charge as well. Shuttles will be running to Hawkins Field from those two garages until an hour after the game is over. Click Here for parking maps and for more info.
Series History vs. Mississippi State
Mississippi State leads 61-31 in a series that dates back to 1913. The Commodores swept last season’s series in Starkville and have won the last four games overall. MSU owns a 25-14 all-time lead in games played in Nashville.
Recent Results
April 13, 2008: Vanderbilt 4, Mississippi State 3 (Starkville)
April 12, 2008: Vanderbilt 16, Mississippi State 0 (Starkville)
April 11, 2008: Vanderbilt 15, Mississippi State 8 (Starkville)
May 24, 2007: Vanderbilt 3, Mississippi State 3 (Hoover, Ala.)
March 20, 2005: Mississippi State 5, Vanderbilt 1 (Starkville)
March 19, 2005: Mississippi State 5, Vanderbilt 3 (Starkville)
March 18, 2005: Vanderbilt 10, Mississippi State 3 (Starkville)
Polls
Neither team is ranked this week.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 263-147 in his seventh season in Nashville. He is 369-285 in 13 seasons overall. He is 9-4 against the Bulldogs. Mississippi State’s John Cohen is 21-21 in his first season as head coach at his alma mater. He is 342-217 in his 10th season as a head coach. He is 6-9 against the Commodores.
Radio/TV/Internet
All three contests can be heard in the Nashville area on 560 AM WNSR and on the internet via www.vucommodores.com. Joe Fisher will call all the action. Live webcasts can be accessed for free through www.vucommodores.com. Fans can also sign up for text updates via www.twitter.com/vandybaseball and follow livestats through www.vucommodores.com.
What’s On Tap
Vanderbilt closes out the month of April with a three-game home series against Mississippi State in Southeastern Conference action. The Dores and Bulldogs will play at 6 p.m. on Friday, 1 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available and can be purchased online at www.vucommodores.com or through the Vanderbilt ticket office at (615) 322-GOLD.
Scouting Mississippi State
Mississippi State is 21-21 overall and 6-12 in SEC play after dropping two of three to Kentucky at home last weekend in Starkville. The Bulldogs split a pair of contests against Middle Tennessee in midweek play, falling 10-6 on Tuesday before rebounding with a 9-8 win on Wednesday.
Head coach John Cohen is in his first season running the baseball program at his alma mater after five successful seasons at Kentucky. He led the Wildcats to the 2006 SEC regular season championship and two NCAA tournament appearances before returning to Starkville last summer. Cohen takes over a team that went 23-33 last season with a 12th place finish in league action (9-21 record).
Third baseman Russ Sneed leads the team with a .357 batting average to go with eight homers and 36 RBI. Centerfielder Grant Hogue provides the speed with 27 stolen bases in 31 attempts to go with a .339 batting average. First baseman Connor Powers is the top power source with 13 homers and 13 doubles to go with a .300 batting average and 46 RBI. As a team, State is hitting at a .298 clip with 42 homers and 279 runs scored (6.6 per game).
The Bulldogs are changing up their weekend rotation this week with a trio of southpaws starting in Nashville. Forrest Moore (2-0, 4.28 ERA) will get the start Friday night, with Nick Routt (4-2, 3.06 ERA) going on Saturday and Tyler Whitney (2-3, 4.29 ERA) getting the start on Sunday. MSU has a 5.97 team ERA, highest in the SEC, with 297 strikeouts and 193 walks in 361.2 innings pitched.
Sonny Gray Invited To USA National Team Trials
USA Baseball announced Tuesday that freshman pitcher Sonny Gray has been invited to the USA National Team Trials to be held June 15-24 in Cary, N.C.
Gray is one of five freshmen on the initial invite list of 17 players and one of seven pitchers invited nationally. The Smyrna, Tenn., native leads the Commodores with four saves while posting a 3-1 record and 3.91 ERA. He is tied for second on the team with 15 appearances, all in relief, with 27 strikeouts and 12 walks in 23.1 innings.
The National Team Trials will be comprised of 36 collegiate players vying for a spot on the final 22-man roster to be announced on June 24.
Vanderbilt has had a player on the USA National team the last five years dating back to the 2004 campaign. Ryan Mullins (2004), David Price (2005-06), Pedro Alvarez (2006), Casey Weathers (2006), Ryan Flaherty (2007) and Mike Minor (2007-08) all have played on Team USA over the last five years. Weathers also pitched on the 2008 Olympic Team squad that competed in Beijing last August.
Reynolds Wrap
Riley Reynolds has a pretty strong start to his collegiate career as he enters the weekend second on the team in hitting with a .360 batting average. One of four freshmen in the everyday lineup, Reynolds has been very reliable and had a team best 19-game hit streak that ended in the second game of the Alabama series. Over the last 10 games the Missouri product is hitting 15-for-36 (.417) with three doubles, seven RBI and six runs scored with just one error at second in 37 chances.
