March 25, 2011
VANDERBILT RE-VU
The Commodores dominated Tennessee Tech Tuesday night to earn the team’s 20th win of the season. Seven Vandy arms combined to hold the Golden Eagles to five hits. Connor Harrell belted his first home run of the year and knocked in three runs in the win. Mississippi State ended Vanderbilt’s 12-game win streak rallying from a four-run deficit to win 9-8 on Sunday and avoid a SEC opening series sweep. The Bulldogs’ five-run eighth inning delivered the team’s first lead of the weekend and ultimately sank the Commodores. Anthony Gomez extended his hitting streak to 16 games with three hits and Aaron Westlake added three more in the loss. The Commodores posted the team’s third straight shutout with a 4-0 win over Mississippi State Saturday to win the series. Grayson Garvin picked up his third win of the year with seven scoreless innings and Tony Kemp led the offense going 3-for-4. Vanderbilt opened SEC play with a 10-0 win over Mississippi State last night. Sonny Gray earned his fifth win of the year pitching 7.1 scoreless innings and striking out 10 Bulldogs.
ON THE BUMP
Friday, March 25
RHP Sonny Gray (5-0, 1.34) vs. LHP Cade Lynch (2-0, 2.70)
Saturday, March 26
LHP Grayson Garvin (3-1, 2.78) vs. RHP Barrett Astin (2-0, 2.95)
Sunday, March 27
RHP Taylor Hill (1-0, 3.25) vs. TBA
COLLEGE TEAMMATES
Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin and Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long have known each other for a long time. The two were teammates at Ohio Wesleyan in the early 1980s. The two suited up for the Bishops together in the 1981 and `82 seasons. Corbin played from 1981-84 while Long played baseball from 1980-82. Long led the team in 1982 with a 2.58 ERA. However, neither is the most famous OWU alumni that honor goes to 1904 graduate Branch Rickey. Rickey played, coached and was the AD for OWU before integrating major league baseball
ON THE CAPE IN COTUIT
Three Commodores are familiar with Arkansas catcher James McCann. Mike Yastrzemski, Curt Casali and Keenan Kolinsky played with McCann last summer in the Cape Cod League for the Cotuit Kettleers.
GO-GO STREAKING
Anthony Gomez enters the game today with a 17-game hitting streak. Gomez started his streak against Stanford on February 25 and has at least one hit in every game since. The Dores shortstop entered the game against Stanford hitting .158 (3-for-19 in the team’s first five games) and comes into today’s action hitting .363 for the season. During the streak he is 30-for-73 (.411) with RBI in 12 of the 16 contests and has 10 multi-hit games.
FACING THE RAZORBACKS
Arkansas took two-of-three from the Commodores in Nashville in the teams’ last SEC series of the year. The Dores avenged the loss beating the Razorbacks in the SEC tournament. Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin is 10-13 against the Hogs in his tenure. VU is 18-27 all-time against the Razorbacks dating back to 1970. Arkansas is led by freshman Dominic Ficociello and Kyle Robinson, who have a combined 50 RBI and 21 extra-base hits.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN, FINALLY
Vanderbilt plays a road game for the first time since the team’s opening weekend trip to San Diego. The Commodores beat San Diego three times and San Diego State once on the four-game road trip. The trip to Arkansas is the first of back-to-back SEC road weekends. Vandy plays at Auburn next weekend before returning home for a SEC series to host Alabama April 8-10.
MODESTLY STREAKING
Excluding Anthony Gomez, four different Commodores have hitting streaks of at least four games entering tonight’s game. Mike Yastrzemski has a seven-game streak and Curt Casali has hit in six straight games. Connor Harrell and Aaron Westlake have at least one hit in the last five contests. Westlake has four multi-hit games in his last five and Harrell has five RBI in his last four games.
GRAY MOVING UP
Junior Sonny Gray is on the move up the career all-time lists. The right-hander moved into eighth place all-time with 230 career strikeouts passing Matt Buschmann (2003-06), Steve Sadecki (1989-91) and Nick Christiani (2006-09). David Price (2005-07) holds the school record with 441 strikeouts. Gray is tied for 10th all-time with Christiani and Mike McLochlin (1988-90) with 20 wins. Jeff Peeples (1970-73) holds the school record with 29 wins.
ESPOSITO RUNS INTO TOP 10
Jason Esposito moved into the Top 10 all-time for stolen bases in a career at Vanderbilt when he stole a base on Opening Day against San Diego. The junior third baseman has added to his total and now is in eighth place with 60 stolen bases. Next up on the list is Nick Morrow (1991-94), who had 65 steals in his career. Charles DeFrance (1980-82) holds the school record with 96 stolen bases.
SUNDAY’S GAME ON ESPN3.COM
Sunday’s game at Arkansas will be aired on ESPN3.com beginning at 1 p.m. from Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
