April 27, 2015
Nashville, Tenn. – Three Vanderbilt Commodores earned weekly honors for their performances during the Dores’ perfect 4-0 week.
Zander Wiel earned his third Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honor of the season after the junior hit .467 (7-for-15) with three home runs and eight RBI. Wiel blasted home runs in all three games of the sweep of No. 14 Missouri over the weekend, launching his third grand slam of the year on Saturday. Wiel matched Rhett Wiseman for the team lead with a solo shot on Sunday hitting his ninth homer of the season. In the series against the Tigers, Wiel drove in seven runs and went 6-for-12. The four-game stretch also landed the Murfreesboro, Tenn. native his first National Player of the Week honor from Collegiate Baseball.
Philip Pfeifer’s career-best 13 strikeouts in his first start since 2013 was also recognized by Collegiate Baseball, with the publication naming the lefty as one of the National Pitchers of the Week. Pfeifer dominated over seven innings to pick up the win allowing two runs on seven hits. The Knoxville, Tenn. native struck out the side in each of the first two innings, racking up seven strikeouts the first time through the Mizzou lineup. He recorded at least one strikeout in all seven frames and joins Carson Fulmer and Walker Buehler as the only Commodores this season to strike out at least 10 batters. Pfeifer also joins Fulmer as the only Dores’ hurlers to earn National Pitcher of the Week honors.
Jeren Kendall picked up his first weekly award of his career from the SEC being named the Freshman of the Week. Kendall hit .462 (6-for-13) with five RBI while starting all four games in left field for Vandy. The freshman from Holmen, Wisc. drove in runs in all four games during the week and pushed his hitting streak to six games. He smashed his third home run of the season in Friday night’s win over Missouri as part of his third straight two-hit game. Since returning from injury, Kendall is hitting .360 (9-for-25) with six RBI.
Seven different Commodores have earned weekly awards this season.
Vanderbilt visits Rose Park tomorrow at 5 p.m. to take on Belmont.