May 22, 2007
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Visit SEC Tournament Central on VUcommodores.com
View Neil Brake’s Photo Gallery from Tuesday’s Practice
Tuesday’s Video Interview with Coach Corbin at the SEC Tournament
No. 1 Vanderbilt (46-10, 22-8 SEC)
vs. No. 8 Tennessee (33-23, 13-15 SEC)
Wednesday, May 23 at 5 p.m. CT
SEC Tournament First Round
Regions Park (10,800)
Series History vs. Tennessee
UT leads 161-135-2 all-time and is 5-1 against the Commodores in the SEC Tournament. The teams last met in the tourney in 1995 and split a pair of games.
Regular Season Series in Nashville
April 22, 2007: VU 7, Tennessee 6
April 21, 2007: VU 4, Tennessee 3
April 20, 2007: VU 3, Tennessee 1
Polls
Vanderbilt is ranked No. 1 by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches Poll, Rivals.com and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Poll. Tennessee is not ranked.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 190-105 in his fifth season as head coach. He is 11-4 against Tennessee. UT’s Rod Delmonico is 698-394 in his 18th year in Knoxville. He is 35-23 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 tournament will be broadcast locally in Nashville on WNSR 560 AM. “Voice of the Commodores” Joe Fisher will call all of the action for Vanderbilt.
All games of the 2007 SEC Baseball Tournament will be broadcast on SEC Channel 201 on XM Satellite Radio as well. Kentucky’s radio crew of Neil Price (Play-By-Play) and Dick Gabriel (Color) will call the action.
The first two days of the tournament will be televised regionally on CSS and in HD for customers who have it (Channel 201 in Nashville). Matt Stewart (Play-By-Play) and Rusty Ensor (Color) will call the action in Wednesday’s game.
Check out vucommodores.com and its SEC Tournament Central for live stats links, postgame video and a variety of information about and around the tourney.
What’s On Tap
No. 1 Vanderbilt, the Southeastern Conference regular season champion, heads down to Hoover, Ala., for the conference tournament this week. The Commodores will face in-state foe Tennessee (No. 8 seed) in the opening round on Wednesday at 5 p.m. If VU wins it will face the winner of the No. 4 seed Mississippi State/No. 5 seed Ole Miss contest on Thursday at 8 p.m. If they lose, they will face the loser of the above contest on Thursday at 1 p.m. in an elimination game.
Winning A Championship
Since the SEC began recognizing the regular season leader as the conference champion, Vanderbilt had yet to capture that award on the baseball diamond. That changed on Thursday night as the team defeated LSU 4-1 and then listened as Ole Miss defeated Arkansas, ensuring the first ever SEC regular season crown. The team had captured titles in 1973, 1974 and 1980 when they were decided by a three-game series between division winners (1973-74) or in a tournament (1980) with the top two seeds from each division playing each other.
This week the Commodores goal is to become the first team since Alabama in 1996 to win both the regular season and tournament crown.
SEC Tournament Success
Vanderbilt is making its third SEC tournament appearance under Tim Corbin and has reached the tourney finals in his last two showings in 2004 and in 2006. The Commodores lone tournament championship came in 1980 and they have three runner-up finishes including the 1994 season. For the complete tourney history, refer to page 16 of the notes.
Scouting Tennessee
Tennessee is 33-23 overall and finished with a 13-15 record in SEC play after winning two of three at Florida over the weekend.
Centerfielder Julio Borbon, a lock to be a first-round pick in June, leads the team with a .346 batting average to go along with nine stolen bases in 11 attempts. Catcher J.P. Arencibia is the top power source with eight homers and 40 RBI. UT is hitting .300 as a team with 47 homers and 385 runs scored on the year.
The pitching staff sports a 4.95 team ERA with 408 strikeouts and 208 walks in 492.1 innings this season. Righthander Jeff Lockwood (2-2, 3.20) is the team’s closer with seven saves.
Junior southpaw James Adkins (6-7, 3.01 ERA) will start against the Commodores.
