March 10, 2008
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VANDERBILT GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Western Carolina (4-7) at No. 4 Vanderbilt (8-3)
at Hawkins Field (2,027)
Tuesday, March 11 at 4 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: None)
Caleb Cotham (2-0, 2.51 ERA) vs. Drew Saberhagen (0-1, 5.65)
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Wednesday, March 12 at 4 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: None)
Mark Lamm (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Tyler Sexton (0-1, 8.80) |
2008 STATISTICS
Game Notes | 2008 Statistics | SEC Standings & Leaders
Series History
This will be the first ever meetings on the baseball diamond.
Polls
Vanderbilt is ranked in all the national polls, with a high ranking of No. 4 by Rivals.com. Baseball America ranks the Dores No. 6, with the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association ranking them No. 9. Collegiate Baseball and ESPN/Sports Weekly ranks VU No. 12 this week. Western Carolina is not ranked this week. All of the National Polls can be found on page 4 of the release.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 206-111 in his sixth season as head coach. Western Carolina’s Bobby Moranda is 4-7 in his first season with the Catamounts.
Radio/TV/Internet
Both games will be internet only broadcasts via www.vucommodores.com. Eric Jones is in his second season calling the action prior to the end of the basketball season. The games are also going to be webcast on vucommodores.com. Live stats via Gametracker can also be accessed through Vanderbilt Athletics official website.
What’s On Tap
Vanderbilt takes on Western Carolina in a two-game midweek series starting on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Hawkins Field. The Commodores and Catamounts will also play on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Redshirt freshman Caleb Cotham (2-0, 2.51 ERA) will start on Tuesday, with fellow redshirt Mark Lamm (0-0, 0.00 ERA) getting the nod on Wednesday. The series marks the first ever matchups between the schools on the baseball diamond.
Scouting Western Carolina
Western Carolina is 4-7 on the year after losing two of three at the Rice Classic over the weekend. The Catamounts lost to Michigan State, 5-3, last Thursday, but came back to defeat Creighton, 11-8, on Friday. WCU had No. 4 Rice on the ropes, leading 7-1 through three innings on Saturday, before falling 12-11.
The middle infield duo of second baseman Jason Haynes (.382) and shortstop Brent Greer (.372) lead the team in hitting, while centerfielder J.C. Lyons provides the power with four homers and 14 RBI.
The Catamount pitching staff has a 7.20 ERA through 11 games with 72 strikeouts and 40 walks in 95.0 innings on the year.
WCU is coming off a NCAA regional appearance a year ago and finished as the runner-up in the Chapel Hill Regional with a 42-20 record. Todd Raleigh, then WCU head coach, left over the summer to become the skipper at Tennessee. Bobby Moranda replaced him and is in his first season as a head coach after serving as an assistant at Georgia Tech for six seasons.
Commodore Tidbits
Vanderbilt went 3-1 on the week to move to 8-3 overall … The Dores opened the week with a rout of nationally ranked Louisville, 17-6, last Tuesday and then played a close series against Illinois-Chicago over the weekend. The Flames won the first game in their last at-bat, scoring two run with two outs in the ninth off of Commodore ace Mike Minor who was going for a complete game shutout. The 2-1 loss to UIC was Minor’s first of the season and just his second in 13 decisions in his career … VU then rebounded with four runs in the bottom of the ninth on Friday to win 5-4. All of the runs came with two outs and two strikes on every batter, capped off by a Ryan Flaherty fly ball that got lost in the snow, allowing the game-tying and winning runs to score … Saturday’s game against Illinois-Chicago was cancelled due to snow and the Dores then pounded out 16 hits in the 9-3 series clinching win on Sunday … For the week, VU hit .340 as a team with three homers, eight doubles and 29 RBI. The pitching staff recorded a 3.25 ERA with 33 strikeouts and eight walks in 36.0 innings … Alex Feinberg continues his hot start to the season, going 8-for-15 (.533) on the week with a double, homer and seven RBI in four games last week. He now leads the team with a .447 average through 11 games with a .543 on base percentage … Leadoff hitter David Macias went 9-for-19 (.474) with four runs scored last week and is now hitting .417 with four doubles and 11 runs scored on the year … Andrew Giobbi was 6-for-13 with three doubles and four runs scored last week … High-school teammate Ryan Flaherty rebounded with a 7-for-16 (.438) week with a homer and eight RBI. He now leads the team with 13 RBI … Two other players, Brian Harris and Curt Casali responded with their first significant action. Harris was 4-for-11 (.364) in four games (three starts), while Casali started in all four games, going 5-for-11 (.357) with five runs scored … Freshman Taylor Hill made his first career start on Friday and delivered, striking out seven with three walks in 5.2 innings. He allowed a run on three hits … Minor was an out away from a four-hit shutout on Thursday. He entered the ninth with just 88 pitches and finished the game allowing two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and three walks in nine innings … Redshirt freshman Caleb Cotham picked up the win over Louisville, allowing four runs on seven hits in 7.1 innings with nine strikeouts and a walk … Redshirt junior Steven Schwartz made the most of his first appearance at Hawkins Field, retiring all 10 batters he faced in Sunday’s win over Illinois-Chicago. He ended up striking out three in 3.2 innings of relief to pick up his first win at Vanderbilt … Chase Reid threw two innings against UIC, allowing one unearned run on two hits with two strikeouts to pick up the win, his second of the year … VU lost a game due to snow and now has 55 on the schedule … The team plays five games in six days again this week, with two midweek games against Western Carolina before opening SEC play against South Carolina this weekend. VU is in a stretch of playing nine games against 2007 NCAA regional teams.
Commodores Picked To Finish First in SEC (East) By Coaches
Vanderbilt is predicted to repeat as the 2008 Southeastern Conference baseball champions, as voted by the league’s 12 baseball coaches in the 17th annual preseason SEC poll.
The Commodores, ranked as high as No. 3 nationally in the preseason polls, seek to capture their fifth SEC Championship, having also won titles in 1973, 1974, 1980 and 2007. Vanderbilt returns eight position starters and four pitchers from their 2007 squad which also won the SEC Tournament and earned the National No. 1 Seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Since 1996, the SEC has named a regular season champion as well as a tournament champion. Prior to 1996, the tournament champion was considered the SEC Champion.
