VANDERBILT RE-VU
Vanderbilt dropped the Battle of the Barrel on Tuesday night at No. 2 Louisville 6-2. Matt Ruppenthal took the loss in his first career start, allowing four runs over four innings. The Commodores clinched the series with a 14-5 win over Missouri on Sunday. Julian Infante drove in a career-best seven runs as Zach King earned the win with 5.1 no-hit innings. Vanderbilt dropped Saturday’s game 2-1 in 12 innings to Missouri. Kyle Wright matched a career-best with 13 strikeouts over nine innings in a no decision. The Commodores used a four-run fifth inning to beat Missouri 5-2 on Friday night. Julian Infante drove in three runs in Patrick Raby’s eighth win of the season.
ON THE BUMP
Friday, May 12
RHP Patrick Raby (8-3, 2.29) vs. RHP Trevor Stephan (5-3, 3.14)
Saturday, May 13
RHP Kyle Wright (2-5, 3.35) vs. RHP Blaine Knight (6-3, 3.63)
Sunday, May 14
RHP Chandler Day (7-1, 3.54) vs. TBA
BACK AT BAUM
Vanderbilt returns to Arkansas for the first time since 2014 when the Commodores lost two-of-three to the Razorbacks. The Dores’ lone win that weekend was a 2-1 victory behind Carson Fulmer, who made his first career start that night with six scoreless innings. After leaving Baum Stadium, Vandy lost only nine games the rest of the season en route to the national title. The last meeting between the two teams was an epic series at Hawkins Field in 2015. The Commodores rallied for four runs in the ninth in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday to stun Arkansas 8-7 in 12 innings before Walker Buehler dominated in a 9-1 victory for the double dip sweep. The Dores survived seven perfect innings from Trey Killian on Sunday before Dansby Swanson delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth for a 1-0 win and series sweep. Vanderbilt is 24-30 all-time against Arkansas dating back to a 9-6 win in 1970.
THREE IN A ROW
Since his shortest outing of the season against Florida on April 13, Patrick Raby has won three starts in a row while putting a full day’s work. He went the distance for the first time in his career in a victory at Georgia and followed up with eight scoreless innings against Tennessee the following week. He won his team-best eighth game of the year last week with 6.2 innings of work against Missouri.
RBI GUY
Julian Infante has been the RBI guy for the Commodores all season, entering the weekend with a team-leading 52 RBIs. Infante posted a career-best seven RBIs while matching a Hawkins Field record with three doubles in Sunday’s win over Missouri, driving in all seven runs with two outs to become the first Commodore since Dominic de la Osa in 2006 vs. Georgia to knock in seven runs in a single game. His 16 RBIs over his last nine games have pushed him within striking distance of Jeren Kendall’s 59 that led the squad a year ago.
HOT AS HAYES
Since taking over the designated hitter duties a month ago Reed Hayes has been swinging a hot bat with hits in 10-of-13 games hitting .383 (18-for-47) with five extra-base hits. He’s posted five multi-hit games, including a career-best four-hit game against Middle Tennessee when he drove in six runs. Those six runs are part of his 14 RBIs over the last 13 games. He;s also pitched in four games over the last month, recording two saves while allowing only two unearned runs on two hits with eight strikeouts over 4.1 innings.
MR. WRIGHT
Kyle Wright has turned it on in the second half of the Southeastern Conference season. Over his last four starts, Wright has allowed just five runs on 10 hits while covering 32.1 innings, including two nine-inning outings. He turned in back-to-back scoreless appearances with a three-hit shutout of Florida on April 14 then twirled seven one-hit innings at Georgia the following week. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh against Tennessee and gave up one run on three hits over nine innings against Missouri last weekend. Wright’s strikeout numbers have also climbed over the stretch with 40 over the four starts. He has twiced punched out a career-best 13 in his last four, getting 13 Gators last month and 13 Tigers last weekend.
ROAD DORES
Vanderbilt has won six of the team’s last nine games on the road dating back to the squad’s Sunday victory at Kentucky on April 2. The Commodores have outscored opponents 60-34 during the road stretch.