Commodores Remain No. 1 In National Ranking For Eighth Straight Week
With the series sweep over LSU last weekend, Vanderbilt remained the No. 1 team in the country in the five polls this week.
Baseball America, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the ESPN/Sports Weekly Coaches Poll all had the Commodores ranked No. 1 for the eighth straight week, while Collegiate Baseball put VU on top in its poll for the third straight week. Rivals.com put the Dores on top for the second straight week.
The Commodores have been ranked No. 1 in at least one of the polls in 13 of the last 14 weeks.
The Commodores at 46-10 are having the best year 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 46 wins (45 in 2004) are the most ever for a VU squad and the 22 wins in SEC play is also a school record, besting the 16 win years in 2004 and 2006.
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.
Dominic de la Osa In Select Company
Dominic de la Osa is one of a select number of players in Division I baseball this season with 15 or more homers and 15 or more stolen bases. The junior is one of seven players nationally to achieve the feat and is currently in line for All-American and All-SEC consideration. The Florida product leads the team with a .387 batting average to go with 17 homers, 20 doubles and 53 RBI. He leads the team with 18 stolen bases in 24 attempts and is also hitting .387 in 29 SEC games with 10 homers, 14 doubles and 32 RBI.
David Price and Dominic de la Osa Garner Weekly Honors
David Price and Dominic de la Osa wrapped up the regular season as weekly award winners by Collegiate Baseball and the Southeastern Conference on Monday.
Price was named the lone National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball after he struck out 15 batters in 8 2/3 innings in the Commodores 4-1 win over LSU last Thursday. He gave up one run on four hits as he improved to 10-0 on the season. The 15 strikeouts allowed him to shatter his own single-season school record of 155 strikeouts set a year ago. He now has 164 which ranks as the sixth most in SEC history.
Price’s outing also was recognized as the Southeast Regional Performance of the Week on InsidePitching.com.
De la Osa was named the SEC Hitter of the Week after hitting go ahead homers in both the Friday and Saturday games against LSU last weekend. De la Osa was 5-for-11 (.455) with two homers, a double and three RBIs with two stolen bases in the three games. It is the second time this season (4/30) he has picked up the weekly honor.
Commodore Tidbits
Vanderbilt (46-10, 22-8 SEC) captured its first ever regular season SEC crown and fourth league title (1973,1974.1980) in school history this weekend … The Dores swept their third straight conference home series against LSU this weekend and finished the year with eight consecutive SEC series wins. They captured nine of 10 with the only blemish a 2-1 series loss at Arkansas (SEC West Champs) … VU finished the regular season on a roll going 14-2 in its last 16 games … With Sunday’s regular season finale win, the Commodores broke the single season record of 45 victories set by the 2004 NCAA Super Regional team … The team finished the year as the SEC leader in batting average (.329) and finished second in team ERA (3.57) … The Commodores hit .333 with three homers and 16 runs scored in the LSU series, with the pitching staff giving up just five runs (1.67 ERA) with 31 strikeouts and eight walks in 27.0 innings … Ryan Flaherty extended his hit streak to 24 games over the weekend and is just three shy of tying the single season school record of Greg Thomas set in 1991. Warner Jones had a 32 game hit streak over two seasons in 2003-04 … Dominic de la Osa closed out the regular season going 5-for-11 (.455) with a double, two-game winning homers and three RBI. He closed out the regular season as the team leader in batting average (.387), HRs (17), 2Bs (20) and stolen bases (18). He is one of just seven players nationally to have 15 HRs and 15 stolen bases … Alex Feinberg went 5-for-9 (.556) in the series with a double and three runs scored and made the play of the series in the eighth inning of the series finale against LSU. His diving stop of a ball ticketed for the outfield with a runner at third avoided the Tigers the opportunity to tie the game up as he got the runner out at first to end the inning … Flaherty was also 5-for-9 (.556) with two doubles in the series … Pedro Alvarez went 4-for-10 with a double and two RBI against LSU … David Price struck out 15 and gave up just one run on four hits with three walks in 8.2 