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9/25/2006 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt’s baseball team will open its fall practice slate Tuesday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. at Hawkins Field. The Commodores return seven position starters from last year’s NCAA tournament team that finished with a 38-27 record. Last Spring, VU went to the SEC Tournament championship game for the second time in three years and advanced to the championship round of the Atlanta Regional before falling to eventual College World Series participant Georgia Tech. Upon completion of the 2006 season, Baseball America predicted that Vanderbilt would be one of the eight teams playing at the CWS in Omaha in 2007. Third baseman Pedro Alvarez, the consensus National Freshman of the Year last year, returns to anchor the Commodore offense. He had a torrid summer with the USA Baseball National Team that captured a gold medal at the World University Championships in Cuba. The New York City resident led the collegiate all-star squad with a .379 batting average to go along with five homers, 12 doubles and 43 RBI. Baseball America listed him as the No. 2 prospect off of the USA team that was coached by Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. The No. 1 prospect on Team USA was lefthander David Price who excelled over the summer and returns for his junior season as the Commodore ace. Price set the school’s single season strikeout mark last year with 155 in 110.1 innings and was dominating in his turn as the ace of the National Team staff. He was named BA’s Summer Player of the Year after going 5-1 with a 0.20 ERA with 61 strikeouts and only seven walks in 44.0 innings. Alvarez and Price garnered most of the national attention last year, but the Commodores return seven of their eight position starters, minus catcher Brian Hernandez. Each returnee hit over .310, as VU finished with a team average of .308, second best in the Southeastern Conference. On the mound, Vanderbilt will look for a replacement for departed starter Matt Buschmann, who excelled down the stretch last season. The bullpen remains intact with veteran stalwart Stephen Shao back for his senior campaign along with senior Casey Weathers, who finished his summer on the USA Team after a star turn in the Alaska Summer League. VU has nine freshmen newcomers who will look to fill a variety of supporting roles in the lineup. The Commodores will practice Tuesday through Sunday for four weeks, culminating with the three game Black and Gold series the weekend of Oct. 19-20, 22. The practices will usually convene around 2:45 p.m. on weekdays and at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Noon on Sundays and are open to the public. Game times for the Black and Gold series are set at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 19 and Friday, Oct. 20 and at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 22. The team will not play on Saturday due to the Vanderbilt- South Carolina football game. |
