June 10, 2010
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Vanderbilt (45-18) vs. Florida State (45-17)
NCAA Tallahassee Super Regional
Friday, June 11 * 11 a.m. CT/ Noon ET * ESPN2
Saturday, June 12 * Noon CT/ 1 p.m. ET * ESPN
Sunday, June 13 * Noon CT/ 1 p.m. ET * ESPN (If Necessary)
Dick Howser Stadium (6,700)
Series History vs. Florida State
The teams met in a three-game series in 1972 with Vanderbilt winning the first game and Florida State rebounding to win the next two.
All-Time Results
March 27, 1972: Florida State 19, Vanderbilt 4 – Tallahassee
March 26, 1972: Florida State 4, Vanderbilt 3 – Tallahassee
March 25, 1972: Vanderbilt 11, Florida State 1 – Tallahassee
Polls
Vanderbilt is ranked No. 14 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 17 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll, No. 22 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 25 by Rivals.com and Baseball America. Florida State is ranked No. 10 in BA, No. 11 by Rivals.com and No. 12 by the NCBWA, the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll and in CB.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 321-175 in his eighth season in Nashville. He is 427-313 in 14 seasons overall. FSU’s Mike Martin is 1,624-555-4 in 31 seasons with the Seminoles.
Radio/TV/Internet
All of the games at the NCAA Tallahassee Super Regional can be heard in Nashville on 560 AM WNSR. Joe Fisher will call all the action.
Friday’s game will be televised on ESPN2, with the Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) games on ESPN. Bob Wischusen (Play-by-Play) and Mike Rooney (Analyst) will call the action.
Fans can sign up for text updates via www.twitter.com/vandybaseball and follow livestats for every game at www.vucommodores.com.
What’s On Tap
Vanderbilt is making its second NCAA Super Regional appearance (2004 was first) this weekend with a series against Florida State in Tallahassee. The winner of the three-game series will advance to the College World Series on Omaha starting on June 19. The Commodores and Seminoles will open the series on Friday at 11 a.m. CT and will play again on Saturday at Noon CT. If a third game is required it will be played on Sunday at Noon CT. Friday’s game will be televised on ESPN2 with Saturday and the if necessary game on Sunday scheduled for ESPN.
About Florida State
Florida State punched its ticket to the NCAA Super Regionals last weekend by winning three straight games in the NCAA Norwich Regional. The Seminoles defeated Central Connecticut State (11-3), before beating Oregon twice (W, 6-4 and W, 5-3). Florida State (45-17) went 18-12 in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season before winning its fifth ACC Tournament in school history at the end of May.
Individually, FSU is led by juniors Tyler Holt and Mike McGee. Holt earned Collegiate Baseball Second-Team All-American honors for the second straight year while McGee was a third-team all-american honoree as a relief pitcher.
Holt leads the team with a .349 average to go along with 24 doubles, 12 home runs and 29 stolen bases. McGee, a two-way player, is hitting .335 with a team-best 14 home runs and 67 RBI. The FSU lineup has five players with at least 8 home runs and four players with at least 48 RBI.
As a team, Florida State is hitting .300 with a team on-base percentage of .414 and slugging .495. The Seminoles have also shown that they have some speed on the base paths while converting 94-of-110 attempts.
On the mound, the Seminoles have a team ERA of 4.31 with 501 strikeouts in 546.2 innings. McGee is the team’s top pitcher out of the bullpen, boasting a 4-0 record with an astonishing 0.38 ERA and 11 saves. Opponents are hitting just .103 off him. FSU has used a variety of arms in the weekend rotation as five players have made at least six starts.
Lefthanders Sean Gilmartin and John Gast have started 28 games between the two of them and have ERA’s of above 4.70.
FSU is making its third straight Super Regional and its 10th Super Regional appearance in school history. The Seminoles are 26-8 at Dick Howser Stadium this year.
NCAA Tournament History
Vanderbilt captured it’s second-ever NCAA regional championship last weekend in the Louisville Regional.
The Commodores had to bounce back from the loser’s bracket in Louisville and beat the host and No. 7 national seed Cardinals twice to move to the next round.
VU is making its second NCAA Super Regional after advancing to the round of 16 in 2004 when the team won the Charlottesville Regional. They faced the No. 1 overall seed Texas in Austin and lost two games.
The Dores are 19-16 all-time in NCAA play and have made the 64-team field a school record five straight times.
VU has reached the NCAA tourney six times in eight seasons under Corbin and has made the regional championship round in five of them.
Last season Vanderbilt entered the Louisville Regional as the No. 3 seed and dropped a 5-4 contest to No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee in the opening game. The Commodores then ran off three straight wins to force a second championship game against Louisville that Monday but lost 5-3.
In 2008, the Commodores went 1-2 as the No. 2 seed in the Tempe Regional. They lost to No. 3 seed Oklahoma in the first round, before rebounding to win against No. 4 seed Stony Brook. The Dores were then eliminated on a walk-off homer to Oklahoma.
In 2007, VU hosted for the first-time in school history as the No. 1 National Seed. VU made the regional championship game for the second straight year, but lost to Michigan.
In 2006, the Dores advanced to the championship round of the NCAA Atlanta Regional before falling to host and eventual College World Series team Georgia Tech.
