April 10, 2008
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VANDERBILT GAMEDAY CENTRAL
No. 19 VU (21-10, 5-6 SEC) at Miss. State (14-18, 3-9)
Dudy Noble Field (7,200) in Starkville, Miss.
VIDEO: Series to be Webcast via Pay-Per-View
Vanderbilt’s road series at Mississippi State this weekend will be webcast via pay-per-view in All Access. We will be streaming live video with Joe Fisher’s play-by-play of the April 11 and April 13 games and delayed video of the April 12 game due to SEC television network policy. Video of that delayed game will begin around 7 p.m. CT.
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Friday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: 560 AM)
Mike Minor (3-2, 3.18 ERA) vs. Chad Crosswhite (2-2, 10.65) 
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Saturday, April 12 at 2 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: 560 AM)
Caleb Cotham (4-2, 3.82 ERA) vs. Ricky Bowen (2-3, 6.64) | Follow Live Stats
Sunday, April 13 at 1:30 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: 560 AM)
TBA vs. John Lalor (1-2, 3.63) | Follow Live Stats
2008 VU STATISTICS
VU Game Notes | 2008 Statistics | SEC Standings & Leaders
MISS. STATE LINKS
Game Preview | Stats & Schedule/Results
Series History
Mississippi State leads 61-28 in a series that dates back to 1913. The Bulldogs have won three of the last five regular season series including the last one in 2005. Last season Vanderbilt defeated Mississippi State 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Ala. MSU has won seven straight series in Starkville dating back to the 1986 season.
Last Four Games
03/18/05: VU 10, MSU 3 (Starkville)
03/19/05: MSU 5, VU 3 (Starkville)
03/20/05: MSU 5, VU 1 (Starkville)
05/24/07: VU 3, MSU 2 (Hoover, Ala.)
Polls
Vanderbilt is ranked in all the national polls, with a high ranking of No. 13 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. ESPN/Sports Weekly and Rivals.com ranks VU No. 17, while Baseball America has the Dores at No. 19. Collegiate Baseball has VU at No. 23 this week. Mississippi State is not ranked this week. All of the National Polls can be found on page 6 of the release.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 219-118 in his sixth season as head coach. He is 6-4 against the Bulldogs all-time. Mississippi State’s Ron Polk is 1130-573-2 in his 29th season in Starkville. He is 1364-685-2 in 35 years overall. Polk is 36-19 against Vanderbilt all-time.
Radio/TV/Internet
All three games will be broadcast on WNSR 560 AM in Nashville. In addition you can catch the internet version of the broadcast via www.vucommodores.com. “Voice of the Commodores” Joe Fisher will call the action. In addition this week you can access a pay-per-view webcast through www.vucommodores.com. Live stats can also be accessed through Mississippi State Athletics official website: www.mstateathletics.com.
What’s On Tap
Vanderbilt continues its stretch of nine of 11 games on the road this weekend as the Commodores travel to Starkville to take on Mississippi State in a three-game Southeastern Conference series. The teams open play on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and will play on Saturday at 2 p.m. and at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Scouting Mississippi State
Mississippi State is coming off a College World Series appearance in 2007 and has battled through injuries the first half of the season. Head coach Ron Polk announced his retirement last month, effective at the end of the season, ending a historic 35-year head coaching career that saw him take the Bulldogs to six CWS appearances and four SEC regular season titles. His teams always had success in the postseason with five conference tournament titles and 20 regional appearances during that span.
The team enters the weekend with a 14-18 overall record and a 3-9 ledger in conference play. MSU lost two of three to Kentucky in Lexington last weekend and fell at Memphis, 9-8, in midweek action on Tuesday.
Catcher Cody Freeman was leading the team in hitting with a .397 average before suffering a back injury a few weeks ago. Third baseman Connor Powers is the top power source with 10 homers and 34 RBI to go with a .355 batting average. As a team, State is hitting .302 with 35 homers and 223 runs scored in 32 games (6.9 per game).
Junior right-hander Chad Crosswhite (2-2, 10.65 ERA) will start for the Bulldogs on Friday with sophomore right-hander Ricky Bowen (2-3, 6.64 ERA) scheduled to go on Saturday. Senior right-hander John Lalor (1-2, 3.63 ERA) will close things out with his first start of the season on Sunday. Junior right-hander Aaron Weatherford (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is the Mississippi State relief specialist with 21 strikeouts and five walks in 11.0 innings with three saves. As a team, the Bulldogs sport a SEC worst 6.14 ERA with 263 strikeouts and 154 walks in 285.2 innings.
Commodore Tidbits
Last week was unkind for Vanderbilt as the team went 1-4, its worst week of action in nearly two years. The team went 0-4 the week of April 18-23, 2006 with a loss at MTSU and a sweep at Alabama … The Commodores regained the services of junior All-American third baseman Pedro Alvarez at the start of the week against Southeast Missouri, but the team suffered a 12-8 loss to snap a four-game losing streak. Alvarez had missed 23 games due to a broken bone in his hand, but concerns on if his power would be slow to return were erased as he hit two homers and had two doubles on the week. His first homer was estimated to be over 435 feet, while his second went over 400 … The return of Alvarez spiked the performance of Dominic de la Osa who led the team with a 10-for-23 (.435) week, with three doubles, a homer and four RBI … David Macias went 7-for-19 (.368) with a double, homer and three RBI as the only other Commodore to hit over .300 for the week … VU hit .262 in the five games with six homers, 11 doubles and 26 runs scored … The pitching staff did not fare any better posting a 7.93 ERA over the five game stretch with 30 strikeouts and 17 walks in 42.0 innings. Opponents had 61 hits over that span for a .326 batting average against … The weekend rotation of Mike Minor, Caleb Cotham and Brett Jacobson combined to give up 18 runs, 15 earned, on 21 hits in 15 innings … Reliever Chase Reid gave up his first three earned runs of the year in relief against Ole Miss on Sunday. He had only given up an unearned run in his first 18.1 innings pitched of the year … Jason Cunningham pitched a scoreless inning of relief against Ole Miss on Sunday. It was his first appearance since throwing against Arizona State in the second game of the year on Feb. 23 … The Commodores defense also fared poorly committing 11 errors for a .939 fielding percentage.
