Oct. 26, 2006
2007 VU Baseball Schedule (pdf) |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –A season-opening tournament at the Houston Astros College Classic, 34 home games and the usual rugged Southeastern Conference slate highlight the 2007 baseball schedule released today by the baseball office.
The Commodores open the season against 2006 World Series participant Rice on Feb. 9 in the opening game of the Houston Astros College Classic in Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The Commodores will also face Arizona State and Baylor, both perennial powers that lost to Rice in its regional a year ago.
“This is a very challenging schedule especially coming right out of the gate and playing three teams that are consistent NCAA tournament performers,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.
After the opening weekend on the road the team will return to Nashville to open an 11-game homestand starting with a three-game series against Ohio (Feb. 16-18).
This year’s Music City Classic slate includes Pittsburgh, Ball State and Boston College (Feb. 23-25) with regional contests against local foes Lipscomb (Feb. 21) and Austin Peay (Feb. 27) scheduled before and after.
The Commodores will close out the 11-game homestand with a three game series against Xavier (March 2-4).
After a midweek contest at Wesern Kentucky on March 6, the team will play seven of its next eight at Hawkins Field. They will close out the non-conference weekend slate against Illinois-Chicago (March 9-11) at home and then take on Belmont at Greer Stadium on March 14 before opening SEC play.
The Commodores will open conference play against Ole Miss, the team they faced in the SEC tourney championship last year, on Friday, March 16 at 7 p.m. They will play the Rebels at 3 p.m. on March 17 and 1 p.m. on March 18.
A new feature for SEC home weekends will be the addition of Vandyville on Friday’s and Saturday’s. Gametimes for the Friday and Saturday contests will be set at 7 p.m. and 3 p.m., with tailgating and inflatibles games for kids set prior to the contests.
“The goal of Vandyville is to capture the excitement of baseball season and to get our fans to rally around the team,” said Kevin Colon, baseball’s Director of Sport Operations. “We believe it will allow us to draw in different sectors of our community, whether it be students, faculty and staff, or the general public. We hope that they would come out and tailgate and enjoy watching our baseball team this season.”
The Commodores will close out the long home stretch against Western Kentucky on March 20, before heading to Arkansas in SEC play (March 23-25).
VU will face Middle Tennessee at home on March 28, and will get back on the road for a three-game series against South Carolina (March 30-April 1).
The Commodores home SEC series the rest of the way include Alabama (April 6-8), Tennessee (April 20-22), Florida (April 27-29) and LSU (May 17-19) in the reguar season final weekend.
The rest of the road series includes at Kentucky (April 13-15), at Georgia (May 4-6) and at Auburn (May 11-13).
Other midweek games against local foes include home contests against Belmont (April 11), Tennessee Tech (April 25), and Middle Tennessee (May 8). The final two non-conference road games are against Austin Peay (April 4) and Middle Tennessee (April 18).
The SEC tournament will start on May 23, with the NCAA tournament starting the following weekend.
“It is a solid schedule, and we hope that the addition of Vandyville will allow for fans to come out early and often,” summed up Corbin.
