March 12, 2009
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No. 14 Ole Miss (9-3, 0-0 SEC) at Vanderbilt (10-4, 0-0 SEC) — Hawkins Field (3,700)
Friday, March 13 at 6 p.m. CT; Saturday, March 14 at 3 p.m.; Sunday, March 15 at 1 p.m.
Series History vs. Ole Miss
Ole Miss leads all-time 57-48-2 in a series that dates back to 1900. Last season the Rebels won four of five contests including a three-game sweep during the regular season in Oxford. For the second year in a row the teams met in the Southeastern Conference semifinals with the Rebels advancing to the tournament championship.
Last Season
April 5, 2008: Ole Miss 7, Vanderbilt 6 (G1) – Oxford
April 5, 2008: Ole Miss 8, Vanderbilt 0 (G2) – Oxford
April 6, 2008: Ole Miss 11, Vanderbilt 6 – Oxford
May 24, 2008: Vanderbilt 7, Ole Miss 4 (G1) – Hoover, Ala.
May 24, 2008: Ole Miss 8, Vanderbilt 7 – Hoover, Ala.
Polls
Vanderbilt is not ranked in this week’s polls. Ole Miss is ranked No. 14 by Baseball America, No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 21 by the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 22 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 24 by Rivals.com.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 249-134 in his seventh season in Nashville. He is 355-272 in 13 seasons overall. He is 10-13 against the Rebels. Ole Miss’ Mike Bianco is 330-186-1 in his ninth season as the Rebels’ skipper and 430-257-1 in 12 seasons overall. He is 18-10 against the Commodores.
Radio/TV/Internet
All three contests can be heard in the Nashville area on 560 AM WNSR. Fans can also view the contests for free via webcast on vucommodores.com. Joe Fisher or Eric Jones will call the action. Live stats can also be accessed through www.vucommodores.com. Fans can also sign up for text updates via www.twitter.com/vandybaseball
What’s On Tap
Vanderbilt will open Southeastern Conference play this weekend as Ole Miss comes to town for a three-game series. The teams will start up on Friday at 6 p.m. and will continue at 3 p.m. on Saturday before closing things out at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Single game tickets and season tickets are available and can be purchased on-line at www.vucommodores.com or via the telephone (615) 322-GOLD.
Scouting Ole Miss
Ole Miss is 9-3 on the year and enters the weekend with a six-game winning streak. The Rebels swept a three-game series over Vermont last weekend and then took two from Austin Peay in midweek action.
The Rebels return seven position starters and 11 pitchers from last season’s 39-26 team that made a sixth straight NCAA tournament.
Shortstop Kevin Mort leads the team with a .425 batting average, while outfielder Logan Power is the top power source with three homers and 15 RBI to go along with a .364 average. Ole Miss is batting .334 as a team with 13 homers, 26 doubles and 113 runs scored in 12 games (9.4 per game).
Sophomore left-hander Drew Pomeranz (1-0, 2.57 ERA) will start in the opener Friday night, with junior right-hander Phillip Irwin (2-0, 1.73 ERA) scheduled to go on Saturday. The Rebels did not announce Sunday’s starter as of Thursday night.
Over The Last 10 Games
The Commodores opened the season with a four-game road trip in California and came back to town with a 1-3 mark. All three of the losses were by one run and the Commodores led late in every contest. Since that time VU has gone 9-1 and carries a four-game winning streak into Friday nights contest against Ole Miss. Offensively the Commodores have hit at a .352 clip with eight homers, 28 doubles and 102 runs scored (10.2 per game). VU has posted a 2.80 ERA in that span with 92 strikeouts and 26 walks in 90.0 innings of work. The team has also stepped up it defensive play with just eight errors (.979 fielding percentage), compared to eight in the first four contests alone.
Second Year Players Westlake and Casali On Fire
Two of the players that are leading the way offensively are second year players Aaron Westlake and Curt Casali, both of whom saw limited action as true freshmen a year ago.
Westlake played in 15 games with four starts in 2008 and hit .241 with four RBI before missing the last two months of the season due to a blood clot in his arm. He ended up receiving a medical redshirt and started this season as the designated hitter. The California native has hit from the very beginning of the year and now leads the Southeastern Conference in hitting with a .500 batting average and in hits with 26. He is getting on base at a .550 clip and has also made the transition to catcher due to injuries to Andrew Giobbi and Casali. Westlake had never played the position prior to January practice and now has eight starts behind the plate entering the weekend.
