April 3, 2008
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VANDERBILT GAMEDAY CENTRAL
No. 6 Vanderbilt (19-7, 5-3 SEC) at Ole Miss (17-11, 4-5)
Oxford-University Stadium (5,000) in Oxford, Miss.
Friday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: 560 AM)
Mike Minor (3-1, 2.44 ERA) vs. Lance Lynn (4-0, 2.52) 
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Saturday, April 5 at 4 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: 560 AM)
Caleb Cotham (4-1, 3.31 ERA) vs. Drew Pomeranz (1-1, 2.74) | Follow Live Stats
Sunday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. CT (TV: None; Radio: 560 AM)
TBA vs. Cody Satterwhite (2-1, 4.18) | Follow Live Stats
2008 VU STATISTICS
VU Game Notes | 2008 Statistics | SEC Standings & Leaders
OLE MISS LINKS
Official Website | Statistics & Schedule/Results
Series History
Ole Miss leads 53-47-2 in a series that dates back to 1900. The Commodores have won the last three regular season series and eight of the last 12 contests. Last season Vanderbilt won two games against the Rebels in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament to advance to the championship game.
2007 Results
03/16: VU 3, OM 2 (10), Nashville
03/17: OM 6, VU 1, Nashville
03/18: VU 7, OM 6, Nashville
03/26: VU 13, OM 1 (8), Hoover, Ala.
03/26: VU 7. OM 6 (10), Hoover, Ala.
Polls
Vanderbilt is ranked in all the national polls, with a high ranking of No. 6 by National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Baseball America and ESPN/Sports Weekly ranks VU No.8, while Collegiate Baseball has the Dores at No. 13. Ole Miss is ranked No. 23 in the ESPN/Sports Weekly Poll and No. 27 by the NCBWA. All of the National Polls can be found on page 6 of the release.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 217-115 in his sixth season as head coach. He is 9-9 against the Rebels all-time. Ole Miss’ Mike Bianco is 259-143-1 in his eighth season in Oxford. He is 399-239-1 in nine years overall. Bianco is 14-10 against Vanderbilt all-time.
Radio/TV/Internet
All three games will be broadcast on WNSR 560 AM in Nashville. In addition you can catch the internet version of the broadcast via www.vucommodores.com. “Voice of the Commodores” Joe Fisher will call the action. Live stats can also be accessed through Ole Miss Athletics official website: www.OleMissSports.com.
What’s On Tap
Vanderbilt travels to Oxford, Miss., this weekend to take on Ole Miss in the third of five-straight Southeastern Conference series against Western Division foes. The Commodores and Rebels will open the set on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT with a 4 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1:30 p.m. first pitch on Sunday. Last season VU won four of the five meetings with three of them coming in the final at-bat.
Scouting Ole Miss
Ole Miss, preseason No. 4 by Baseball America, opened the year with nine straight wins, but have gone 7-11 since. The Rebels took two of three against arch-rival Mississippi State in the SEC opener three weeks ago but have lost two of three to Florida and Alabama over the last couple of weeks. OM snapped a five-game losing streak against the Crimson Tide on Sunday and defeated Memphis, 5-4, in midweek action on Wednesday.
Junior third baseman Cody Overbeck leads the team in hitting with a .358 batting average to go with seven homers and 25 RBI. As a team, Ole Miss is hitting .305 with 29 homers and 202 runs scored in 28 games (7.21 runs per game.)
Junior right-hander Lance Lynn (4-0, 2.52 ERA) will start for the Rebels on Friday with freshman left-hander Drew Pomeranz (1-1, 2.74 ERA) scheduled to go on Saturday. Junior right-hander Cody Satterwhite (2-1, 4.18 ERA) will close things out with the start on Sunday. Junior right-hander Scott Bittle is the Ole Miss relief specialist with a 1-1 record and 1.53 ERA. He has two saves and 55 strikeouts and just 11 walks in 29.1 innings. As a team, the Rebels sport a 3.51 ERA with 268 strikeouts and 95 walks in 251.0 innings.