Brewer Back On Track
Sophomore hurler Russell Brewer has been strong on the mound over his last five outings, not allowing a run of his own in 7.2 innings of work. He has 13 strikeouts and just two walks in that span while allowing just two hits. Both of those came in a 3.1 inning relief stint against Alabama last Saturday in which he struck out six with a walk. He struck out the side in an inning of work against Austin Peay on Tuesday and then held Louisville in check for 1.2 innings, striking out three in hitless relief to pick up his first win on the year.
The North Carolina native has lowered his ERA which was at 5.19 after a start against Austin Peay on March 24, to 2.84 entering this weekend’s action against Mississippi State.
Vanderbilt Rallies To Beat Louisville In Extra Innings
Brian Harris’ bases loaded walk in the ninth tied the game at 3-3 and Joe Loftus’ grounder in the 10th gave Vanderbilt a 4-3 win over Louisville Wednesday night at Patterson Stadium.
The win was the Commodores first when trailing after eight innings as they were 0-13 in such situations entering tonight’s game.
After tying the game on a bases loaded walk in the ninth Curt Casali led off the 10th with a double to right center and then moved to third on a single to right by Aaron Westlake. Joe Loftus then grounded into a double play to short that scored Casali with the winning run.
Russell Brewer (1-2), who came on in relief in the ninth, recorded the first two outs in the 10th before Mike Minor came out of the pen to record the final out for his first save of the year.
Phil Wunderlich staked the Cardinals to a 1-0 lead in the first with a solo homer to right, his 10th round tripper of the year. UL added another run on a sacrifice fly RBI by John Dao.
The Commodores got on the board in the third when Jordan Wormsley singled, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a RBI double by Brian Harris.
VU tied the game in the fifth on a RBI groundout by Harris. Jason Esposito singled, moved to second on a bunt by Jordan Wormsley and to third on a single by Drew Fann. Harris then grounded to second to bring in Esposito to tie the game.
Chris Dominguez’ solo homer in the seventh inning put the Cardinals up 3-2. It was his 11th homer of the year, coming off of reliever Chase Reid.
The Commodores tied the game up in the top of the ninth when Harris drew a bases loaded walk on a full count with the bases loaded. Joe Loftus singled to lead off the inning off of Louisville closer Tony Zych. Riley Reynolds hit a sacrifice bunt to advance Loftus into scoring position. Zych uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Loftus to go to third and walked Jason Esposito. Pinch hitter Jonathan White walked to load the bases and pinch hitter Richie Goodenow struck out to put the Dores down to their final out. Harris battled off several pitches before drawing the walk on a 3-2 pitch that was low to tie the game at 3-3.
Brewer pitched 1.2 innings of hitless, scoreless relief with three strikeouts in the win. Aaron Westlake was the lone Commodores with two hits, while Harris led the team with three of the four runs batted in.
Austin Peay Edges Vanderbilt 9-8
After jumping out to a 5-1 lead, Vanderbilt struggled to collect a timely hit with runners in scoring position, while Austin Peay took advantage of three Commodore miscues to edge the Commodores 9-8 Tuesday night at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Both teams struggled to pick up key hits with runners in scoring position as Vanderbilt stranded 13 runners on base in the loss, while Austin Peay left 10 on base.
Trailing by two runs in the top of the ninth the `Dores cut the lead to 9-8 when Jason Esposito scored on an RBI single to right field by Steven Liddle.
Riley Reynolds and Steven Liddle led VU offensively with a 3-for-4 and 2-for-4 night at the plate.Vanderbilt cut into the Govs lead again when Brian Harris scored on a sharp RBI single through the left side by Curt Casali, making the score 9-7.
Austin Peay took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth when they plated three runs in the inning. The Governors got their first run in the inning when Jared Delong scored on a dribbler to a charging Jason Esposito at third base. Esposito chose to go home with it but his throw to Drew Fann was low, allowing Delong to score. Jon Clinard scored the Govs second run of the inning when he came home on a one-out RBI grounder by Greg Bachman. With the game tied at 5, VU had a chance to get out of the inning with a potential 4-6-3 double-play but AP’s Matt Koll beat Brian Harris’s throw to first base, allowing Adam Browett to score, giving the Govs a 6-5 lead.
The Govs cut the Vanderbilt lead to two runs when Trey Lucas deposited a pitch from Bierman over the center field wall for a two-run homerun. After giving up three consecutive singles Bierman got AP’s Daniel Baggett and Chris Lewellyn to fly out to end the third inning.
Leading 2-1 after the first frame, the Commodores plated three more runs in the top of second when Austin Peay’s starting pitcher Jeremy Dobbs struggled with control issues. VU’s Andrew Giobbi added the key hit in the inning when he drove a Dobbs fastball into left field scoring Liddle and Brian Harris. All of Vanderbilt’s runs came with two outs in the inning. Dobbs didn’t help his own cause as he hit two Vanderbilt batters while issuing back-to-back walks to Liddle and Casali in the inning before getting relieved by Ryan Mantooth after throwing 58 pitches in 1.2 innings of work.
