Week 5 Vanderbilt Baseball Notebook

Record Overall: 14-8; Record for the Week: 3-2

Last Week:
3/17 Vanderbilt 7, South Alabama 4 at Hawkins Field
3/18 Vanderbilt 11, Belmont 4 at Hawkins Field
3/20 Kentucky 3, Vanderbilt 1 at Lexington, Ky.
3/21 Kentucky 6, Vanderbilt 2 at Lexington, Ky.
3/22 Vanderbilt 4, Kentucky 2 at Lexington, Ky.

This Week:
3/24 vs. Austin Peay 6 p.m. at Hawkins Field
3/25 vs. Wright State 6 p.m. at Hawkins Field
3/27 at Auburn 6 p.m. at Auburn, Ala.
3/28 at Auburn 3 p.m. at Auburn, Ala.
3/29 at Auburn 1 p.m. at Auburn, Ala.

Notes:
Vanderbilt went 3-2 on the week, winning a pair of midweek games against South Alabama and Belmont, while losing two of three at Kentucky over the weekend … The Commodores 2-4 start in SEC play is the worst since the 2003 squad went 2-4 in Tim Corbin’s first season in Nashville … The team posted a .259 batting average in five games with nine doubles and 25 runs scored. The pitching staff had a strong week with a 3.35 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 17 walks in 43.0 innings.

Freshman second baseman Riley Reynolds.was one of the bright spots offensively going 6-for-13 (.462) on the week with two doubles, a triple, one RBI and three runs scored. He also walked four times and was hit by a pitch for a .611 on base percentage … Fellow freshman Jason Esposito went 7-for-21 (.333) with two doubles and three runs scored. He also stole two bases and is 10-for-11 now on the year.

Chase Reid extended his scoreless innings pitched streak to 10.1 innings over four appearances. He made two appearances on the week and held batters to just three hits in 5.1 innings of work with seven strikeouts and no walks. His ERA has lowered from 54.00 to 2.87 … Also on a scoreless streak in relief is Drew Hayes who hasn’t allowed a run in 9.2 innings over five appearances. He has recorded 11 strikeouts and four walks in that time while lowering his ERA from 9.00 to 2.92 … Sonny Gray pitched 3.0 innings of three-hit shutout relief against Kentucky in Sunday’s win. He struck out two and walked two in earning his team leading third save of the year. Gray currently leads the team with a 0.64 ERA over eight appearances … Nick Christiani earned the win on Sunday over UK, scattering seven hits over six innings of work with five strikeouts and two walks. He allowed two runs and moved to 3-0 on the year with the win and is 17-10 in his career.

The Commodores handed Kentucky its first home loss of the season on Sunday (11-1) … Steven Liddle’s 15-game hitting streak ended in Friday’s loss to the Wildcats. He rebounded on Sunday by hitting his first SEC homer in the 4-2 win … Drew Fann made his first collegiate start at catcher against Belmont, then started in all three games over the weekend … Tuesday’s game against Austin Peay has been moved from a 4 p.m. start to a 6 p.m. start.