Pedro Alvarez Returns
Junior third baseman Pedro Alvarez returned to action on Tuesday after missing 23 games due to a broken bone in his right hand. The National Player of the Year candidate and two-time first-team All-American had successful surgery on Feb. 28 and was expected to return in a minimum of six weeks. He made his return a little over four weeks after the surgery.
Alvarez suffered the injury in his second at-bat against Oregon State in the season opener. It happened on the swing and was not due to being hit or via contact with the ball. The New York City native is considered the top junior professional prospect by Baseball America and is on the initial Golden Spikes and Brooks Wallace Award Watch Lists. He has led the USA Baseball National Team in hitting over the last two summers.
Alvarez entered the year with a career .359 batting average to go with 40 homers, 36 doubles and 132 RBI. His 40 homers is sixth all-time in school history and nine away from tying Scotti Madison’s mark of 49 set in four seasons from 1977-80.
Alvarez doubled in his return against Southeast Missouri and had the game-winning RBI against Middle Tennessee on Wednesday.
Freshmen Relievers Shine On Mound
This season Vanderbilt is relying on several redshirt and true freshmen on the mound, with Russell Brewer and Chase Reid excelling out of the bullpen.
Brewer, a redshirt freshman, has been a consistent strike thrower out of the bullpen with 26 strikeouts and five walks in 22.0 innings. He enters the weekend with nine consecutive scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts and two walks in that span. He is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA and has two saves.
True freshman Chase Reid has not allowed an earned run in eight relief outings on the year and enters the weekend with a 2-0 record. The Southlake, Texas native has 21 strikeouts and 10 walks in 17.0 innings and forms a solid duo with Brewer out of the pen.
Minor Takes To Ace Role
Sophomore left-hander Mike Minor has made a nice transition into the Friday night starter role that was inhabited by 2007 Player of the Year David Price a year ago.
Minor heads into Friday’s game with a 3-1 record and a 2.44 ERA. He has 51 strikeouts and just 11 walks in 44.1 innings pitched (Leads SEC) on the year. His start against Arkansas was hampered by rain last Saturday and halted after he struck out the side in the fifth. He gave up a season high five runs in the five innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Against Alabama on March 21st, Minor struck out a career high 12 batters in a complete game 2-1 win over the Crimson Tide. He has recorded a quality start in five of six starts on the year and was just an out from recording three straight complete games. He was an out away from pitching a complete game shutout against Illinois-Chicago on March 6. Minor allowed a two-run double and completed the game in a 2-1 loss. He threw 8.2 innings against South Carolina and struck out 10 with a walk in a no-decision on March 14.
The Chapel Hill, Tenn., native went 9-1 with a 3.09 ERA with 88 strikeouts and 19 walks in 90.1 innings en route to Freshman All-American honors in 2007. He was named the SEC Freshman of the Year by sebaseball.com and also played on Team USA, finishing with a team best five wins and 1.64 ERA.
He is on the initial Roger Clemens Award Watch List, an award that David Price won in 2007.
Commodores Rally Past Middle Tennessee To Take Season Series
Nick Christiani, Chase Reid and Russell Brewer held Middle Tennessee scoreless for the final 5.1 innings as Vanderbilt rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 6-5 Wednesday night at Reese Smith Field.
The Commodores took the season series over the Blue Raiders to improve to 19-7 and snapped a two-game losing skid in Murfreesboro.
Nick Christiani (2-1) pitched three innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win. He gave up three hits with three walks and two strikeouts and left the game with a 6-5 lead. Chase Reid relieved him with runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh and got Zach Barrett to strike out to end the threat.
Middle Tennessee had the tying run at second with one out in the eighth, but Reid once again got out of the situation striking out Riley Bishop and getting Bryce Brent to fly out to deep left to keep the one run lead.
Russell Brewer came on in the ninth and gave up a leadoff double to Tyler Burnett. A sacrifice bunt by Taylor Dennis advanced him to third with one out. Brewer then buckled down and struck out Tyler Acker and got Zach Barrett to pop out to second to end the game.
Middle Tennessee’s Zach Barrett singled to lead off the first and scored on Nathan Hines RBI double to left-center to give the Blue Raiders an early 1-0 lead.