Alex Feinberg Out For Two Weeks
Although Pedro Alvarez returned, the Commodores lost the services of senior second baseman Alex Feinberg who suffered a broken jaw in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Ole Miss. A fastball clocking in around 92 mph from Ole Miss ace Lance Lynn hit him below the mouth breaking his jaw. Feinberg went back to Nashville Saturday night and had successful surgery on Sunday morning. His down time is expected to be a week and he should be ready to play next weekend at home against Auburn. The Orinda, Calif., native was leading the team with a .400 batting average, good for third in the SEC at the time of the injury.
Aaron Westlake Out For The Year
Freshman infielder Aaron Westlake had season ending surgery on Tuesday due to blood clots in his right shoulder. The California native had played in 15 games, with four starts at designated hitter. He batted .241 with four RBI and had his best game two weeks ago in the series clinching win over Arkansas on March 30. Westlake went 2-for-3 with three RBI in the contest that gave the Commodores its first ever series win over the Razorbacks. The team will attempt to get a medical redshirt season for him. The Shasta High School graduate from Redding was considered the No. 55 prospect out of California last year by Baseball America.
Strong Pitching Leads Commodores To Pair Of Midweek Wins
Nick Christiani pitched six innings of five-hit ball to help lead Vanderbilt to a 5-1 win over Western Kentucky Tuesday night at Hawkins Field.
Christiani struck out six and walked three in 6.1 innings of work to move to 3-1 on the year. In his last two outings, the junior from New Jersey has allowed just one run in 9.1 innings with nine strikeouts.
The Commodores took a 1-0 lead in the second when Andrew Giobbi scored on a wild pitch by Hilltopper starter Rye Davis. Dominic de la Osa’s RBI single in the third made it 2-0.
WKU scored a run in the top of the fourth on a bases loaded walk to Matt Payton.
De la Osa tripled and stole home in the fifth to put the lead back at two at 3-1. Steven Liddle added a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh to make it 4-1.
VU closed out the scoring in the eighth, plating an unearned run to extend the advantage to 5-1.
David Macias led VU with four hits, with Dominic de la Osa adding three of his own.
Drew Hayes pitched the final two innings to pick up his second save of the year. He struck out four and walked one while allowing just one hit.
The strong pitching continued on Wednesday as five Vanderbilt pitchers combined to hold Austin Peay to a run on seven hits in an 8-1 win Wednesday night at Hawkins Field.
David Macias led off the first with a single and scored on a RBI grounder by Pedro Alvarez to take a 1-0 lead. Macias added a sacrifice fly RBI in the second to make it 2-0.
Ryan Flaherty led off the third with a solo homer to right, his sixth of the year to push the advantage to 3-0. He led the Commodores with three hits on the night.
Chase Reid (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings to start the game and was relieved by Jason Cunningham who continued the shutout for two more innings. Cunningham got into trouble in the top of the fifth giving up two hits and left the game with runners on the corners and no outs. Drew Hayes came on in relief and got out of the jam to preserve the shutout.
Andrew Giobbi’s two-run double in the fifth extended the lead to 5-0. Ryan Flaherty singled with one out and moved to third on a double to left by Dominic de la Osa. Steven Liddle was intentionally walked before Giobbi doubled down the right field line off of reliever David Vicini.
Greg Bachman’s RBI single in the sixth broke up the shutout to make it 5-1.
VU plated two more runs in the sixth to build the lead up to 7-1. Brad French was hit by a pitch and Pedro Alvarez doubled him in for the first run. Flaherty brought Alvarez home with a single to left.
The Dores added a run in the seventh when Jordan Wormsley singled, moved to third on a single by Brian Harris and scored on a RBI squeeze bunt by Brad French.
Sean Bierman pitched two scoreless innings after Hayes and Mark Lamm closed it out with a scoreless ninth.
The 200-Hit Club
Coming into the season Dominic de la Osa was the lone active Commodore in the 200 hit club. Alex Feinberg, Ryan Flaherty and David Macias have now joined him on the exclusive list with Pedro Alvarez not far behind. De la Osa now has 262 hits in his four-year career, good for fourth on the all-time list. Feinberg has 235 in his four years and is currently ninth, while Flaherty has 215 in just his third year, good for 13th best in school history. Macias joined the club last weekend and now has 207 hits in his career (tied for 21st), while the just returning Alvarez is 10 short with 190.
Alvarez and de la Osa Approaching School Homer Record
With 18 homers in 2007, Pedro Alvarez moved into sixth place on the school’s career list with 40 total jacks. Also in the Top 10 after a stellar junior campaign is Dominic de la Osa with 36.
Alvarez missed 23 games but returned last week and added two homers in Mississippi to move his career total to 42. That ties him with Cam Hazen for fourth on the school’s all-time list. De la Osa has five homers on the year that ties him with Josh Adeeb for sixth most in school history.Alvarez needs seven more round-trippers and de la Osa needs eight to tie Scotty Madison’s mark of 49 set from 1977-80.
De la Osa broke Boomer Whipple’s mark of 809 career at-bats last weekend and now has 817 going into the Mississippi State series. De la Osa also has 56 career doubles, just five off the school mark of 61 set by Sean Luellwitz from 1999-2002.
