April 5, 2007
COMMODORE GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Tentative Weekend Schedule:
Friday, April 6 at 7 p.m. CT: David Price (5-0, 2.88 ERA) vs. Miers Quigley (4-0, 2.63)
| Live Stats | Free Online Radio | 560 AM | No Sirius
Saturday, April 7 at 3 p.m. CT: Mike Minor (4-0, 2.15 ERA) vs. Bernard Robert (4-2, 2.93 ERA) | Live Stats | Free Online Radio | 560 AM | Sirius 125
Sunday, April 8 at 1 p.m. CT: Nick Christiani (5-2, 3.92 ERA) vs. Brandon Belcher (1-1, 3.52) | Live Stats | Free Online Radio | 560 AM | Sirius 119
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Audio: Thursday’s SEC Teleconference with Corbin
View Game Notes | VU Statistics | SEC Leaders
No. 1 Vanderbilt (27-4, 5-4 SEC)
vs. Alabama (19-12, 4-5 SEC)
at Hawkins Field (2,027)
Series History vs. Alabama:
Alabama leads 76-43-2 in a series that began in 1893.
Last Two Years
April 23, 2006: Alabama 6, VU 5 – Tuscaloosa
April 22, 2006: Alabama 14, VU 7 (Game 2) – Tuscaloosa
April 22, 2006: Alabama 9, VU 3 (Game 1) – Tuscaloosa
March 27, 2005: Alabama 10, VU 8 – Nashville
March 26, 2005: VU 4, Alabama 3 (13) – Nashville
March 25, 2005: VU 1, Alabama 0 – Nashville
Polls
Vanderbilt is ranked No. 1 by Baseball America, the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches Poll, Rivals.com and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Poll. VU is ranked No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball this week. Alabama is not ranked this week.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 171-99 in his fifth season as head coach. He is 4-5 against Alabama.
UA’s Jim Wells is 541-258 in 13 years in Tuscaloosa. He is 733-347 in 18 years overall. He is 19-8 against Vanderbilt.
Radio/TV/Internet
All of the 2007 games can be heard free via the internet through Yahoo and can be accessed using the following web page: http://vucommodores.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/radio-tv-internet.html. In addition, the series will be broadcast locally in Nashville on WNSR 560 AM. Joe Fisher will call all the action this weekend. The games will also be webcast and can be watched for free via www.vucommodores.com.Live stats via Gametracker be accessed through the website as well.
What’s On Tap
No. 1 Vanderbilt returns home for a brief four game homestand starting with a three game series against Alabama this weekend at Hawkins Field. The first contest is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on Friday with a 3 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.
Scouting Alabama
Alabama is 19-12 overall and 4-5 in the SEC after dropping two of three against LSU in Tuscaloosa over the weekend. The Crimson Tide got back on the winning track on Wednesday with a 2-1 win over UAB in Hoover, Ala.
All-American senior outfielder Emeel Salem leads the team with a .375 batting average to go along with five homers, 23 RBI and 20 stolen bases in 25 attempts. Outfielder Kent Matthes is the top power source with seven homers and 32 RBI on the year. Alabama has a .306 batting average as a team with 31 homers and 204 runs scored in 31 innings (6.6 runs per game).
Sophomore lefthander Miers Quigley (4-0, 2.63 ERA) will get the start for the Crimson Tide on Friday, with senior righthander Bernard Robert (4-2, 2.93 ERA) scheduled for Saturday and senior southpaw Brandon Belcher (1-1, 3.52) set for Sunday.
Sophomore righthander Tommy Hunter, a member of the 2006 USA Baseball National Team, is the squad’s closer with four saves to go along with a 2-3 record and 2.94 ERA. As a team, Alabama sports a 3.49 ERA with 261 strikeouts and 82 walks in 283.2 innings.
