June 1, 2016
Nashville, Tenn. – Vanderbilt pitchers Jordan Sheffield and Kyle Wright have been named as two of the 25 semifinalists for the 2016 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award.
Sheffield has served as the Commodores ace all season, starting all 14 of the Dores’ series opening games. The Tullahoma, Tenn. native enters the NCAA Nashville Regional 8-5 with a 2.73 ERA and leads the Commodores with 107 strikeouts. The right-hander was a three-time winner of the SEC Pitcher of the Week award during the regular season. Sheffield’s performance against Xavier earned him his first weekly honor with the sophomore punching out a then career-high 12 over 7.2 one-hit innings to beat the Musketeers. Sheffield topped that outing with his first career shutout on April 15 against Kentucky, fanning a career-best 14 while scattering just five hits. The shutout began a streak of 32 straight innings without an earned run allowed, including 24 consecutive scoreless innings over three starts. His third weekly honor came at the end of the scoreless inning streak when he blanked Georgia over seven innings with just one walk and six strikeouts.
Wright has been a steady force for the Commodores in his sophomore season going 8-4 with a 2.60 ERA. The Huntsville, Ala. native has followed up a Freshman All-American season with a sophomore season that has seen him named second team All-SEC by the league’s coaches. The right-hander’s best outing of the year came at No. 1 Florida when he turned in his first career shutout, blanking the Gators on three hits and matching a career-best with 10 strikeouts on his way to earning his first-ever SEC Pitcher of the Week honor. Wright was nails down the stretch for the Commodores, winning his last four regular season starts and allowing only five runs on 16 hits with 34 strikeouts over 29 innings. Since late March, he has pitched at least six innings in 10 of his 12 starts.
David Price is the only Vanderbilt player to ever win the Golden Spikes Award, capturing the trophy for the best amateur player in America for his spectacular 2007. Last year, Dansby Swanson and Carson Fulmer were two of the three finalists for the award joining Price and Pedro Alvarez as the only Commodores to be named finalists for the award.
Vanderbilt begins play in the NCAA Tournament on Friday against Xavier at 7 p.m. at Hawkins Field.