Casali played in 28 games, including 17 starts last season while serving as the backup to three-year starter Shea Robin. He hit a game-winning homer against Middle Tennessee on March 26 and ended up with a .317 batting average, two homers and 13 RBI. The Connecticut native was penciled in as the starting catcher this season but an arm injury has caused him to move to first base. The injury has had no impact to his bat as he is hitting .420 with five homers, four doubles and 19 RBI through the first 14 games. He has an eight game hitting streak and has really turned it on over the last five games, going 11-for-17 (.647) with three homers and six RBI.
Commodores Pound Lipscomb
Vanderbilt broke open a 5-3 game through the first five innings with 17 runs through the final four innings in a 22-4 win over Lipscomb Tuesday afternoon at Ken Dugan Field.
The Commodores claimed both games of the season series against the Bisons (5-7) and improved to 10-4 on the year.
The 22 runs scored were the most by a Vanderbilt team under head coach Tim Corbin and the most since scoring 22 against Yale at home in 2000.
Curt Casali went 3-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored in leading the 19-hit attack. The late inning barrage allowed the Commodores to use several reserves with the highlight being Drew Fann delivering a pinch-hit grand slam homer in the eighth inning. Fann belted the first collegiate pitch he saw over the wall in left-center plating four of the six runs in the inning.
Several Commodores got in on the action offensively as Aaron Westlake, Gabe Ortiz, Alex McClure and Jordan Wormsley recorded two hits apiece. Ortiz, McClure and Wormsley each achieved the mark coming off the bench.
Steven Liddle recorded two RBI without the virtue of a hit through his first five at-bats before belting a two-run homer, his first collegiate round-tripper, in the ninth inning.
Grayson Garvin made his first collegiate start on the mound and gave up three runs on six hits in 3.1 innings of work with five strikeouts and two walks. Drew Hayes came on in relief of a 5-3 game and stabilized it on the mound holding the Bison hitless in 3.2 innings of scoreless work with five strikeouts and two walks. Richie Goodenow pitched a scoreless eighth and Mark Lamm closed it out in the ninth, allowing a solo homer with two strikeouts.
Lipscomb plated two runs in the first inning on a RBI double by Justin Sanders and a RBI single by Branden Cadavid.
The Commodores took advantage of Lipscomb starter Jerry Young’s wildness in the second, scoring three runs via a bases loaded hit by pitch of Alex Hilliard and a bases loaded walk to Brian Harris and Curt Casali.
The Bison scored a run in the second on a RBI grounder and then the Commodores responded with a run in the third on a RBI double by Jonathan White and another run in the fourth on a RBI groundout by Steven Liddle.
VU broke open the game with five runs in the sixth, with the key hits a two-run double by Westlake and a three-run double by Joe Loftus. They added three runs in the seventh with Curt Casali hitting a solo homer, his fifth of the year. Alex McClure added a RBI single in the frame.
The Commodores sent 10 men to the plate in the eighth, capped off with Fann’s grand slam to center.
Liddle and Cotham Steady Performers
Third-year players Steven Liddle and Caleb Cotham have also excelled through the first part of the season. Liddle is third on the team with a .364 average to go with six doubles, a triple, a homer and 14 RBI. He carries a 10-game hitting streak into this weekend’s play and has made a seamless transition from a part-time outfielder/infielder to the permanent starter in right.
Cotham leads the team with 3-0 record and a 1.29 ERA. He leads the SEC with 21.0 innings pitched and has 20 strikeouts and just six walks in that span. The Mount Juliet native held then No. 5 Stanford to just three hits in seven innings of work with seven strikeouts and a walk in a 12-9 Commodore win. He is now 10-6 in his career with a 3.78 ERA.
