March 15, 2018
Vanderbilt opens SEC play this weekend, visiting No. 19 Mississippi State for a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field.
Friday’s opener is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be featured among other league games as part of the SEC Network’s Bases Loaded coverage. The game, along with Saturday and Sunday’s 1 p.m. matchups, will be streamed in its entirety on SEC Network Plus.
Fans can listen to all three broadcasts on Nashville’s WNSR SportsRadio 560 AM and 95.9 FM or worldwide through the VUCommodores app.
ON THE BUMP
Friday, March 16
RHP Drake Fellows (2-0, 2.42 ERA) vs. LHP Konnor Pilkington (1-1, 1.17 ERA)
Saturday, March 17
RHP Patrick Raby (1-2, 1.98 ERA) vs. LHP Ethan Small (1-1, 3.54 ERA)
Sunday, March 18
TBA vs. RHP Jacob Billingsley (2-0, 2.89)
NEED TO KNOW
For the sixth time in the history of the two programs, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State face off to open SEC play (2000, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2016, 2018). The Commodores are 5-10 in 15 Opening Weekend matchups against the Bulldogs and are opening league play in Starkville, Miss., for the first time since the 2005 season.
Vanderbilt fell to No. 22 in the RPI on Thursday after checking in at No. 14 in the inaugural rankings on Monday. The Commodores are 5-3 against opponents in the RPI’s Top 50 and boast the nation’s No. 37 strength of schedule.
Mississippi State will be the fifth D1Baseball.com ranked opponent Vanderbilt has faced in 2018. The Dores are 5-1 in games vs. ranked opponents, including wins against No. 25 Duke (2x), No. 24 Houston, No. 11 UCLA and No. 8 TCU.
Vandy is the only team nationally to rank in the Top 30 for batting average, earned run average and fielding percentage. The Dores are second in fielding percentage (.989), 27th in batting average (.304) and 30th in earned run average (2.91).
Five Vanderbilt freshmen have made starts this season while 15 total have made appearances. The unit is hitting .334 (80-for-239) with 3.11 runs per game and 3.11 RBIs per game while posting a 2.28 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 59 innings.
Vanderbilt pitching has been lights-out with runners on base. The staff has held opponents to a .194 batting average (47-for-242). Friday starter Drake Fellows has faced 34 batters with runners on base, yielding only five hits (.134).
Vanderbilt’s .989 fielding percentage ranks second nationally and first in the SEC. The Commodores have committed just seven errors in 610 total chances. The program record for fielding percentage is .979 set in 2015.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
Vanderbilt and Mississippi State meet for the 116th time in the history of the two programs on Friday. The Bulldogs own a 69-44-2 advantage in the series, although Vandy owns a slight 6-4 edge in the last 10 matchups.
The Commodores are 23-10 against the Bulldogs in the Tim Corbin era (2003-present). Corbin led Vanderbilt to its first-ever sweep of the Bulldogs in 2004 and 12-straight victories against Mississippi State between 2007-11.
Vandy and Mississippi State last met in 2016 when the Bulldogs took 2-of-3 in Nashville. Current junior Alonzo Jones batted .308 (4-for-13), scoring four runs while driving in a pair. Right-hander Patrick Raby recorded a save, logging 2.1 innings while striking out three without allowing a hit.
VANDERBILT RE-VU
Vanderbilt stranded the bases loaded on three different occasions and was limited most of the night by Eastern Kentucky pitching in a 6-5 loss on Wednesday at Hawkins Field.
The No. 13 Commodores, who threw nine different pitchers for one inning apiece, were saddled with a four-run deficit after three innings, thanks to three RBIs from Alex Holderbach.
After being limited to six hits in the first eight innings, Vanderbilt made a comeback-bid in the ninth, scoring four runs, including three with two outs, to trim the deficit to one. Connor Kaiser drove in two on a line-drive triple and Harrison Ray fought off a 0-2 pitch for an RBI-single up the middle before Julian Infante lined out.