innings to move to a perfect 10-0 on the year. He became the Dores first 10-game winner since Jeremy Sowers in 2004. His 15 strikeouts gives him 164 for the year, shattering his single season record of 155 set a year ago. The Murfreesboro native heads to the SEC tourney with a 10-0 record and 2.76 ERA in 15 starts, including four complete games (an SEC high) … Casey Weathers closed out two of the three wins over the Tigers to record his sixth and seventh saves. He allowed one hit over 1.2 innings with a strikeout and finished tied with Price as the league wins leaders with 10 … Mike Minor returned to form against the Tigers, allowing two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks in 7.2 innings in Friday night’s win. The true freshman finished the regular season with a 8-1 record and 3.15 ERA as the No. 2 man in the weekend rotation … Cody Crowell closed out the strong weekend for the starters, scattering seven hits over seven innings while allowing just one run in the 6-2 series finale win. He struck out five and walked two to improve to 3-1 on the year … Ty Davis pitched 1.1 innings of hitless relief on Friday against LSU to pick up his first save of the year and second of his career. He has given up just one run in his last five appearances and is 2-0 in 19.1 innings with 18 strikeouts and just two walks and five hits allowed … The Commodores finished the regular season with a 31-2 mark at home, the lone losses to Ole Miss and Alabama in SEC play.
Trio Of Commodores Named Golden Spikes Award Semifinalists
USA Baseball announced that third baseman Pedro Alvarez and pitchers David Price and Casey Weathers were named semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award.
Vanderbilt had the most players named to the 50-man list for an award that honors the nation’s premier amateur baseball player.
Alvarez, the 2006 consensus National Freshman of the Year, is among the offensive leaders for the Commodores with a .382 batting average to go along with 15 homers and 57 RBI.
Price, one of five finalists for the award a year ago, is in the midst of his best season at Vanderbilt. The junior from Murfreesboro is 10-0 with a 2.76 ERA and has 164 strikeouts and 29 walks in 114 innings this season. He has tallied double-digit strikeouts in 10 of his 15 starts this year and leads the country in strikeouts.
Weathers is tied with Price for the team lead in wins with a 10-2 record to go with a 2.21 ERA. He leads the team with seven saves in 27 relief appearances and has 59 strikeouts in 40.2 innings. The California native was recently named the top senior pitching prospect by Baseball America and is projected to be a first round pick in the amateur draft in June.
All three players were on the 2006 USA Baseball National Team that won a gold medal at the World University Championships last August.
The names of the 50 semi-finalists will now be forwarded to a voting body of 125 who will select the five finalists and the eventual 2007 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Winner.
This year will mark the 30th consecutive year that the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award has been presented to the nation’s premier amateur baseball player. The winner’s name will be announced on June 29, 2007, during the 2007 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Show presented by Major League Baseball.
Price Adds To New School Career Strikeout Record
The beat continues for David Price who notched 15 strikeouts against LSU last Saturday to add to his school career strikeout record. He now has 411 in his career with one more regular season start remaining tomorrow. With nine strikeouts against Kentucky on April 13, the junior lefthander broke a 35-year old school record with 355 career strikeouts. With his fifth strikeout against the Wildcats, he broke Mike Willis’ school record of 350 set from 1969-72. Of note, Willis achieved the mark in four years at Vanderbilt, compared to Price in three. The fellow southpaw went on to a five-year career in the major leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays (1977-81) and finished with a 7-21 record and 15 saves with a 4.59 ERA.
In addition Price now has 164 strikeouts this season a new school single season record, besting his previous mark of 155 set a year ago.
Record Watch
With 15 homers this year, Pedro Alvarez is now in ninth place on the school’s career homer list with 37. He needs two homers to move past Greg Thomas into ninth place on the all-time list. Alvarez needs 12 more round-trippers to tie Scotty Madison’s mark of 49 set from 1977-80.