Vanderbilt got on the board in the top of the first inning when Giobbi hit a ground ball that got underneath Greg Bachman’s glove at third base, scoring Steven Liddle and Curt Casali on the play. Liddle started the first-inning offensive attack with a one-out double to left center and than advanced to third on a wild pitch.
After getting the first two batters to fly out, Austin Peay recorded four straight singles off of VU starter Sean Bierman and trimmed the Vanderbilt lead to 2-1.
Bierman finished the night allowing five runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts in three innings of work.
Nick Christiani (3-3) worked four innings of middle relief Tuesday, allowing four runs, one earned with four strikeouts. Russell Brewer struck out the side in the eighth.
Commodore Tidbits (4/20)
Vanderbilt went 2-3 on the week with a pair of midweek wins and a three-game series sweep at the hands of Alabama over the weekend. It was the first time the Commodores were swept in Nashville since Florida did it at the end of the 2005 season to capture the Southeastern Conference regular season title. It was also the first time Alabama swept the series in Nashville since the 2000 campaign … On the week, VU hit .311 as a team with three homers, 11 doubles, a triple and 36 runs in five games … Brian Harris broke out of an offensive slump that lowered his batting average to under .300 with a 7-for-16 (.438) week with four doubles, a homer and four RBI … Joe Loftus also had a nice week going 9-for-21 with three doubles, five runs and three RBI … Andrew Giobbi went 9-for-24 (.375) with two homers, a double and six RBI as the leadoff hitter. He has boosted his average to .303 on the season … Riley Reynolds went 6-for-14 with a double, four RBI and four runs scored. His hitting streak reached 19 games before ending in the first game of the doubleheader against the Crimson Tide on Saturday … Alex McClure went 4-for-9 (.444) in a limited role that saw him make his first ever start in right field in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday … The pitching staff had a strong week strikeout wise with 65 K’s and 17 walks in 45.0 innings. They held Alabama, the league’s top hitting team (.345 entering the weekend), to just a .283 average with 41 strikeouts and 10 walks in 27.0 innings. The big blows were eight homers given up in the three-game set and nine for the week … Drew Hayes had a big week with two solid starting outings. He started and went five innings in a 8-0 shutout over Morehead State in midweek. He struck out six, allowed just three hits with two walks. He then held Bama in check for 4.2 innings allowing three runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. He was 1-0 on the week with 13 strikeouts and three walks in 9.2 innings of work … Nick Christiani (2.0), Chase Reid (1.0) and Russell Brewer (1.0) combined with Hayes on the shutout … Sean Bierman had a solid week, allowing one run on three hits in 7.2 innings of relief with eight strikeouts and a walk. He pitched 4.2 innings of two-hit scoreless relief against Alabama in the first game of the doubleheader and struck out four with no walks … Russell Brewer pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief in two outings with seven strikeouts and just one walk. He pitched 3.1 innings of two-hit shutout relief against Alabama in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday … Mike Minor had his shortest outing dating back to the season opener with six innings of work in Friday night’s opener. He allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits with 11 strikeouts and two walks in the no-decision.
Vanderbilt Newcomers Among Nation’s Best
For the second time in four seasons, Vanderbilt’s baseball recruiting class has been ranked in the Top 3 in the country.
Baseball America ranked the class second in the country while Collegiate Baseball had the class ranked at No. 3. Both publications listed Arizona State as having the No. 1 class, while Collegiate Baseball had Oregon at No. 2 with a 35 member class in its first season back since being eliminated as a varsity sport after the 1980-81 season.
13 members of the class reported to school in August with three other players choosing the professional ranks. Of the 13 that are in school, eight were drafted and decided to play collegiately.
The coaching staff put together the class in anticipation of a mass exodus following the 2008 season. The Commodores lost seven offensive players who had started over the last three years, including first round draft picks Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Flaherty as well as the school’s all-time hits leader Dominic de la Osa.
Of Perfect Game’s Top 250 prospects for college, high school and Puerto Rico, 32 players from high school did not sign professional contracts and are attending Division I schools or junior colleges. Of the 32, Vanderbilt had five players, the most of any school in the country.
Facility Upgrades Are Complete
Two seasons ago temporary bleachers were put out in right field due to Vanderbilt’s first ever NCAA regional at Hawkins Field. The success of that regional set in motion plans to add permanent bleachers from right to the left-field “Green Monster”. Those bleachers were added in the offseason along with 200 additional chairback seats down the first base line, bringing the seating capacity to 3,700. Season and single-game tickets are available for both the chairbacks and bleacher seats. Fans can purchase them via www.vucommodores.com or via the ticket office at (615) 322-GOLD.
Also added in the Baseball Fieldhouse is a new Hall of Honor showcasing the top players and teams in Vanderbilt history. Video highlights of recent seasons are also available via a touchscreen monitor in the facility.
