Video: Baseball Postgame Press Conference

By Travis Young

Here is Saturday's postgame press conference from Vanderbilt's 6-2 win over Florida State at the NCAA Super Regional in Tallahassee, Fla. Head Coach Tim Corbin, Sonny Gray, Grayson Garvin, Joe Loftus and Jason Esposito answered questions from the media.

(Part 1)


(Part 2)

Goodenow continues to be great

By Eric Jones (Photo by Ross Obley)

Richie Goodenow was brought in to face FSU's Jayce Boyd with a runner on base. In typical Richie fashion, he gets a groundball doubleplay, gives up a hit to Devon Travis, then gets Rafael Lopez to strikeout swinging.

Although it is no complete game nine-inning shutout, still a nice follow-up to the Louisville Regional start which earned him Regional Tournament MVP honors. Low-keyed and unassuming, Richie is now the pitcher of record after Esposito's solo homerun in the top of the seventh to give Vandy the lead 7-6. The six-run deficit is eerily reminiscent of the Dore's come-from-behind win over UK earlier this year when they trailed 7-0 only to rally for a 9-8 win.

Reid & Esposito shake it out

Vanderbilt baseball student-athletes Chase Reid and Jason Esposito give you the inside scoop on their pregame handshake rituals.

Which one is your favorite?

Esposito earns weekly honor

By T. Young -

College Baseball 360 released it's primetime performer weekly honor roll for May 10-16 and Jason Esposito was one of 16 players mentioned. Check out SID's blog on Esposito's record setting weekend.

College Baseball360 Weekly Honor Roll

Esposito has record setting weekend

by SID

Sophomore Jason Esposito had a record setting weekend at the plate last week, starting with his walk-off solo homer in the 17th inning against No. 8 Louisville on Tuesday.

He was on fire in the Commodores sweep over Mississippi State over the weekend going 8-for-11 (.727) with four doubles, six runs scored with seven walks and three stolen bases.

Esposito broke a 27 year old school record having reached base safely 15 consecutive times from Friday to Sunday (still active). The previous mark was 14 set by Tim Brecht in 1983.

On Sunday he walked five times tying the school single game record for base on balls last achieved by Hunter Bledsoe in 1999.

He will have a chance to go after the NCAA record for consecutive times reaching base safely against Arkansas on Thursday (18—Shaun Larkin, Cal St. Northridge, Feb. 8-12, 2002 • 4 games).

The streak is as follows (from sixth inning on Friday on)

Friday: Single, Double, Walk
Saturday: Double, Walk, Single, Single, Single, Double
Sunday: Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, Double, Walk

For the week he was 10-for-19 (.526) with five doubles, a homer, two RBI and nine runs scored with three stolen bases. Esposito has been the offensive catalyst for the Commodores six game win streak (longest current skein in the SEC) heading into Thursday play.

Video: Big Jack's backflip returns

by Barca Blog

Jack Armstrong brought back his signature backflip to the Commodores' pregame huddle against Louisville on Tuesday.

The 6'7" sophomore regularly performed the stunt last year to get the team energized before first pitch, but had yet to do so this season.

This time around, he had an accomplice. Teammate Jason Esposito, who just recently learned the trick, jumped into the circle with Big Jack.

Maybe the move gave Espo some good karma later that night.

(Next time, I request the "Triple Lindy.")

Video: Espo's walk-off homer

by Barca Blog

Props to the hundreds of diehards that hung around to watch Jason Esposito's walk-off homer in the bottom of the 17th that lifted Vanderbilt past Louisville, 11-10, Tuesday night.

It was worth the wait.

Even if it took five hours and 33 minutes after first pitch to settle the score. Even if the clock almost struck midnight, knowing that an early wake-up call was on the horizon. (If only I drank coffee.)

Credit the Dores for twice rallying from two runs down -- in the ninth and 14th -- to allow us to experience this memorable moment.

(click to enlarge video)

Video: Corbin, Esposito meet the press

by Travis Young

Vanderbilt head baseball coach Tim Corbin and sophomore Jason Esposito met with the local media on Monday to discuss the upcoming Red Cross Benefit game vs. Louisville, the weekend series win over LSU, and more.

Video: Post-Belmont with Jason Esposito

Vanderbilt third baseman Jason Esposito talks to the Tennessean's Mike Organ after the Commodores 12-5 win over Belmont on Tuesday.

For a complete recap with quotes and stats, click here.

Video: Esposito swings early

by Barca Blog

Did you miss Terry Bulger's feature on third baseman Jason Esposito during last night's WSMV news broadcast?

No worries... we have the link.

Click here to learn how Esposito's strong work ethic gets him ready for gameday.

Esposito Feature on Channel 4 Tonight

By Travis Young

Vanderbilt baseball fans be sure to set your television to Channel 4 tonight at 6:50 p.m. to catch a feature on starting third baseman Jason Esposito. Terry Bulger of WSMV caught up with Jason yesterday afternoon during batting practice.