Parker Hanks solo homer, his second of the year, in the second tied the game at 1-1.
The Blue Raiders tallied three runs in the second to take a 4-3 lead. Bryce Brentz led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a single by Tyler Burnett. Taylor Dennis brought Brentz home on a single up the middle. Two more runs scored on a fielder’s choice RBI by Zach Barrett. He hit a possible double play ball to short that second baseman Alex Feinberg threw low to first on the turn to allow a run to score.
VU took advantage of MTSU starter’s Chad Edwards control problems in the third to plate two runs to cut the lead to 4-3. The first run came on a wild pitch and the second on a bases loaded walk to Alex Feinberg.
The Dores then tied the game in the fourth on a RBI single by Dominic de la Osa. Shea Robin walked and moved to second when a catcher’s interference call allowed David Macias to reach first. Robin then scored on de la Osa’s two-out single to left.
MTSU took the lead back in the bottom half on a RBI single by Tyler Acker to make it 5-4.
Steven Liddle’s RBI double off the wall in left-center scored Alex Feinberg from second in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5.
The Commodores took the lead for the first time in the game in the sixth when David Macias scored on a RBI grounder by Pedro Alvarez.
Commodore Tidbits
Vanderbilt went 4-0 last week with a pair of back-to-back12 inning wins. The Commodores swept midweek games over Belmont and Middle Tennessee before taking two from Arkansas over a rain soaked weekend at Hawkins Field. Friday night’s game was postponed and Saturday’s contest started on time at 3 p.m. but was interrupted by rain that caused a five-hour delay. The teams restarted play at 9:45 p.m. and continued on into extra innings before being suspended in the top of the 12th at 12 a.m. per SEC curfew rules. The teams picked up the game at 1 p.m. on Sunday and VU won it on a walk off double by Brian Harris in the bottom of the 12th. The Dores then captured the lone seven-inning contest, 6-2, to claim the series (the third game could not be played due to the SEC travel policies regarding three games on Sunday). The series win over the Razorbacks was the first ever for Vanderbilt in 11 opportunities dating back to 1994 … VU is now 5-3 in the SEC, which would be good for first place in the Western Division but puts them currently in fourth place in the Eastern Division … Alex Feinberg continues his torrid start to the season hitting .500 on the week (8-for-16) with a double and five RBI. He went 5-for-6 in the first game against Arkansas and was one hit shy of the school record. Feinberg was the lone Commodore starter to hit over .300 for the week … Freshman Aaron Westlake made the most of his four games of action last week, including two starts, as he went 4-for-10 with a double and four RBI. Three of them came as the cleanup hitter in the Dores second win over Arkansas …. Parker Hanks also fared well in his two starts going 3-for-6 … Curt Casali had only one hit in his four at bats last week, but he made it count with a two-run walk off homer against MTSU on Wednesday to end a five hour contest in 12 innings … Pitching wise, Russell Brewer continues his stellar start to his pitching career. A converted infielder, Brewer has shown the ability to throw strikes out of the pen and got out of two first and third and no outs situations on the week. He pitched eight scoreless innings of relief and allowed six hits while striking out 11 and walking two … Freshman Taylor Hill snagged two wins in relief while pitching three innings of shutout baseball with five strikeouts and a walk … Chase Reid threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief with six strikeouts and three walks … Richie Goodenow made good on his first SEC appearance against Arkansas in Sunday’s seven inning game, getting out of a bases loaded situation with one out in the sixth by striking out the first batter he faced and inducing a ground ball to end the scoring threat … The Commodores are playing nine of the next 11 away from Hawkins Field.
The 200-Hit Club
Coming into the season Dominic de la Osa was the lone active Commodore in the 200 hit club. Alex Feinberg and Ryan Flaherty have joined him on the exclusive list with David Macias and Pedro Alvarez not far behind. De la Osa now has 252 hits in his four-year career, good for fifth on the all-time list. Feinberg has 235 in his four years and is currently ninth, while Flaherty has 215 in just his third year, good for 15th best in school history. Macias is just two hits away from joining them with 198, while the just returning Alvarez is 15 short with 185.