March 12, 2010
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Game Notes
Ohio (2-8) at No. 20 Vanderbilt (11-1)
Friday, March 12 – 4 p.m. CT
Saturday, March 13 – 2 p.m. CT
Sunday, March 14 – 1 p.m. CT
Hawkins Field (3,700)
Series History vs. Ohio
Vanderbilt leads the all-time series 6-3 including a series sweep in 2007.
Last Five Meetings
February 18, 2007: Vanderbilt 5, Ohio 1 – Hawkins Field
February 18, 2007: Vanderbilt 11, Ohio 1 – Hawkins Field
February 16, 2007: Vanderbilt 10, Ohio 1 – Hawkins Field
May 18, 2005: Vanderbilt 3, Ohio 0 – Athens, Ohio
May 17, 2005: Vanderbilt 13, Ohio 4 – Athens, Ohio
Polls
Vanderbilt is ranked No. 20 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, No. 21 by the National Collegiate Baseball, No. 24 by Baseball America and Rivals.com and No. 27 by Collegiate Baseball.
The Coaches
VU’s Tim Corbin is 287-158 in his eighth season in Nashville. He is 393-296 in 14 seasons overall. Corbin is 5-0 against Ohio. OU’s Joe Carbone is 616-528-2 in his 22nd season as head coach. He is 0-5 against Vanderbilt.
Radio/TV/Internet
All of Vanderbilt’s games this weekend will be internet only webcasts via www.vucommodores.com. Eric Jones will call this weekend’s action. Fans can also sign up for text updates via www.twitter.com/vandybaseball and follow livestats for every game this weekend through www.vucommodores.com.
Tickets
Season and single game tickets are available for purchase online at www.vucommodores.com or through the Vanderbilt Ticket Office (615) 322-GOLD.
What’s On Tap
Vanderbilt, winners of seven straight, hosts Ohio in the final weekend series before Southeastern Conference play. The Commodores and Bobcats will open the set on Friday at 4 p.m. and will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
About Ohio
Ohio is 2-8 on the year after beating West Virginia State 11-3 on Tuesday. The Bobcats had lost their previous six contests before the midweek win, including a three-game sweep at Furman last weekend.
Centerfielder Gauntlet Eldemire leads the team with a .439 batting average with three homers, six doubles and 15 RBI. He went 4-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored in the win over WVSU. As a team OU is hitting at a .318 clip with 13 homers and 70 runs scored (seven per game).
Ohio’s rotation for the weekend will be a trio of right-handers in Bryce Butt (0-2, 10.12 ERA), Seth Streich (0-0, 12.00 ERA) and Ryan Bores (0-2, 10.38 ERA). The Bobcats have a 7.27 team ERA with 61 strikeouts and 44 walks in 83.0 innings pitched.
Defensively OU has already made 28 errors on the year for a .928 fielding percentage.
Injury Bug Hits Dores
The injury bug hit the team last weekend starting with shortstop Brian Harris who missed the Illinois State game and did not start in the Indiana contest the next day while battling through illness.
First baseman Curt Casali and Aaron Westlake both played in the first two games of the Music City Classic, before getting taken out of the Indiana game on Sunday.
Casali has a hamstring injury and is expected to be out for two weeks, while Westlake has a bruised hand and is day-to-day with his recovery.
Harris, a first-team All-SEC shortstop a year ago, returned to the starting lineup against UT Martin on Wednesday and looked back to normal going 2-for-2 with two runs scored.
Casali currently leads the Southeastern Conference in hitting with a .486 batting average with three homers, three doubles and 11 RBI.
Westlake, the SEC’s leading hitter a year ago, is batting .295 with two homers, four doubles and 11 RBI. He could return to action this weekend against Ohio.
Commodores open strong
At 11-1, the Commodores are off to their best start since the 2007 season when they opened the year 19-0 en route to a Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament championship. In 2008, VU was 9-3 at this point, while last year’s squad went 8-4 through the first 12 games.
Offensively the Dores are second in the SEC with a .353 batting average, while the pitching staff sports the top ERA in the league at 2.11. VU is averaging nine runs per game, while limiting opponents to two runs or less in 8-of-12 games (one of the four other games, the opponent scored three).
Hill off to career best start
Junior right-hander Taylor Hill is off to the best start of his career and at 3-0 leads the team in wins entering the weekend. Hill has pitched six innings or more in each of his three starts and has not allowed more than two runs in any of the games.
He went a career-best seven and a third innings against Illinois State last Saturday, allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in the winning effort. On the season the Mount Juliet High grad has a 1.35 ERA with 17 strikeouts and just four walks in 20.0 innings of action.
Johns Making Early Impact
Junior infielder Bryan Johns has definitely made an impact offensively through the first 12 games of the year. Johns, a junior college transfer from Howard College, went 0-for-3 in the season opener against Niagara on Feb. 19 and has since recorded a hit in 11 straight games. He went 3-for-4 with a double against UT Martin and is currently second on the Commodores and the Southeastern Conference, with a .476 batting average. Because of the injury to Casali, Johns saw his first action of the year at second against the Skyhawks, while Riley Reynolds filled in at first. Along with Brian Harris, the 1-2 hitters in the order have walked 16 times with 11 hit by pitches.
