Week 8 Vanderbilt Baseball Notebook

by SID

Record Overall: 26-8, 6-6 SEC
Record for the Week: 2-2

Last Week
4/6: Vanderbilt 12, Belmont 5
4/9: South Carolina 3, Vanderbilt 2
4/10: Vanderbilt 8, South Carolina 2
4/11: South Carolina 2, Vanderbilt 0

This Week (Buy Tickets)
4/13 vs. Middle Tennessee, 6 p.m. CT, Hawkins Field
4/16 vs. Auburn, 6 p.m. CT, Hawkins Field
4/17 vs. Auburn, 2 p.m. CT, Hawkins Field
4/18 vs. Auburn, 1 p.m. CT, Hawkins Field

Vanderbilt went 2-3 on the week, dropping its third SEC series of the season against South Carolina … The Commodores outscored the Gamecocks 10-7 on the weekend and lost in spite of stellar starting pitching by the trio of Sonny Gray, Jack Armstrong and Taylor Hill. The trio combined to pitch 24.2 innings out of a possible 27 and allowed just six runs, five earned, on 15 hits with 15 strikeouts and eight walks. They had a cume 1.82 ERA and each had the longest outings of their career.

Jack Armstrong allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks over eight innings in the Commodores 8-2 win on Sunday. He is now 5-0 on the season with a 3.43 ERA.

Taylor Hill gave up a solo homer on the first pitch of Sunday’s game and just allowed a single in the next 7.2 innings. He was the tough luck loser, allowing one run on two hits in 7.2 innings with a walk and three strikeouts.

Sonny Gray continued his solid pitching in SEC play, allowing three runs in his first collegiate complete game on Friday. He took the loss despite striking out eight and is now 1-3 in conference action with a 1.93 ERA.

As a team the Commodores had a 2.75 ERA for the week (including midweek against Belmont) with 31 strikeouts and 10 walks in 36.0 innings … Will Clinard pitched three innings of two-hit scoreless relief with two strikeouts and a walk in the win over Belmont … Grayson Garvin struck out all three batters he faced against the Bruins and now has six strikeouts in two innings of work on the year.

Offensively the Commodores hit just .270 on the week with six doubles, a triple and 22 runs scored in five games … Brian Harris led the team with a 4-for-12 (.333) week, he walked four times and was hit once (.529 on base percentage) … Aaron Westlake was 4-for-13 (.308) with five runs scored … Mike Yastrzemski was 3-for-9 (.333) with two doubles in four games, including three starts.

The Commodores close out their eight-game homestand this week with a midweek game against Middle Tennessee and then a three game series against Auburn over the weekend. The Tigers beat LSU two out of three this weekend in Auburn and are 7-5 in league play. Sunday’s game will be televised on ESPNU, marking the first time the Commodores have been on that station ... VU will then play 12 of its final 19 regular season games away from Hawkins Field.