March 30, 2015
Nashville, Tenn. – Juniors Carson Fulmer and Zander Wiel each picked up weekly honors for their performances last week in helping Vanderbilt ascend back to the top spot in the D1Baseball.com and Baseball America polls.
Fulmer was filthy in his start Friday night against Tennessee striking out a career-best 12 over eight scoreless innings to earn him his second National Pitcher of the Week honor from Collegiate Baseball. The right-hander dominated from the start by striking out the side and start a streak of at least one strikeout in each of his eight innings. The first inning was the only inning that saw a base runner reach third base when a pair of Vandy errors put a runner on third with nobody out before Fulmer struck out the next three batters. The scoreless outing was his fourth in seven starts this season and his second double-digit strikeout performance. He leads the Commodores and the Southeastern Conference with 60 punch outs.
Wiel earned his second SEC Player of the Week honor after a big week at the plate going 7-for-15 (.467) with seven RBI and eight runs scored as the Commodores outscored their opponents 40-15. Wiel helped his team flip the scoreboard in his hometown on Tuesday with a three-run double to cap a seven-run eighth inning in Vanderbilt’s 12-7 comeback win over Middle Tennessee State. He finished his big week in style with a career-high four hits in Sunday’s series-clinching victory over Tennessee. The first baseman finished the day a triple shy of the cycle, settling for a single, two doubles and his team-leading fifth homer. His two-run blast in the second inning gave the Dores a 9-0 lead.
Vanderbilt opens a two-game series against Wofford tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. at Hawkins Field on SEC Network+. Wednesday’s game time against the Terriers has been moved up to 5 p.m.