Monday Regional notebook

By David Rutz (AP Photo - Ed Reinke)

The Commodores enter the same scenario as last season in today's Regional final against Louisville, coming in on the heels of a victory over the Cardinals a day earlier, a 7-0 gem thrown by Richie Goodenow.

They hope the similarities end there.

Click here to read more about today's match-up and player reactions to the weekend's action here in Louisville.

Wondering who is going to pitch?

By Eric Jones

By no means do I have any insight, so I will say that up front. As a fan, I am looking at our cumulative stat sheet in the after-glow of Richie Goodenow's longest career outing. While Corbs, DJ and Josh Holliday are relaxing in a sequestered area in downtown Louisville talking about real options.

Coach Corbin didn't tip his hand much at all in the post-game press conference when asked who he thought he would start tomorrow. For the record, every pitcher says they are ready to pitch. In lite of how the Cardinals bats were silenced, the knee-jerk reaction would be Grayson Garvin. Garvin threw 73 pitches in a dominating 4.1 innings of relief on Friday, so you have to ask, could he be as dominating against the UL lefty powerhitters on three days rest? The same could be said for Taylor Hill whose groundball tendencies didn't translate on Friday when he threw 76 pitches, but might be perfect for a big game. Then there is Chase Reid who threw three shutout innings after Hill and Garvin on Friday expending just 50 pitches. Sure, Chase threw an inning and a third today to help eliminate Illinois State, but needed just 23 pitches and that curveball would be nice to throw against good fastball hitters. Will Clinard is another guy that has thrown twice in the Regional, most lately today using 26 pitches in one inning.

Then again, Navery Moore and Russell Brewer haven't seen action at all in the Regional and would appear to be prime candidates for match-ups in the later innings. Brewer is chomping at the bit to try for his 19th career save to tie former Commodore Ryan Rote for the top spot. Navery Moore threw against Louisville in Nashville back on May 11 striking out three Cardinals in 1.1 innings. His fastball-curveball combination has never looked better than it did that long 17-inning night.

Everybody is geeked up about tomorrow's game, so naturally guys like promising Sam Selman and even the walking wounded in Corey Williams and "Cowboy" Mark Lamm are apt to throw their names in the hat. Everyone will want the ball tomorrow. We will all just have to see for ourselves who answers the bell.

Louisville announced tonight that there will be several hundred bleacher tickets that will go on sale tomorrow at the Louisville box office at 8am central time. They don't take phone orders, so you'll have to be here in person to buy. It should prove to be a tremendous showdown between two teams who both badly want to go to Omaha. Cue the Rocky III, "Eye of the Tiger" theme. It's going to be a streetfight.

Who in the World is Tommy Twowins?

By Eric Jones

ESPN the magazine has written a blurb on the good luck ritual of Sonny Gray, who pens in singer songwriter Taylor Swift's name on the Vanderbilt passlist each game. She hasn't shown yet, but after all we already have Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott as a regular at Hawkins Field.

So it was of no surprise to find a new name next to Richie Goodenow on the VU Player Pass List for tonight's Louisville game: Tommy Twowins. The ticket office is used to the hyjinx of our players and love them just the same, but we did wonder who this new friend of Richie's was today. And now, (as Paul Harvey used to say), the rest of the story.

Some notes about Vanderbilt's weekend so far

By David Rutz

Vanderbilt's 10-4 triumph over Illinois State kept its season alive. Now the Commodores face the daunting task of defeating top-seeded Louisville both tonight and tomorrow to advance to their first Super Regional since 2004. Here are some notes on Sunday's win and their weekend so far.

*With the win, Vanderbilt improved to 2-1 on the weekend and 17-16 in its history in NCAA Tournament play. Under Tim Corbin, the Commodores are now 14-10.

*Aaron Westlake seems to like Jim Patterson Stadium. He drove in four runs today, the big hit being his three-run homer in the ninth, and has driven in six in the past three games. He now has four home runs in this year's and last year's Regionals at Louisville.

