Baseball Welcomes Georgia

4/14/2006

Vanderbilt looks to get back on the winning track in SEC play this weekend, as Georgia comes to town for a three-game set. The teams will open the series today at 6 p.m. at Hawkins Field and will continue at 2 p.m. on Saturday, before closing it out at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The first 500 fans at Friday’s game get a free gold shaker as well as a David Price “Price is Right ” t-shirt.

The team continues to win with youth as eight of the nine position starters are underclassmen (6 Sophomores, 2 Freshmen) and all three weekend starting pitchers were sophomores this week (David Price, Cody Crowell and Ty Davis).

The freshman duo of Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Flaherty have led the Commodores over the last 10 games. Alvarez is hitting .450 (18-for-40) with eight homers, 18 RBI and 17 runs scored, while Flaherty is hitting .421 (16-for-38) with three doubles, nine RBI and nine runs scored.

All-American and National Pitcher of the Year candidate David Price threw another masterpiece in SEC play, striking out a career high 17 batters in the Commodores 7-1 win on Friday over #12 Arkansas. He is 4-0 in the SEC with a 0.56 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 32.0 innings. Vanderbilt leads the SEC with a 2.65 team ER, which is good for fifth in the nation.

Georgia (21-11, 5-7 SEC) enters the weekend having lost six of its last nine games, including an 8-2 decision to No. 14 Georgia Tech on Wednesday. Two of the three wins in this span, however, were against No. 3 Mississippi State in Starkville last weekend.

Catcher Jason Jacobs leads the team with a .346 batting average, while first baseman Josh Morris is the top power source with 10 homers and 30 RBI. The Bulldogs are hitting an even .300 as a team with 39 homers and 221 runs scored in 32 games (6.9 runs per contest).