Vanderbilt Commodores (35-20, 13-17 SEC) vs. Florida Gators (28-26, 13-17 SEC)
Tuesday, May 21 @ 4:30 p.m. CT • SEC Network
Hoover, Ala. • Hoover Metropolitan Complex
Series Preview: Vanderbilt heads to Hoover, Alabama, for the 2024 SEC Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will meet ninth-seeded Florida on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in the opening round.
- Vanderbilt and Florida last met April 18-20 in Nashville with the Dores winning the series, two games to one.
- The Commodores won the SEC Tournament in 2023 and faced the Gators twice, falling to Florida in the third round before beating the top-seeded Gators in the semifinals to advance to the title game.
- Vandy is 57-42 overall in 27 SEC Tournament appearances with four championships including two since 2019.
Last Time Out: Vanderbilt won the series finale over No. 2 Kentucky on Saturday at Kentucky Proud Park.
- The Dores pushed 12 runs across on 16 hits led by RJ Austin, Matthew Polk and Calvin Hewett with three hits each. Hewett paced the offense with three runs driven in.
- Vandy used three arms in the win with JD Thompson holding the Wildcats to two runs on five hits and totaled seven strikeouts. Devin Futrell earned his 20th career win with 2.2 innings of work and Miller Green held Kentucky scoreless over the final 1.2 innings.
Golden Spikes Award: RJ Austin was one of 45 players named to the 2024 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List.
- Austin leads Vanderbilt in RBI (50), hits (69), runs scored (45) and stolen bases (25).
- The sophomore from Atlanta was named SEC Tournament MVP last season and has a team-high 22 multi-hit games and 10 multi-RBI games this season.
- Austin has the most RBI (50) among SEC players with 20+ stolen bases.
Johnny V: Vanderbilt shortstop Jonathan Vastine was recently named the No. 18 shortstop by D1Baseball.com.
- Vastine leads the team in doubles (18) and, after leading Vandy with 18 doubles in 2023, is looking to become the first Commodore since Dansby Swanson to lead the team in doubles in back-to-back seasons.
- In D1Baseball’s shortstop rankings on May 9, Vastine (No. 18) is the second-highest ranked SEC shortstop behind Texas A&M’s Ali Camarillo (No. 12).
- According to D1Baseball’s Synergy stats, Vastine’s 11.27 defensive runs saved is good for eighth nationally and ranks first among SEC shortstops.
Scoring Early: Vanderbilt is averaging nearly two runs per game in the opening two frames.
- Vandy is outscoring its opponents 54-41 in first innings and 47-19 in second innings.
- The Dores are 17-3 when they score in the first frame and 23-6 when scoring first.
Top Relievers: Junior Ryan Ginther and freshman Brennan Seiber were named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year midseason watch list on April 24.
- Vandy is one of only two SEC schools with multiple players on the watch list.
Veteran Southpaws: Juniors Carter Holton and Devin Futrell have a combined 425 strikeouts over 390 innings for their careers with 39 wins.
- Holton recorded his 200th career strikeout at South Carolina on March 23. He has registered five quality starts this season. He has 10 or more strikeouts in four starts and eight or more strikeouts in seven starts.
- Among active SEC pitchers that have pitched their entire careers in the SEC, Futrell ranks third in career wins (20) while Holton ranks fourth in career wins (18), second in strikeouts (249) and third in innings pitched (198.1).
- In three appearances since May 7, Futrell is 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA and 13 strikeouts over 10.2 innings vs. Louisville, #1 Tennessee and #2 Kentucky.