Commodore Tidbits
Vanderbilt (27-4, 5-4 SEC) is 4-1 in its last five games … VU hit .338 on the week, including a season high 22 hit attack against Middle Tennessee on Wednesday, with one homer, 13 doubles and 32 runs scored in four games … The pitching staff came through with a 3.32 ERA and recorded 38 strikeouts and 12 walks in 38 innings … The Commodores have now won seven of the last 10 against the Gamecocks and have taken the regular season series the last three years … The 4-3 win in 12 innings was the longest game for VU this season. The Commodores are 3-1 in extra innings … With 10 strikeouts on Friday, David Price moved past Jeremy Sowers (327) into second place on the school’s career strikeout list with 336. It was the fifth time in the last six games he has recorded double digit strikeouts. He has 89 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched this season … Casey Weathers threw a career high 4.1 innings of two-hit scoreless relief in Friday’s win. He struck out seven and walked two as he closed out the extra inning win to move to 4-1 … Mike Minor gave up a run in the first inning of his first SEC start and then threw six scoreless inning in picking up the win on Saturday. He gave up five hits in seven innings with a career high nine strikeouts and two walks and is now 4-0 on the year with a 2.15 ERA and has 46 strikeouts and seven walks in 37.2 innings pitched … Shea Robin was 5-for-14 (.357) on the week. He currently leads the team with a .351 batting average in SEC play (nine games) … David Macias was 5-for-10 (.500) against South Carolina and has bumped his overall average over .300 to .336 … Alex Feinberg was 7-for-15 (.467) with a double and three RBI last week … Pedro Alvarez has hit safely in the last seven games and went 6-for-14 (.429) with two doubles, a homer and eight RBI in four games last week … Cameron Betourne threw two scoreless innings against South Carolina on Sunday and has not been scored upon in three outings this year … Ty Davis threw two scoreless innings of relief on Saturday and Josh Zeid had a scoreless inning of work against MTSU on Sunday … Vanderbilt has come from behind in 16 of its 26 wins on the year … The Commodores have 99 two-out RBI (210 total) … Eight offensive starters are hitting over .300 on the year, Brad French the starting first baseman is hitting .280 … Dominic de la Osa sat out last Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury, but is expected to play this weekend. He came through with a pinch hit RBI double in the ninth against Austin Peay on Wednesday … The Commodores have lost the last four times to the Crimson Tide dating back to the 2005 campaign.
Commodores Regain No. 1 National Ranking
With the series win over South Carolina last weekend, Vanderbilt regained its spot as the No. 1 team in the country in four of the five major polls. The Commodores had dropped from the top spot for the first time in five weeks after losing two of three at No. 9 Arkansas two weeks ago.
The Commodores at 27-4 are off to the best start in school history and the team’s 20-0 start was the best start of any sport at Vanderbilt. It bested the 17-0 start of the 1993 women’s basketball team.
The No. 1 baseball ranking joins women’s basketball and women’s golf as the only NCAA sports to achieve a No. 1 ranking at Vanderbilt. The 1993 women’s hoops squad was ranked No. 1 by the AP for six weeks, including the final regular season poll prior to postseason play. The women’s golf team was ranked No. 1 for a time in 2004.
Mike Minor Named Rivals.com National Freshman Of The Week
Freshman lefthander Mike Minor was named Rivals.com National Freshman of the Week on Tuesday after his stellar performance in his first career SEC start against then No. 1 ranked South Carolina over the weekend. Minor handcuffed the Gamecocks for seven innings in the Commodores 12-1 series clinching win Saturday afternoon. He gave up a run in the first inning and then threw six scoreless innings in picking up the win on Saturday. The Chapel Hill, Tenn., product gave up five hits in seven innings with a career high nine strikeouts and two walks and is now 4-0 on the year with a 2.15 ERA and has 46 strikeouts and seven walks in 37.2 innings. He has a 1.80 ERA in three SEC games with a save and 14 strikeouts and two walks in 10 innings.
Commodores Rally In Ninth To Upend Austin Peay 4-1
Pinch hitter Dominic de la Osa’s game-tying RBI single in the top of the ninth sparked a four-run inning as Vanderbilt rallied to defeat Austin Peay 4-1 Wednesday night at Raymond C. Hand Park.
VU rallied for the 16th time this season to improve to 27-4 overall, while Austin Peay dropped to 16-11.
The Commodores trailed 1-0 heading into the ninth before Governor closer Ben Wilshire hit Alex Feinberg to put the tying run on base. Matt Meingasner popped up a bunt attempt for the first out in the inning before de la Osa, who had sat out most of the last two games to rest a sore hamstring, came through with the tying double down the left field line. Wilshire struck out pinch hitter Kurt Lipton and walked David Macias to set up a game-winning two-run triple by Pedro Alvarez to make it 3-1. Ryan Flaherty added a squeeze bunt RBI single to score Alvarez to cap the four run inning.
David Macias finished with a 4-for-4 night at the plate to lead the Commodores, while Alvarez had two hits and two RBI.
Casey Weathers pitched the final 1.1 innings of scoreless ball with four strikeouts and a walk to move to 5-1 on the year.
Michael Dunn pitched 7.1 innings of six hit scoreless ball in his third appearance for the Governors. He struck out five and walked two and left the game with a 1-0 lead in the eighth.
Austin Peay took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of a RBI single by Matt Smith.
Brett Jacobson threw four innings of shutout baseball before being relieved by Cody Crowell to start the fifth. Jacobson gave up six hits with three strikeouts and a walk in the no-decision.
Crowell gave up one run on two hits in two innings of work with three strikeouts and two walks. Ty Davis pitched 1.2 innings of two-hit scoreless relief with a walk and a strikeout.
Record Watch
Two Vanderbilt records worth watching this season are the school’s career strikeout mark and the career homer mark. With 10 against South Carolina last Friday, Price now has 336 in his career. He moved past Jeremy Sowers (327) into second place and trails record holder Mike Willis by 14 strikeouts. With 10 homers this year, Pedro Alvarez is now in 10th place with 32. He needs four homers to move past Greg Smith into ninth place on the all-time list.