Jan. 20, 2015
Nashville, Tenn. – Vanderbilt has been named the No. 1 team in the nation by two more polls released this week, coming in on top of the new D1Baseball.com poll released yesterday and the Perfect Game poll released today.
For the first time in school history a Vanderbilt men’s team opens the season as the No. 1 team in the nation. It marks the first time since the 2007-08 season that any Vanderbilt team has opened a season atop the polls when the women’s bowling team began their season as the top-ranked team. The No. 1 ranking for the baseball team means for the fourth time in the last five seasons the squad will spend time in the top spot of the polls. Vandy is ranked No. 1 in all three polls that have been released (Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game) with the Baseball America, ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ and NCBWA polls yet to be released.
In the D1Baseball.com poll the Dores lead three Southeastern Conference East division teams with the Florida Gators checking in at No. 2 and South Carolina at No. 5. Five more SEC schools are in the poll with No. 9 LSU, No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 20 Alabama and No. 25 Tennessee all in the poll. Vanderbilt will also face preseason No. 4 UCLA, No. 8 TCU and No. 11 Louisville in 2015.
Perfect Game has seven SEC schools in their preseason top 25 led by the Dores. Florida checks in at No. 4, LSU at No. 7, South Carolina at No. 14, Arkansas at No. 16, Mississippi State at No. 23 and Texas A&M at NO. 25. Vandy will also face No. 3 TCU, No. 5 UCLA and No. 9 Louisville this season.
The SEC has released the television schedule for the upcoming season with the Commodores scheduled for 12 games on TV. Vanderbilt makes its 2015 television debut at Auburn on March 22 on ESPNU at 7 p.m. Hawkins Field makes its first appearance of the season the following week when No. 25 Tennessee visits. Saturday’s (March 28) game is scheduled for 4 p.m. on SEC Network with Sunday’s (March 29) series finale set for 2:30 p.m. on the SEC Network. The series finale at Georgia on April 5 will also air on the SEC Network at 11 a.m. CT.
The Dores move into the spotlight the following week at home against No. 18 Ole Miss when the Dores and Rebels face off in front of a Thursday (April 9) night national audience at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Saturday’s (April 11) series finale will air on SEC Network at 2 p.m. A showdown at No. 5 South Carolina April 16-18 will see the entire series televised. Thursday night’s opener will air on ESPNU’s national broadcast at 6:30 p.m., Friday night’s game will be on SEC Network at 6:30 p.m. CT with Saturday’s final game on ESPN2 at noon CT.
The Commodores wrap up the home SEC schedule against No. 2 Florida beginning Thursday, May 7 in front of another national audience on ESPNU at 6 p.m. Saturday’s final home game of the year will be broadcast on the SEC Network at noon. Vanderbilt’s regular season finale at Alabama will be part of the SEC Network’s whip around coverage on May 16 from the Hoover Met in Hoover, Ala. beginning at 3:30.
Vanderbilt’s home games that do not appear on television will be available on SEC Network+, including the team’s non-conference games prior to SEC play and during the week.
The team’s annual banquet is set for Jan. 31 at The Omni Hotel beginning at 6 p.m. Single-game tickets and banquet tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by calling 615.322.GOLD. The Commodores open the season Feb. 13 at home against Santa Clara.
Vanderbilt TV Schedule
March 21 at Auburn – SEC Network
March 28-29 vs. Tennessee – SEC Network
April 5 at Georgia – SEC Network
April 9 vs. Ole Miss – ESPNU
April 11 vs. Ole Miss – SEC Network
April 16 at South Carolina – ESPNU
April 17 at South Carolina – SEC Network
April 18 at South Carolina – ESPN2
May 7 vs. Florida – ESPNU
May 9 vs. Florida – SEC Network
May 16 at Alabama – SEC Network
D1Baseball.com preseason Top 25
1. Vanderbilt
2. Florida
3. Virginia
4. UCLA
5. South Carolina
6. North Carolina
7. Houston
8. TCU
9. LSU
10. Texas
11. Louisville
12. Oklahoma State
13. Rice
14. Maryland
15. Miami
16. Texas Tech
17. Texas A&M
18. Ole Miss
19. Cal State Fullerton
20. Alabama
21. Florida State
22. Oregon
23. Nebraska
24. Arizona State
25. Tennessee
Perfect Game preseason Top 25
1. Vanderbilt
2. Virginia
3. TCU
4. Florida
5. UCLA
6. Texas
7. LSU
8. Houston
9. Louisville
10. Miami
11. Florida State
12. Texas Tech
13. Oklahoma State
14. South Carolina
15. Oregon
16. Arkansas
17. North Carolina
18. UC Santa Barbara
19. Cal State Fullerton
20. Arizona State
21. Rice
22. Stanford
23. Mississippi State
24. Kennesaw State
25. Texas A&M