Vanderbilt is 16-10 in NCAA tournament games under Tim Corbin. Prior to his arrival in 2003, the Commodores were 3-6 in three previous appearances.
Louisville Regional Notes
Vanderbilt went 4-1 in the regional, advancing from the loser’s bracket to win the team’s first regional title since 2004 … Several players had huge weekends with tournament Most Outstanding Player Richie Goodenow leading the way. The junior left-hander, normally a relief specialist but forced into making his first start of the year, held Louisville to just two hits in a complete game shutout on Sunday. That win forced a winner-take all game on Monday … Third baseman Jason Esposito, first baseman Aaron Westlake, and outfielders Connor Harrell and Joe Loftus were named to the All-Tournament team … Esposito went 10-for-21 (.476) with two doubles, a homer, five RBI and two stolen bases to lead the offense … Loftus was second on the team with a .316 batting average (6-for-19) with two doubles, a homer, three RBI and five runs scored … Westlake was 6-for-20 (.300) with two homers, seven RBI and eight runs scored … Harrell struggled at the plate at times but made a great catch at the wall in the deciding game on Monday that robbed U of L of a two-run homer and then his safety squeeze bunt in the 10th won the game to send the Commodores to the Super Regional … On the mound several players put the team in a position to win with stellar relief … Chase Reid pitched 5.1 innings of one-hit scoreless relief with five strikeouts and two walks over three appearances … Drew Hayes pitched 4.2 innings of shutout baseball with three strikeouts and four walks, while picking up the win on Friday over Illinois State … Grayson Garvin pitched a team-high 10.1 innings in two games in the tourney, allowing two runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts and three walks. He started Monday’s game against Louisville and limited them to one run on three hits in 6.1 innings of work … As a team the pitching staff sported a 2.94 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 24 walks in 49.0 innings. Opponents hit just .201 against the Dores.
Gomez Named Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American
Freshman second baseman Anthony Gomez was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball this week.
Gomez currently leads the Commodores with a .377 batting average with two homers and 28 RBI in 57 starts on the year. He is one of the toughest players to strikeout in the nation with just eight strikeouts in 204 at bats on the year.
The New Jersey product is also a fine fielding second baseman with just five errors on the season and sports a .971 on base percentage.
Brian Harris Sets NCAA Record
Senior shortstop Brian Harris set a new NCAA record when he was hit for the 36th time this season in the championship game against Louisville on Monday.
He surpassed Creighton’s Robbie Knight who set the previous mark of 35 in 60 games in 2007.
Harris has been hit 70 times in his four-year career and unless he is barraged by a ton of pitches in NCAA play, the career mark of 109 times by Notre Dame’s Brett Lilley (2005-08) appears to be safe.
Giobbi Approaching Doubles Mark
Senior catcher Andrew Giobbi has currently recorded 56 doubles in his career, good for third place on the school’s all-time list. He has 15 this season and is five behind Sean Luellwitz (61 from 1999-2002) for second place. Former teammate Dominic de la Osa holds the school record with 63 from 2005-08.
In addition, Giobbi was named one of 16 semifinalists for the 2010 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award on Wednesday, May 19.
The Portland, Maine, native has had an outstanding season thus far behind the plate, having thrown out 24 of 56 runners attempting to steal. He has also caught a pitching staff (calls own game) that has a stellar 3.58 team ERA; second best in the SEC. Offensively he usually bats in the middle of the order and enters the Super Regional with a .289 batting average with seven homers and 56 RBI.
Giobbi and LSU catcher Micah Gibbs were the lone representatives from the SEC to make the semifinal list.
This is the second year in a row “Gio” has been named to the watch list and the first time he has advanced as a semifinalist.
Gray Goes Over Century Mark In Strikeouts
With Sonny Gray’s 10 strikeouts in two appearances in the Louisville Regional, the sophomore righthander now has 110 K’s on the season
He is the 11th Commodore to join the 100 strikeout club and is just two strikeouts shy of tying Jeff Peeples (113- 1973) for seventh place on the school’s single season list.
The single season leader is David Price with 194 in 2007.
Brewer Closing On Saves Record
Redshirt junior Russell Brewer recorded his sixth save of the season in the Commodores 11-10 win over Middle Tennessee on April 21, giving him 18 saves in his career. He needs one more to tie Ryan Rote who notched 19 saves in two seasons as a Commodore. Brewer is seventh in the SEC in saves and sports a 2.57 earned run average in 18 relief appearances with 38 strikeouts and seven walks in 28.0 innings pitched. He was added to the Stopper of the Year Watch List on April 15.
Commodores Had Longest Road Trip In College Baseball
As Division I baseball starts up this week across the country, one Vanderbilt record that will not be beaten is longest trip of the year. Vanderbilt traveled 6,648 miles to Tokyo, Japan and an additional 1,797 miles to Hong Kong over the Thanksgiving holiday week. Due to a generous gift by Vanderbilt alum Bill Kaye, the Commodores were able to fly to Japan and face four of the top teams in Japan’s collegiate system. Along with the quality competition the kids were able to experience different cultures, each with their own unique traditions and histories. The team went 1-1-2 on the field and learned valuable lessons off the field as well.