Click here to watch the feature online

A Day in Hollywood

by Eric Jones

I know, I hear the groans and can almost see some of you rolling your eyes, "It must be nice to get an all expense paid trip to Los Angeles." I won't lie to you, it has been nice and is one of the perks of working in athletics. So I won't disappoint you when I work in my experience in Hollywood. Thomas Samuel, former VU media relation intern Will Matthews and I decided to try our luck at star-gazing on Hollywood Blvd. We found some cheap parking (seriously, $5.00 for about an hour and half was awesome) and started wading through a serious tide of global tourists. Former Lipscomb University A.D. Steve Potts warned us the day before that "Every day is Halloween down on Hollywood Blvd," when we met him on a brief stop at Pepperdine the day before.

We stopped to walk through the Kodak Theater, while moving towards Grauman's Chinese Theater, and encountered (because we really had no desire to meet them) no less than one Superman, two Darth Vaders (with a variety of colored light sabers), Yoda, Michael Myers, a Tickle-Me Elmo that charged extra for laughing, and a bright blue body-painted girl that was either passing herself off as someone from Avatar or a Smurf. I honestly didn't think to ask. The saddest snapshot that I couldn't bring myself to take was of a guy dressed up like Charlie Chaplain waiting for the bus.

It was interesting to watch people of all ages and cultures walking along with their heads down on both sides of the street reading the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I was able to locate a couple of heroes of my youth (Journey and Motley Crue) and found myself constantly asking Thomas and Will, "How did that guy get a star?"

We cut the visit short or rather I volunteered as the only one of us with a real raincoat, to go get the car as it started to pour. My choice to wear shorts would turn out to be a poor one as I wouldn't dry out until sometime after Jason Esposito's homerun last night. We went in search of the mythical (at least to me) Whiskey-A-Go-Go where Jim Morrison and the Doors were discovered and signed by Elektra records in the late 1960's. It turned out to be off Sunset Boulevard and like many things I had built up in my mind, not at all what I expected. Not even one heavy metal hairdo waiting in line outside, just a sign that said, "Check us out online." What would Jim Morrison say about his old haunt.

We finished the day on a great note, sharing a quick dinner at La Barca mexican restaurant in homage to the Barca Blog's namesake before heading to USC's Rod Deadeaux Field. The afternoon deluge caused a 30 minute delay in the game, but thanks to the LA Fire Department, the field was dried in a trial by fire...literally. No pictures were allowed to be taken or mention made on the broadcast, but LAFD took a page from my old little league coach by soaking the dirt with gas then lighting it on fire. Bottom line, it worked and allowed the Commodores to smoke the Trojans 10-1.

And to think, we were told we would be rained out. Don't stop believin'.

Flip It: Rainy day in SoCal

by SID

The weather isn't particularly great outside today with gray overcast skies and intermittent rain so far on Saturday.

The forecast calls for a 100 percent chance of rain the rest of the day and only going down to around 70 percent by 9 p.m. tonight. It should clear up for a nice sunny tomorrow at Dodger Stadium, but tonight's game against USC is in jeopardy.

Many of the players are studying for midterm exams or doing homework in the hotel. Eric Jones caught up with a few of them Saturday morning.

VU baseball ranked No. 12 in preseason poll

By Travis Young

PG Crosschecker has released its top-100 college baseball preseason poll and the Vanderbilt baseball team is ranked No. 12. VU is one of five SEC teams ranked in the top-20 preseason poll; LSU (3rd), Florida (6th), Arkansas (15th) and Ole Miss (18th).

PG Crosschecker also released its top-500 2010 draft prospects, including college and high school players. Aaron Westlake was tabbed as VU’s top 2010 draft prospect, (No. 294) while Drew Hayes was selected as VU’s top 2010 draft pitching prospect (No. 300). Westlake captured the SEC batting title last year after hitting .377 while Hayes went 4-3 with a 5.56 ERA to go along with 51 strikeouts in 43.2 innings of work.

Sonny Gray and Jack Armstrong have been ranked by PG Crosschecker as the No. 5 and No. 6 draft prospects for the 2011 MLB draft. Vanderbilt is the only team in college baseball to have two players ranked among the top-20 prospects for the 2011 draft. Gray was selected in the 27th round by the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 draft while Armstrong was a 36th round pick by the Rangers in the same year.

Sophomore third baseman Jason Esposito joins Gray and Armstrong among PG Crosscheckers top-50 prospects in the 2011 draft, ranking 49th. Esposito was a seventh round pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 2008 first-year player draft.

PG Crosschecker also lists freshman Commodore lefthander, Sam Selman as the 54th-ranked draft prospect for the draft class of 2012. Selman was a 14th-round pick by the Los Angeles Angels last summer before honoring his commitment to play for the Commodores.