| 5/4/2006
Vanderbilt begins the final month of the regular season with a three-game conference series against in-state foe Tennessee this weekend in Knoxville. The Commodores and Vols will open play Friday night at 7 p.m. ET and will continue the set on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET and Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. The first two games of the series will be televised regionally on College Sports Southeast with Bob Kesling (play-by-play) and Rusty Ensor (color) calling the action. Vanderbilt has won the last three series, including the last set in Knoxville in 2004. Prior to that series win, UT had won the last five three-game sets at home dating back to the 1992 campaign. The Commodores had a team batting average of .208 in eight games in the month of February and had not hit a homer and were last in the SEC in nearly every offensive category through the first month of the year. Since that time, the offense has steadily improved and after last weekend’s series against Kentucky, VU finally moved over the .300 batting average mark as a team at .301. Two players that have heated up over the last few weeks are rightfielder Ryan Davis and second baseman Alex Feinberg. Both players, who have predominantly batted from the No. 6 thru No. 8 spots in the lineup, hit .500 in four games last week and scored six runs with a double apiece. The sophomores are now first and second on the team in batting average at .355 and .346 respectively and have provided the Commodores a well-balanced offensive attack, where seven of the nine everyday position starters are hitting .300 or better entering this weekend. Tennessee is 25-19 on the year and 7-13 in SEC play after getting swept by Ole Miss in Oxford last weekend. The Volunteers returned four starters from last year’s College World Series team and jumped out of the gate with a 14-2 record. Since that time, however, they have gone 11-17. |