Commodore Tidbits
Vanderbilt went 4-1 on the week and finished a nine game homestand with an 8-1 record … The Commodores hit .307 on the week with eight doubles, a triple, five homers and 35 runs scored (7 per game). The pitching staff sported a 2.80 ERA with 46 strikeouts and 13 walks in 45.0 innings … Caleb Cotham improved to a team best 3-0 Saturday after limiting UIC to an unearned run in six innings with just four hits allowed while striking out eight and walking three … Taylor Hill picked up a midweek win over Lipscomb and then pitched 3.1 innings of relief on Sunday against UIC to pick up a save. He gave up three runs on four hits in six innings against the Bison with six strikeouts. Hill then allowed four hits and an unearned run in his stint against the Flames … Preseason All-American Mike Minor recorded his second no-decision of the year against UIC last Thursday. He scattered eight hits over seven innings and allowed just one run while striking out seven and walking two. When he left after the seventh, the game was tied at 1-1 … Drew Hayes had a solid week of relief work, allowing just one hit in four innings with four strikeouts and a walk … Chase Reid also had a strong showing with three innings of three-hit scoreless relief against UIC on Saturday. He struck out four and did not walk a batter … First baseman Curt Casali went 9-for-16 (.563) with two homers, five RBI and nine runs scored on the week. He walked three times, was hit twice and did not strikeout for a .636 on-base percentage … Catcher Aaron Westlake went 9-for-21 (.429) with two doubles, a homer, eight RBI and four runs scored … Third baseman Jason Esposito went 8-for-21 (.381) with two doubles, a triple, a homer, eight RBI (.714 slugging percentage) and six runs scored while also stealing three bases. He also played a flawless third with no errors in 13 opportunities … Freshman Riley Reynolds has a five-game hitting streak … The Commodores made just four errors in the five games for a .979 fielding percentage.
Minor Named To National Award Watch Lists
Junior southpaw Mike Minor has garnered several mentions for national awards and preseason All-American teams.
He was named to the Golden Spikes Award and Brooks Wallace Award Watch Lists, both honors given to the top player in college baseball.
Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball tabbed him a second-team preseason All-American while the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association had him on its third team.
Last season Minor tied for the team lead in wins with seven, finishing with a 7-3 record with two complete games. As a freshman in 2007, he went 9-1 and sports a 16-4 career mark into the 2009 season.
Minor served as the ace of the USA Baseball National team squad that went 24-0 over the summer and captured the FISU World University Championships in the Czech Republic in July. He went 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA during the tour with 37 strikeouts and 13 walks in a team high 36 innings.
The Chapel Hill, Tenn., native two biggest performances came against the Cuban National team in a span of a week last July. The Cuban contingent was the same team, minus one player, that captured the 2004 Olympic gold medal and was the runner-up at the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
Minor threw 6.1 innings of four-hit shutout baseball in a 1-0 win on July 6 at the Haarlem Baseball Week In Harleem, Netherlands. He followed that up in his next start by allowing just an unearned run on four hits over six innings in the gold medal clinching game of the tourney on July 13.
Minor completed his two-year National team run with an 8-2 record and a 1.17 ERA with 74 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 69 innings of action.
Vanderbilt Newcomers Among Nation’s Best
For the second time in four seasons, Vanderbilt’s baseball recruiting class has been ranked in the Top 3 in the country.
Baseball America ranked the class second in the country while Collegiate Baseball had the class ranked at No. 3. Both publications listed Arizona State as having the No. 1 class, while Collegiate Baseball had Oregon at No. 2 with a 35 member class in its first season back since being eliminated as a varsity sport after the 1980-81 season.
13 members of the class reported to school in August with three other players choosing the professional ranks. Of the 13 that are in school, eight were drafted and decided to play collegiately.
The coaching staff put together the class in anticipation of a mass exodus following the 2008 season. The Commodores lost seven offensive players who had started over the last three years, including first round draft picks Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Flaherty as well as the school’s all-time hits leader Dominic de la Osa.
Of Perfect Game’s Top 250 prospects for college, high school and Puerto Rico, 32 players from high school did not sign professional contracts and are attending Division I schools or junior colleges. Of the 32, Vanderbilt had five players, the most of any school in the country.
Facility Upgrades Are Complete
Two seasons ago temporary bleachers were put out in right field due to Vanderbilt’s first ever NCAA regional at Hawkins Field. The success of that regional set in motion plans to add permanent bleachers from right to the left-field “Green Monster”. Those bleachers were added in the offseason along with 200 additional chairback seats down the first base line, bringing the seating capacity to 3,700. Season tickets are still available for both the chairbacks and bleacher seats. Fans can purchase them via www.vucommodores.com or via the ticket office at (615) 322-GOLD.
Also added in the Baseball Fieldhouse is a new Hall of Honor showcasing the top players and teams in Vanderbilt history. Video highlights of recent seasons are also available via a touchscreen monitor in the facility.