April 5, 2011
VANDERBILT RE-VU
The Commodores finished off the team’s first-ever sweep at Auburn on Sunday with a 6-2 win. The Dores used a four-run seventh inning to put the Tigers away. Vanderbilt scored eight runs in the eighth inning with two outs to beat Auburn 11-2 and clinch the series. Mike Yastrzemski’s two-run single ignited the rally. The Commodores pounded out a season-best 20 hits en route to an 11-6 win. Riley Reynolds drove in three runs and collected four hits in the win.
ON THE BUMP
Tuesday, April 5
RHP T.J. Percoraro (4-0, 1.93) vs. LHP Joey McClung (1-0, 3.98)
Friday, April 8
RHP Sonny Gray (6-1, 1.74) vs. TBA
Saturday, April 9
LHP Grayson Garvin (5-1, 2.36) vs. TBA
Sunday, April 10
RHP Taylor Hill (2-0, 2.84) vs. TBA
KEMP IS CO-FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Freshman Tony Kemp was named the co-Freshman of the Week by the Southeastern Conference on Monday. The Franklin, Tenn native was red-hot last week going 9-for-18 with seven runs scored and two RBI. The left fielder was even better over the weekend at Auburn going 8-for-14 (.571) setting a career-best with four hits on Friday, a career-high with three runs scored and matched a career-best with two RBI on Saturday and walked twice on Sunday to equal his career-high. In SEC games Kemp leads the team in average (.514), runs (11) and on-base percentage (.581). The honor is the first of his career and he shares it with South Carolina pitcher Forrest Koumas.
MOVING ON UP
Vanderbilt took over the top spot in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll this week and is now the top-ranked team in four of the five major polls. SEC East Division rivals South Carolina and Florida are ranked third and fourth in all five polls.
GO-GO STREAKING
Anthony Gomez enters the game today with a 24-game hitting streak. Gomez started his streak against Stanford on February 25 and has at least one hit in every game since. The Dores shortstop entered the game against Stanford hitting .158 (3-for-19 in the team’s first five games) and comes into today’s action hitting .363 for the season. During the streak he is 42-for-106 (.396) with RBI in 17 of the 24 contests and has 13 multi-hit games.
FACING THE BLUE RAIDERS
The Commodores host Middle Tennessee State for the first of a home-and-home with the Blue Raiders. VU swept the Raiders last year winning 1-0 at Hawkins Field and 11-10 in Murfreesboro. Head Coach Tim Corbin is 11-7 against Middle Tennessee State since arriving on West End. Vanderbilt holds an 85-41 all-time record against MTSU.
FUN WITH NUMBERS
All three Vanderbilt starters are in the Top 12 in the SEC in ERA. Sonny Gray is third (1.74), Grayson Garvin is 10th (2.36) and Taylor Hill is 12th (2.84), no other team has more than two in the Top 12. The Commodores have seven triples as a team and Tony Kemp has four of them with Anthony Gomez, Aaron Westlake and Connor Harrell all having one. The 5-foot, 6-inch Kemp has the highest slugging percentage (.462) among the regular players. The Dores have nine road wins already this year or three fewer than the team had all of last season.
DORES ON TV
For the third consecutive week Vanderbilt will play on television. The Commodores’ game against Alabama Friday night will be aired on CSS and streamed over the Internet ESPN3.com. VU has been on TV at Arkansas on Sunday and at Auburn last Saturday. The Commodores play two of the team’s three games at South Carolina on TV with CSS airing Saturday’s game and ESPN2 broadcasting Sunday’s tilt.
GRAY MOVING UP
Junior Sonny Gray is on the move up the career all-time lists. The right-hander moved into eighth place all-time with 246 career strikeouts passing Matt Buschmann (2003-06), Steve Sadecki (1989-91) and Nick Christiani (2006-09). David Price (2005-07) holds the school record with 441 strikeouts. Gray is now alone in 10th place all-time with 21 wins. Jeff Peeples (1970-73) holds the school record with 29 wins.
ESPOSITO RUNS INTO TOP 10
Jason Esposito moved into the Top 10 all-time for stolen bases in a career at Vanderbilt when he stole a base on Opening Day against San Diego. The junior third baseman has added to his total and now is in eighth place with 60 stolen bases. Next up on the list is Nick Morrow (1991-94), who had 65 steals in his career. Charles DeFrance (1980-82) holds the school record with 96 stolen bases.