May 19, 2009
| No. 1 Seed LSU (41-15, 20-10 SEC) vs. No. 8 Seed Vanderbilt (31-24, 12-17) Regions Park (10,800) in Hoover, Ala. |
May 20 at 5 p.m. CT
TV: CSS; Radio: 560 AMMike Minor LHP, Jr. (5-4, 3.72 ERA) vs.
Austin Ross RHP, So. (5-6, 5.07 ERA)
Visit SEC Tournament Central with Bracket
Follow VandyBaseball & Coach Corbin on Twitter
to get news and scores on your mobile phone
VU’s 2009 Stats | SEC Statistics
VU’s Game Notes | LSU’s Preview
Follow VUcommodores’ Blog from Hoover
Series History vs. LSU
LSU leads 48-30 in a series that dates back to 1954. The Commodores have won five of the last seven meetings dating back to the 2006 season. Wednesday’s contest will be the fourth time the teams have met in the SEC tourney, with the Tigers sporting a 3-0 record in the prior games.
Recent Results
May 22, 2008: LSU 8, Vanderbilt 2 (Hoover, Ala.)
May 19, 2007: Vanderbilt 4, LSU 1 (Nashville)
May 18, 2007: Vanderbilt 6, LSU 2 (Nashville)
May 17, 2007: Vanderbilt 6, LSU 2 (Nashville)
May 14, 2006: Vanderbilt 8, LSU 4 (Baton Rouge)
May 13, 2006: Vanderbilt 19, LSU 4 (Baton Rouge)
May 12, 2006: LSU 4, Vanderbilt 3 (Baton Rouge)
Polls
LSU is ranked No. 2 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers, Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and Rivals.com, and No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. Vanderbilt is not ranked.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 270-154 in his seventh season in Nashville. He is 376-292 in 13 seasons overall. He is 9-7 against the Tigers. LSU’s Paul Manieri is 119-60-2 in his third season in Baton Rouge and is 983-552-6 in 27 seasons overall. He is 2-3 against Vanderbilt.
Radio/TV/Internet
Every contests of the SEC Tournament can be heard in the Nashville area on 560 AM WNSR and on the internet via www.vucommodores.com. Joe Fisher will call all the action this week in Hoover. Fans can also sign up for text updates via www.twitter.com/vandybaseball and follow livestats through www.vucommodores.com. SECSports.com will have live webcasts for every game this week. CSS will televise Wednesday’s contest with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Rusty Ensor (analysis) calling the game.
What’s On Tap
No. 8 seed Vanderbilt opens the Southeastern Conference tournament with a matchup against the one team it didn’t face all season, No. 1 LSU on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Regions Park. If the Commodores win they would face the winner of the No. 4 seed Alabama- No. 5 seed South Carolina on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. If VU were to lose to the Tigers, they would face the loser of the Crimson Tide/Gamecocks game at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Scouting LSU
LSU is 41-15 overall and 20-10 in SEC play after taking two of three at Mississippi State over the weekend to clinch a share of the league title with Ole Miss. The Tigers owned the season tiebreaker over the Rebels, hence the No. 1 seed in the tourney.
The Tigers return eight prominent starters from last year’s team that caught fire at the end of the season and advanced to the College World Series. 2008 First-team All-American outfielder Blake Dean is hitting .330 overall with 14 homers and 58 RBI. The top power hitter on the club is outfielder Ryan Schimpf who is hitting .330 with 16 homers and 54 RBI. Junior outfielder Jared Mitchell is one of the top base stealers in the conference with 29 stolen bases in 36 attempts. As a team, LSU is hitting .316 with 87 homers, and 445 runs scored (7.9 per game).
Sophomore right-hander Austin Ross (5-6. 5.07 ERA) will get the start against the Commodores. The Tigers chose to rest their pair of aces in Louis Coleman (10-2, 2.99 ERA) and Anthony Ranaudo (7-3, 3.26) in the first game.
Freshman Matty Ott (3-2, 2.18 ERA) has developed into of the top closers in the country with 12 saves while also striking out 59 batters to just four walks in 30 appearances.
As a team the Tigers are pitching with a 4.30 ERA with 544 strikeouts and 142 walks in 492.1 innings.
Commodores Recent Success In SEC Tourney
Vanderbilt has had success in Hoover; reaching the finals in three of the last four times the team has advanced into the postseason, including winning the 2007 title against Arkansas. VU lost its first game against Tennessee before storming back for five straight wins to capture the crown. In doing so, it became the first team since Alabama in 1996 to win both the regular season and conference tourney trophies.
Last season the Dores went all the way to an elimination game on Saturday, but fell to the Rebels ending the chance of a repeat.
