Feb. 20, 2009
VANDERBILT GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Vanderbilt (0-0, 0-0 SEC) at No. 5 Stanford (0-0, 0-0 PAC 10)
at Klein Field in the Sunken Diamond (4,000) in Palo Alto, Calif.
Friday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: 560 AM)
Mike Minor (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Jeff Inman (0-0, 0.00)
Live Webcast | 
Live Audio |
Series History vs Stanford
The teams have met just once in baseball, with the Cardinal coming away with the win at the UC Riverside Invitational in Riverside, Calif.
All-Time Results
March 30, 1973 Stanford 6, Vanderbilt 0 Riverside, Calif.
Series History vs California
Sunday’s matchup will be the first ever meeting between the two schools on the diamond.
Polls
Vanderbilt is not ranked in any of the preseason polls. This is the first time the Commodores haven’t been ranked since the end of the 2006 campaign. Stanford is ranked No. 5 in Collegiate Baseball, No. 6 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, No. 9 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers and No. 15 by Baseball America. California is not ranked to start the season.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 239-130 in his seventh season as head coach. Friday will be the first meeting against Stanford.SU’s Mark Markquess is 1,326-669-7 in his 33rd year at Stanford. He has not faced the Commodores.Cal’s David Esquer is 263-236-2 in nine years as head coach at Berkley.
Radio/TV/Internet
Both games against Stanford and the Monday game against Cal will be broadcast on WNSR 560 AM in Nashville. The Sunday Cal contest will be internet only on www.vucommodores.com. Eric Jones will call the action in California.Stanford will have free webcasts of the Vanderbilt games on their website: www.gostanford.com.
Live stats for all the games and periodic blogs can also be accessed through www.vucommodores.com.
What’s On Tap
For the fourth straight season Vanderbilt opens its baseball season with a trip out West, this time in Northern California. The Commodores will begin the 2009 campaign with a two-game series against Stanford in Palo Alto on Feb. 20-21. They will then face Cal in a two-game set in Berkeley on Feb. 22-23.
Scouting Stanford
Stanford returns five starter’s from last year’s College World Series team that ended with a 41-24-2 record. The Cardinal have made 15 CWS appearances and have won two national championships. The top returning offensive performers are 1B/C Brett Milleville (.289, 11 HRs, 57 RBI) and outfielder Joey August (.323, 1 HR, 23 RBI). As a team, Stanford batted .299 with 81 homers and 504 runs scored in 67 games (7.52 runs per game).
The Cardinal will start right-hander Jeff Inman on Friday (7-2, 4.27 ERA) andrighty Danny Sandbrink (2-1, 2.81 ERA) on Saturday. Right-hander Drew Storen (5-3, 3.51 ERA) is the relief ace, having posted eight saves in 31 relief appearances with 50 strikeouts and 15 walks in 56.1 innings a year ago. Stanford recorded a 4.45 ERA in 2008 with 440 strikeouts in 603.1 innings.
Scouting California
California returns six offensive starters from last year’s NCAA tournament club that finished with a 33-21-2 record.
Preseason All-American Brett Jackson (.307, 4 HR, 40 RBI) patrols centerfield for the Bears with utility/pitcher Blake Smith (.296, 12 HR, 43 RBI) back as a top power source. Cal hit .302 as a team with 75 homers and 371 runs scored in 56 games (6.62 runs per game).
Smith (3-0, 3.80 ERA), a right-hander, is slated to start for the Bears on Sunday with Monday’s starter to be determined. Cal had a 4.88 team ERA with 435 strikeouts and 283 walks in 498.0 innings a year ago.
Season Openers
Vanderbilt is 4-2 in season openers under Tim Corbin and is 55-42-2 all-time in season openers according to school records available. The Commodores have won the last two openers, both against Top 25 opponents. VU opened the 2007 campaign with a 7-3 win over preseason No. 1 Rice at the Minute Maid Classic in Houston and then defeated back-to-back NCAA champs Oregon State, 7-1, in 2008. Mike Minor will make his second straight season opening start, after holding the Beavers to just one run on five hits (two via bunt) in six innings of work with six strikeouts and no walks. Offensively just one current Commodore started in the season opener, fifth-year senior Jonathan White. He has started the last two season openers from the designated hitter spot and is expected to start in leftfield on Friday.
Mike Minor Named To National Award Watch Lists
Junior southpaw Mike Minor has garnered several mentions for national awards and preseason All-American teams.
He was named to the Golden Spikes Award and Brooks Wallace Award Watch Lists, both honors given to the top player in college baseball.
Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball tabbed him a second-team preseason All-American while the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association had him on it’s third team.
Last season Minor tied for the team lead in wins with seven, finishing with a 7-3 record with two complete games. As a freshman in 2007, he went 9-1 and sports a 16-4 career mark into the 2009 season.
Minor served as the ace of the USA Baseball National team squad that went 24-0 over the summer and captured the FISU World University Championships in the Czech Republic in July. He went 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA during the tour with 37 strikeouts and 13 walks in a team high 36 innings.
The Chapel Hill, Tenn., native two biggest performances came against the Cuban National team in a span of a week last July. The Cuban contingent was the same team, minus one player, that captured the 2004 Olympic gold medal and was the runner-up at the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Minor threw 6.1 innings of four-hit shutout baseball in a 1-0 win on July 6 at the Haarlem Baseball Week In Harleem, Netherlands. He followed that up in his next start by allowing just an unearned run on four hits over six innings in the gold medal clinching game of the tourney on July 13.
Minor completed his two-year National team run with an 8-2 record and a 1.17 ERA with 74 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 69 innings of action.
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.
Commodore Tidbits
The Commodores are 6-3 in the nine games played on opening trips out west in the last three seasons … The pitching staff has 11 pitchers back that combined to pitch 497 of the team’s 569 innings a year ago … Conversely the offense is missing six starters that combined to hit 53 of the team’s 62 homers in 2008 … VU is 3-1 against the Pac 10 over the last three seasons with wins over USC (2006), Arizona State (2007), Oregon State (2008). The lone loss in that span was to ASU last season in the second game of the year … Mike Minor is listed as the eighth best pro prospect among the junior class according to Baseball America. Pitcher Sonny Gray (fourth) and infielder Jason Esposito (31st) were ranked among the Top 50 freshmen prospect by BA. Rivals.com also lists Esposito as one of the top 10 freshmen to watch in 2009.
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 tickets are still 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.
