Thursday, May 14, 2009

Commodores can't capitalize on ninth-inning opportunity

by David Rutz - Vanderbilt loaded the bases without getting the ball out of the infield in the bottom of the ninth against Tennessee but couldn't get the big hit to rally back, and the Volunteers won 8-6, just their second win in their last 10 games against the Commodores (31-22, 12-15 Southeastern Conference).

A bunt single by Aaron Westlake followed infield hits by Steven Liddle and Curt Casali to load the bases and chase Tennessee starter Nick Hernandez. Matt Ramsey replaced him and got Andrew Giobbi to fly out to shallow center and then struck out Jason Esposito. Jonathan White hit a fly ball to deep left but it was caught at the warning track to end the game.

"Ramsey's a hard-throwing kid, a lot of adrenaline going," said coach Tim Corbin. "I thought Johnny White's (hit) had enough, (but) not enough leg to get there."

Westlake says it was more the Commodores not executing than really being fooled by the Volunteers (24-29, 9-19).

"We're better than that as a team," Westlake said. "If there's a guy on third base with less than two out, we should be able to do our job and get him in, and we just didn't do that tonight."

Westlake expects Vanderbilt to make adjustments and come out in Friday's game with a better mindset at the plate in clutch situations.

"We'll have to come out tomorrow with a better approach, and I think we'll do that," he said.

2 comments:

  1. tough loss, thats why theres always 3 to a series

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  2. first time out against U T is always gonna be tough...its just difference....sonny could have probably done better last night against a major league team...first time out against U T the hype and adrelin just goes wild...so a real hard thrower will just try to throw harder to break through each inning....thats just the opposite of what you need to do..you have to slow the game down and pitch..not throw....he might have been better as a closer last night so he could smell the end zone as soon as he had the ball...problem is....he did such a great job against GA last week as a starter...it teases you into thinking,,,OK...hes ready to dominate now as a starter which we really need right now..so the choices were tough...my first THREE times out against UT were horrible...only team in 4 yrs i could not control my emotions against when pitching against them...so i understand....minor gotta go throw a gem tonight..i might have tried squeezing in the 9th...twice but thats second guessing.....but we seem to bunt the ball very well...bad things seemed to happen when U T started throwing it around so thats my thought..make U T keep throwing it around....this IS U T's post season so they might be proned to be a little tight throwing it around....richie did a nice job, harris, the throw to the plate by joe...the bunts...the hustle down the line...all good stuff....vandypitcher

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