Week 9 Baseball Notebook

Overall: 23-16, 7-10 SEC; Record for the Week: 2-3

Last Week:
4/14 Vanderbilt 15, Middle Tennessee 7 (Nashville)
4/15 Vanderbilt 8, Morehead State 0 (Nashville)
4/17 Alabama 10, Vanderbilt 4 (Nashville)
4/18 Alabama 7, Vanderbilt 3 (Game 1) (Nashville)
4/18 Alabama 7, Vanderbilt 6 (Game 2) (Nashville)

This Week (Buy Tickets):
4/21 at Austin Peay - 6 p.m. CT
4/22 at Louisville - 5 p.m. CT
4/24 Mississippi State - 6 p.m. CT
4/25 Mississippi State - 1 p.m. CT
4/26 Mississippi State - 1 p.m. CT

Notes:
Vanderbilt went 2-3 on the week with a pair of midweek wins and a three-game series sweep at the hands of Alabama over the weekend. It was the first time the Commodores were swept in Nashville since Florida did it at the end of the 2005 season to capture the Southeastern Conference regular season title. It was also the first time Alabama swept the series in Nashville since the 2000 campaign.

On the week, VU hit .311 as a team with three homers, 11 doubles, a triple and 36 runs in five games … Brian Harris broke out of an offensive slump that lowered his batting average to under .300 with a 7-for-16 (.438) week with four doubles, a homer and four RBI … Joe Loftus also had a nice week going 9-for-21 with three doubles, five runs and three RBI … Andrew Giobbi went 9-for-24 (.375) with two homers, a double and six RBI as the leadoff hitter. He has boosted his average to .303 on the season … Riley Reynolds went 6-for-14 with a double, four RBI and four runs scored. His hitting streak reached 19 games before ending in the first game of the doubleheader against the Crimson Tide on Saturday … Alex McClure went 4-for-9 (.444) in a limited role that saw him make his first ever start in right field in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday.

The pitching staff had a strong week strikeout wise with 65 K’s and 17 walks in 45.0 innings. They held Alabama, the league’s top hitting team (.345 entering the weekend), to just a .283 average with 41 strikeouts and 10 walks in 27.0 innings. The big blows were eight homers given up in the three-game set and nine for the week … Drew Hayes had a big week with two solid starting outings. He started and went five innings in a 8-0 shutout over Morehead State in midweek. He struck out six, allowed just three hits with two walks. He then held Bama in check for 4.2 innings allowing three runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. He was 1-0 on the week with 13 strikeouts and three walks in 9.2 innings of work … Nick Christiani (2.0), Chase Reid (1.0) and Russell Brewer (1.0) combined with Hayes on the shutout.

Sean Bierman had a solid week, allowing one run on three hits in 7.2 innings of relief with eight strikeouts and a walk. He pitched 4.2 innings of two-hit scoreless relief against Alabama in the first game of the doubleheader and struck out four with no walks … Brewer pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief in two outings with seven strikeouts and just one walk. He pitched 3.1 innings of two-hit shutout relief against Alabama in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday … Mike Minor had his shortest outing dating back to the season opener with six innings of work in Friday night’s opener. He allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits with 11 strikeouts and two walks in the no-decision.

Vanderbilt plays its final two scheduled midweek games of the year on the road against Austin Peay and Louisville before hosting Mississippi State next weekend at Hawkins Field … The Commodores currently have 53 games on the regular season schedule and are looking to add another game after final exams in a couple of weeks.