NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt will continue to try to pack as much baseball as possible into the week when it welcomes Georgia State for a four-game series at Hawkins Field starting Friday.
If the Commodores (3-0) and Panthers can get all four scheduled games in by Sunday evening then coach Tim Corbin’s team will have completed a seven-game week in seven days.
“Right now we got to get a lot better. Offensively we got to grow as a team,” Corbin said. “I just think we got to see a lot of pitching, as much as we possibly can. These games are going to be very good for our team right now. We just need to pile up a lot of at-bats in order to get better.”
Vandy has certainly started the first part of a long week with plenty of momentum from a pitching side.
With wins over visiting Wright State and Western Kentucky, respectively, have the Commodores off to their best start since the 2016 squad began its season 8-0. Vanderbilt pitching has also allowed just two runs in three contests, the fewest since the 1972 team surrounded the same amount in its first four contest of that campaign.
Fourteen Vandy pitchers have already seen the mound and their collective ERA is 0.33 which ranks third nationally.
How Vanderbilt pitching fares this weekend will be a curiosity considering Corbin and Vanderbilt pitching coach Scott Brown will adjust the rotation due to a doubleheader Friday, single game Wednesday and four more games this weekend.
“(Sophomore Thomas) Schultz will pitch Friday and then it’s how do guys feel (Thursday)? We just don’t want to push the buttons too quick,” Corbin said. “I would imagine both Kumar (Rocker) and Jack (Leiter) could pitch Sunday which would help them in coming back the next week – but we just kind of want to see how they feel.
“The next question is what do you want to do Saturday? We still don’t have a clean answer on that. I think a lot of it will be contingent upon (Thursday) and then how Schultz gets through (Friday) because if he gets through (Friday) then it opens up potentially one of those bridge guys or piggy-back guys that might have an opportunity to start Saturday.”
On the offensive side, Vanderbilt has seen impressive starts from a quartet of everyday players. Dominic Keegan, Jayson Gonzalez and Enrique Bradfield are all hitting at least .500 while Isaiah Thomas is off to a .462 clip.
And Keegan, a junior outfielder, is slugging 1.444.
“I think the most-impressive part about our lineup is that one through nine everyone has the ability to impact the game,” Thomas said. “You don’t just have to rely on a few players, everyone can help out. That really can help in the long run.”
Atlanta’s Georgia State, out of the Sun Belt Conference, is off to a 2-3 start after splitting a four-game series against West Virginia and dropping a 6-2 decision to Georgia. This weekend’s series will be the first road matchups of the season for the Panthers.
Coach Brad Stromdahl’s program was 9-7 during the shortened-2020 season and was 15-41 in 2019 before his arrival. Shortstop Will Mize already has eight hits in five games for Georgia State, is hitting .444 and has a .524 on-base percentage.
Vanderbilt has never faced Georgia State in its history.
Friday’s opening game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. while the teams will resume action at 2 p.m. Saturday. A doubleheader is scheduled for noon Sunday.
Davis closer to a return
Vanderbilt senior outfielder Cooper Davis stepped into the box Monday against Wright State for his long-awaited first at-bat of the 2021 season.
But on a 1-2 pitch, a foul ball jumped out and hit the Canadian square in the face. Davis left the field with a bloody towel covering and his nose and hasn’t returned to game action since.
“I think he timeline for him is when the doctors tell us no other damage and he’s free to go,” Corbin said. “Whenever he feels like he can than I think Cooper will be right back in there.”
Davis has played in 62 games for the Commodores since 2017 and hit .328 with 28 RBIs. He started the season-opener in the lead-of spot in the lineup and manning left field.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