Commodore Tidbits
Vanderbilt went 4-0 on the week to improve to 10-1 on the year. VU won its first three games by a 26-4 margin before edging past Indiana 6-5 in 11 innings Sunday evening in the final game of the Music City Classic … Vanderbilt has now won six in a row and are 4-0 in its current nine-game home stand. The Dores hit .361 as a team this week with five homers, eight doubles and 32 runs scored (8 per game) … Curt Casali led the team with a 7-for-13 (.538) week with two homers, five RBI and six runs scored. He was injured fielding a ball in the win over Indiana on Sunday and his availability this week is to be determined … Jason Esposito went 6-for-15 (.400) with two doubles, three RBI and four runs scored while also swiping five bases in five attempts … Bryan Johns was 6-for-14 (.375) with two RBI and four runs scored. He notched a hit in every game to extend his hitting streak to 10 games entering this week’s action … Freshman outfielder Connor Harrell went 4-for-11 (.364) with a double and five RBI … Leftfielder Aaron Westlake went 5-for-14 (.357) with a homer, double and four RBI … Freshman infielder Anthony Gomez made the most of his playing time this week, going 6-for-11 (.545) with four RBI, including a three-hit, three RBI day in the win over Indiana on Sunday. Gomez came through in the clutch knocking the game-winning RBI single in the 11th inning over the Hoosiers … The pitching staff continued its torrid start to the year, posting a 1.89 ERA on the week with 46 strikeouts and just 10 walks in 38.0 innings. Junior Chase Reid paced the team, picking up a win in a start against Tennessee Tech on Wednesday and then pitching 3.2 innings of scoreless relief in winning effort over Indiana on Sunday. In all Reid pitched 8.1 innings with nine strikeouts and just one walk and one unearned run allowed. The Southlake, Texas product is now 2-0 with a team best 0.63 ERA on the year … Fellow junior right-hander Taylor Hill went 7.1 innings in his start against Illinois State on Saturday, allowing two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in the win. He now leads the team with a 3-0 record and 1.35 ERA … Sonny Gray struck out 10 in his seven inning outing in 7-1 win over Kent State on Friday. He now leads the team with 24 strikeouts in 19.1 innings … Will Clinard struck out seven and walked one in five innings in two relief appearances … Richie Goodenow pitched 3.1 innings of one-hit relief in two appearances with five strikeouts … The staff as a whole leads the SEC with a 2.21 ERA … Defensively catcher Andrew Giobbi has thrown out 10 of 15 baserunners trying to steal this year. He was named the MVP of the Music City Classic after throwing out three base runners in five attempts while also batting .429 (6-for-14).
Vanderbilt Powers Past UT Martin
The 1-2 duo of Brian Harris and Bryan Johns went 5-for-6 and the trio of Will Clinard, Drew Hayes and Russell Brewer limited UT Martin to one run on seven hits in Vanderbilt’s 9-1 win Wednesday evening at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores won their seventh straight game to improve to 11-1 on the season while the Skyhawks fell to 7-5.
Clinard (1-0) gave up one run on five hits with four strikeouts and a walk in four innings of work to pick up his first collegiate win.
Hayes pitched three innings of one-hit scoreless relief with two strikeouts, while Brewer closed things out with two innings of one-hit relief with three strikeouts.
The pitching staff has now allowed two runs or less in eight of the 12 games on the year.
UTM got on the board early, scoring on a balk with the bases loaded in the second. That was the only run they scored in the game.
Joe Loftus hit a two-run homer, his first of the year, in the bottom half and the Commodores never looked back after that.
Brian Harris singled and Bryan Johns doubled to lead off the third and scored on a groundout by Jason Esposito and a sacrifice fly by Andrew Giobbi.
VU added two more runs in the fifth to extend the lead to 6-1. Mike Yastrzemski reached on an infield single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brian Harris. Johns followed with a single and both runners scored on a two-run double by Jason Esposito down the right field line.
The Dores capped off the scoring with three runs in the seventh to extend the lead to 9-1. Yastrzemski singled and Brian Harris followed with a RBI single. Giobbi closed out the scoring with a two-run homer to left, his second of the year.
Bryan Johns led the team with a 3-for-4 day with two runs scored. Brian Harris was 2-for-2 with two runs scored, while Giobbi, Loftus and Yastrzemski each added two hits of their own.
Commodores Picked To Finish Fourth In SEC East
Vanderbilt was picked to finish fourth in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division as the league office released its annual preseason coaches poll today.
The Commodores received one first-place vote in the division with Florida, last year’s division winner, garnering 64 of a possible 66 points from the coaches.
LSU is predicted to repeat as the 2010 Southeastern Conference baseball champions, as voted by the league’s 12 baseball coaches in the 19th annual preseason SEC poll.
The Tigers, ranked No. 2 nationally in multiple preseason polls, seek to capture their league-leading 15th SEC Championship. The Tigers return eight position players with starting experience and 10 pitchers from their 2009 squad which claimed the NCAA National Championship.
Since 1996, the SEC has named a regular season champion as well as a tournament champion. Prior to 1996, the tournament champion was considered the SEC Champion.
In the overall SEC Champion vote, LSU received five of a possible 11 votes. Florida received four votes while Arkansas had three.
In addition to picking a preseason SEC champion, the league’s head coaches voted a predicted order of finish in the SEC Eastern and Western Divisions. In the Eastern Division, Florida was the favorite with 64 of a possible 66 points. South Carolina came in second with 52 points and Georgia third with 42. LSU was favorite in the Western Division with a total of 63 points. Arkansas was second with 59, while Ole Miss, who shared the overall title last season with LSU, finished third with 39.
Points were compiled on a 6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for each division. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. Each coach also voted for one team as an overall conference champion.
Eastern Division
Team .
1) Florida (9)
2) South Carolina (2) v 3) Georgia
4) Vanderbilt (1)
5) Kentucky
6) Tennessee
Western Division
Team
1) LSU (8)
2) Arkansas (4)
3) Ole Miss
4) Alabama
5) Auburn
6) Mississippi State
( ) – First Place Votes
SEC Champion: LSU (5); Florida (4); Arkansas (3)