The Commodores are making their sixth SEC postseason appearance in seven years under Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. Prior to last year’s title, the Commodores lone tourney win came in 1980. VU is 27-22 overall in 13 previous appearances.
SEC Tournament History Under Corbin (14-8)
2008 Semifinal Round
Vanderbilt 7, Florida 3
LSU 9, Vanderbilt 2
Vanderbilt 7, Ole Miss 4
Ole Miss 8, Vanderbilt 7
2007- Champion
Tennessee 6, Vanderbilt 4
Vanderbilt 3, Mississippi State 2
Vanderbilt 15, Tennessee 2
Vanderbilt 13, Ole Miss 1 (8)
Vanderbilt 7, Ole Miss 6 (10)
Vanderbilt 7, Arkansas 4 (Championship)
2006 – Runner-up
Vanderbilt 9, Georgia 4
Vanderbilt 11, South Carolina 1 (7)
Georgia 5, Vanderbilt 4
Vanderbilt 11, Georgia 1 (7)
Ole Miss 9, Vanderbilt 3 (runner-up)
2004 – Runner-up
Vanderbilt 6, Georgia 0
Vanderbilt 3, Florida 0
Vanderbilt 6, Florida 5 (12)
South Carolina 3, Vanderbilt 2 (runner-up)
2003
Auburn 3, Vanderbilt 1
South Carolina 3, Vanderbilt 2
Commodore Tidbits
Vanderbilt went 0-3 against Tennessee to end the regular season last weekend. All three contests were close with the final two going into extra innings … The Commodores seven game winning streak over the Vols ended on Thursday and UT went on to sweep the Dores in Nashville for the first time ever in the three-game series format … Steven Liddle led the offense going 5-for-10 with a double and two RBI on the weekend … Brian Harris was 5-for-13 (.385) with a double, RBI and three runs scored against the Vols … Curt Casali went 3-for-8 (.375) with three runs scored and four walks in the three games … As a team, Vanderbilt hit .271 with a homer, seven doubles and 19 runs scored … Caleb Cotham made two relief appearances and did not allow a run of his own in 1.2 innings of work … VU used eight other pitchers, with each one getting touched for runs against a hot-hitting Volunteer team … VU took a 6-5 lead into the ninth of Saturday’s game before UT tied it and then won it in the 10th. It marked just the second time VU has lost while holding a lead after eight innings. They were 27-1 prior to that; with the lone come from behind loss against Cal in the fourth game of the season … The pitching staff’s ERA for the weekend was at 7.14 with 33 strikeouts and nine walks in 29.0 innings.
Cotham Knee Injury Causes Move To Bullpen
Sophomore right-hander Caleb Cotham has a partial tear of the lateral meniscus in his left knee, which will require surgery immediately following the season. He will pitch out of the bullpen for the remainder of the year.
Cotham was the Saturday starter for the first nine weeks of the season before suffering the injury prior to the Mississippi State series at the end of April. He is 5-5 with a 5.05 ERA with 69 strikeouts and 26 walks in 62.1 innings pitched. He has made three relief appearances since the injury including two last weekend against Tennessee.
Streaks of 2009
Vanderbilt’s 2009 season has been full of ups and downs. From starting the year 1-3 in a trip out west to playing without its top two catchers for a quarter of the year; the young Commodore squad has battled through some tough times. The team’s longest win streak was five games; while it has lost four games in a row three times, including a current skein heading into the LSU contest. Starting on April 10, VU swept a two-game series against Arkansas, was swept in three games against Alabama (April 17-18), took care of Mississippi State (April 24-26) in three, and then got swept at South Carolina (May 1-3). The team rebounded from the SC series by taking the first two games of the Georgia (May 8-10) series and only a ninth inning rally in the Sunday finale prevented a fourth straight series that ended in a sweep. The Commodores went right back to the on again, off again week by getting swept by Tennessee (May 14-16) last weekend in Nashville. Vanderbilt has posted wins over then No. 5 Stanford, No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 19 Florida, No. 1 Arkansas and No. 13 Georgia. At the same time the team has lost series to three of the four teams in the SEC that did not make the tournament (Kentucky, Auburn and Tennessee). If the trend holds true, this week in Hoover should be an up week.
Minor And Christiani Move Up Commodore Record Books
Last season Pedro Alvarez and Dominic de la Osa were chasing Vanderbilt offensive history. This season junior Mike Minor and senior Nick Christiani are moving up the pitching charts. Minor enters the weekend with 21 career victories, ninth all-time, while Christiani is 11th after picking up his 19th career win in a complete game shutout over Belmont on May 5. Minor is also in the Top 10 in strikeouts (287-5th) and innings pitched (283.1-9th).
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.