May 24, 2007
Visit SEC Tournament Central on VUcommodores.com
 |
|
Defense Saves the Day for Vanderbilt
Post-Game Column By Will Matthews
HOOVER, Ala. – For all David Price did Thursday in throwing a complete game five-hitter and ensuring Vanderbilt would live to see Friday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, the Commodores’ true saving grace came at the height of Price’s struggles.
With a runner on second and one out, and Vanderbilt already having watched its three-run cushion almost evaporate entirely, Mississippi State second baseman Brandon Turner bounced a single up the middle that looked sure to knot the game at three.
But in the finest defensive play of a day full of fielding gems for Vanderbilt, center fielder David Macias – mired in an offensive slump that has dropped his batting average under .300 for the first time since late March – delivered a strike to the plate that Price himself would have been proud of to cut down the tying run and ultimately preserve the Commodores’ victory.
“Macias made another good throw from the outfield, and it proved to be the difference,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin said.
Vanderbilt has scored just seven total runs in their first two games of the tournament, they have scored in just three of eighteen innings and the team has only nine total hits to its credit.
But the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and regular season champions of arguably the toughest baseball conference in the country still lives on, its hopes of becoming the first team to win the SEC’s regular season and tournament championships in the same year still intact because of the two things Corbin said on the eve of the tournament would prove to be most crucial: pitching and defense.
“As I told the kids after the game the defensive part today was huge for us,” Corbin said. “You have to bring that to Birmingham because it is a spacious ballpark and rarely do guys get four hits in a row and hit the long ball. The keys to the game are usually not making too many mistakes and to limit the opportunities of the opposition. We did that today.”
While Macias’ throw home in the seventh was the game changer, Vanderbilt’s defensive proclivities Thursday certainly did not end there. Shortstop Ryan Flaherty made a sparkling bare-handed pickup and throw to first to record an out in the second inning, and first baseman Andrew Giobbi – in the lineup primarily for his bat – made several fine plays as well.
And while Price racked up a double-digit strikeout total for the 11th time in 16 appearances this year – he had 11 strikeouts on the day Friday – he said following the game that having confidence in the defense behind him allows him to just concentrate on throwing strikes.
“When you have the confidence in the eight guys around you that they are going to make plays, it is easy to just let the hitters put the ball in play because you know that your fielders are going to make plays behind you,” said Price, who allowed two earned runs on five hits while walking none in throwing a complete game. “It makes it a lot easier to pitch.”
Winning this tournament after losing the first game – a feat achieved only three times in the tournament’s 30-year history – is an almost impossible task. After falling Wednesday night to rival Tennessee and thus being faced with having to win five consecutive games to do so, Vanderbilt still has an uphill climb ahead of itself.
But if there is a team in the field capable of pulling it off, Vanderbilt, which ranked third in the SEC in fielding percentage during the year and which is armed with perhaps the conference’s deepest pitching staff, might just be that team.
“We were really focused on pitching and defense coming into this tournament,” Flaherty said. “It is a huge yard and so a team’s defensive abilities are at a premium. We did a good job defensively today, and obviously our pitching was about as good as it could have been. If we keep doing that we are going to be all right.”
Will Matthews spent three years as an investigative reporter with the Los Angeles Newspaper Group in Southern California. He earned his Master of Divinity degree in 2007 from Vanderbilt Divinity School. To email Will your feedback, Click Here