*Jack Armstrong was wild Sunday, issuing six walks, but he only allowed one hit. Although Vanderbilt never trailed, he didn't get the win, only going four innings and allowing three earned runs. Will Clinard (4-0) pitched an inning of relief and got the victory.

*Vanderbilt pitching did a good job of containing Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Kevin Tokarski, as he went 0-8 with two runs scored and no RBIs in two games against the Commodores. He entered the NCAA Regional batting .429, which ranked him among the nation's best.

*The Commodore bullpen continues to do outstanding work. Clinard, Drew Hayes and Chase Reid pitched five innings against Illinois State, allowing one unearned run and striking out five. In three regional games, Vanderbilt relievers have allowed just one earned run in 15 1/3 innings for a microscopic 0.59 ERA.

*Illinois State committed seven errors, as many as the Redbirds had committed in the last eight games. They also walked 10 and hit three Vanderbilt hitters.

*Heading into the 9th inning against the Redbirds, Vanderbilt was 0-12 with runners in scoring position on the day and 0-15 since Jack Armstrong's game-winning hit in the 13th on Friday against Illinois State. Westlake's 3-run home run off Cam Verbeke provided a huge cushion, and the Commodores tacked on two more after an RBI double by Joe Loftus and Curt Casali's sharp grounder that was misplayed for an error to score Loftus.

For the weekend though, Vanderbilt is still only hitting .179 (7-39, 16 RBIs) with runners in scoring position. Also, with 17 men left on base Sunday, the Commodores have stranded a total of 41 runners the past three games.

Haven't got time for pain

by Eric Jones - The news of Caleb Cotham’s relegation to the bullpen due to a partially torn left meniscus may have been premature. Cotham was back on the mound today allowing just one run on five hits through seven innings while striking out seven to get a crucial win. It was the first complete game of his college career as his Commodore teammates run-ruled the Razorbacks in seven innings, 11-1.

“To be honest, there was no pain today,” said Cotham who had stymied Arkansas once already back on April 11 in Fayetteville striking out a career-best 12 in a 13-6 victory. “Coach (Corbin) asked me last night if I thought that I could start, and I told him that I felt good about it. We are playing great right now and I knew that if I could pitch well, it would allow us to have just about everyone ready for tomorrow’s game.”

The start for the former Mt. Juliet (TN) High School standout might also serve as an audition for more starts in the post-season. While Cotham has been effective in relief (3.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 K’s in 4 appearances), the prospect of having three legitimate starters with top of the rotation stuff is too good to pass up if the Commodores are able to get into the NCAA Regional picture.

“Now after the fact, we were just trying to see how many innings we could get out of him,” explained Tim Corbin. “I asked him a lot of questions last night, can you pick guys off, can you field bunts, how do you think that your stamina will be going into the fourth or fifth inning? Those were all key components into us making the decision. Now we know that if he is anything close to what he was like today, he can give us good innings and hold his velocity through the sixth or seventh inning.”

In college baseball, the team who has the most arms usually holds the advantage in a tournament. At least through three games, the Commodores will argue that the quality of those arms is actually the key.

(Photo by Jimmy Jones)

Price on center stage

By Travis Young - Former Vanderbilt pitcher David Price will be in the spotlight tonight as he faces the Norfolk Tides in a Triple-A International game in Durham, N.C. Tonight's game will feature two of Major League’s top-two prospects in Tampa Bay’s Price and Baltimore Orioles switch-hitting catcher Matt Wieters. Both Price and Wieters are ranked as Baseball America’s top 2009 overall prospects.

While at Vanderbilt Price posted a historical career en route to being named the 2007 Consensus National Player of the Year and the first overall draft pick by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2007 draft. This last season, Price proved to be a valuable arm at the back end of Tampa Bay’s bullpen as he recorded the save in a memorable game seven against the Boston Red Sox, giving Tampa Bay its first American League Pennant.

To view Baseball America’s Q&A with Price and Wieters, click here.