Video: Baseball practice at Regions Park

By Travis Young

The Vanderbilt baseball team practiced for an hour at Regions Park from 5-6 p.m. on Tuesday to get familiar with the "pitcher-friendly" ballpark.

I was able to grab some video of the Commodores practicing as well as show a small virtual tour of the ballpark courtesy of Barca's flip cam.

The SEC banners and the team logos along the outfield fence and stadium concourse add a special feel to the 10,800-seat ballpark that has served as the home facility for the Chicago White Sox Double-A affiliate the Birmingham Barons since 1988.

Editor's note: I would also like to mention that those of you that have high speed internet capability shouldn't take it for granted because loading this video via a 33K dial-up modem in the lobby of the Wynfrey hotel at 3 a.m. was not ideal.

Video: Scheduling time for fans

by Barca Blog

If you came to the baseball series this weekend, you might have noticed some familiar faces from the gridiron on your way into the stadium.

The Commodore football team spent time interacting with fans, handing out schedule cards, and signing autographs to help promote 2010 season tickets.

"We had a lot of fun out here doing this," rising sophomore tailback Zac Stacy said about the experience. "We're looking to improve on last season, which was a big disappointment for us."

You can reserve your tickets to the seven-game home schedule starting at only $125... click here to purchase.

Watch intern Travis' interviews (below) with Stacy, Dexter Daniels, Eric Samuels and Akeem Dunham.

Video: Women's Tennis vs. UT at NCAAs

By Travis Young

I grabbed some video of the introduction of the starting lineups today at NCAA Regionals in Knoxville. The Commodores (14-9) currently trail the Lady Vols (17-8) 1-0 after dropping the doubles point.

Click here for live scoring of the match

Video: Two more plays from Louisville game

by Barca Blog

Here are two more clips that I caught on my Flip camera from the 17-inning marathon at Hawkins Field on Tuesday.

We know Vanderbilt prevailed over Louisville when Jason Esposito hit a walk-off bomb over the monster just before midnight... But we wouldn't have made it to that point if the Commodores hadn't fought back from two, two-run deficits in what could have been their final at bat.

Let's look at two plays that kept the Dores' hopes alive.

Video 1: Down 8-6 in the bottom of the ninth, Vanderbilt tied the game on Aaron Westlake's grounder to shortstop Adam Duvall that scored one run, followed by a throwing error that plated the second one.



(click to enlarge video)

Video 2: Vanderbilt faced another two-run deficit in the bottom of the 14th, but found a way to extend the game again. Curt Casali's double drove in the first run, and then Mike Yastrzemski hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored pinch runner Mark Lamm to tie the game at 10-10.



(click to enlarge video)

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)

Flip It: Baseball on the bus to LSU

By Travis Young –

The Vanderbilt baseball team departed the friendly confines of Hawkins Field around midnight last night in two sleeper buses en route to Baton Rouge, La. The Commodores made the trek in 9.5 hours and caught up on some well needed rest after taking final exams the last six days.

While the rest of the team was sleeping I couldn’t get Garth Brooks’ Callin’ Baton Rouge song out of my head so I decided to get some video of Bus No. 2 at sunrise

Check out the short clip below to see what it’s like traveling through the mid morning hours with the team.

Flip It: Baseball rain delay in Knoxville

By Travis Young

As you know, due to constant heavy rains in the Knoxville area on Saturday, the Vanderbilt-Tennessee baseball game is in a rain delay. Right before the rain delay was announced, I walked over with the team to UT's indoor football training facility to get some video of the team taking infield and hacks in the cage.

See video below.

Flip It: Marina Alex's winning putt

By A. Boggs

Here's a video of Marina's winning putt on the second playoff hole to capture the 2010 SEC Women's individual golf championship. I've also included a video of Marina in the van on the happy ride home.

Flip It: Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field

by Barca Blog

We've had perfect baseball weather at Hawkins Field this weekend for the South Carolina series. Intern Travis was on the scene Saturday afternoon and captured these Flip clips during the Commodores' 8-2 win over the Gamecocks.

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Video 1 Notes: Nice cameo by marketing intern Hedgehog Shanks at the 0:27 mark. You also get to hear superfan Bruce's cry for "Westy" (who delivered with the base hit).



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Video 2 Notes: Perfect song over the loudspeakers for Travis' location. After the video finished, Travis yelled out a passionate yet uncomfortable Fight 'Dores to get the crowd amped-up. Folks, the guy bleeds black and gold, especially since his alma mater (Iowa State) only has a club baseball team.

Flip It: The interview room

by Barca Blog

During NCAA Basketball media day, teams are required to make every student-athlete available for questioning for 30 minutes before shoot around.

Reporters shuffle through the interview room at that time and jump from player to player to get the perfect sound bite. But most of the time, the guys are just waiting patiently to get on the court.

To give you an idea of what it's like, I posted the following Flip video:

Flip It: HP Pavilion

by Barca Blog

Watch Flip footage (below) of the Commodores walking onto the court at HP Pavilion for the first time Wednesday in preparation for the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

In case you were wondering, the facility opened in 1993 and serves as the home for the NHL's San Jose Sharks.

(click to increase video size)

Flip It: You can't stay here

by Barca Blog

Watch Flip video (below) of Travis signing off around midnight from an empty Bridgestone Arena following Vanderbilt's 78-66 win over Georgia in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.

Our favorite intern was so jazzed about the win that he insisted on camping out overnight like it was Bonnaroo... but the yellow jackets wouldn't have it.

Boggles wasn't having any of it either. You can hear him in the background telling us to hurry or we'd miss the last train to Clarksville.

Flip It: Commodores at Dodger Stadium

Junior pitcher Mark Lamm filmed this video with our trusty Flip cam as the Commodores entered Dodger Stadium last Sunday for the Dodgertown Classic.

Flip It: Friday's Quarterfinal Send-off

By Weinman

Band and cheer met the Commodores at their hotel Friday to send the team off to its quarterfinal game against LSU at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Thanks to Heather Casteel, the team's student trainer, for capturing this video.

CRIBS: Sleeper Bus

By Weinman

Thanks to sophomore Jordan Coleman, here is a behind-the-scenes look at how the Commodores travel in style. Step aboard the team's sleeper bus in Duluth, Georgia, for this episode of "VUcommodores.com Cribs."

Flip It: Esposito Bomb

Vanderbilt took care of business by knocking off USC 10-1 on day two of their California trip (click for recap). Check out this footage (below) of Jason Esposito's towering homer over the leftfield net in the top of the seventh at Rod Dedeaux Field. Make the video full-sized and look just to the left of the lights to see the ball go over the screen.

The Commodores will get to play Oklahoma State in Dodger Stadium on Sunday at noon CT. Eric Jones will call the game, which can only be heard on vucommodores.com.

(click to increase video size)

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.

Flip It: Ogilvy's tip-in and more

by Barca Blog

I shot these three videos on my Flip towards the end of last night's win over Georgia.

You might have seen me. I was the guy with the iPod-sized video camera mounted onto a tall monopod. Knock it all you want, but it keeps you from getting a headache!

Ogilvy's Tip-in to go to OT, 77-77 (increase video size)



Walker's Jumper in OT, 90-86 (increase video size)



Walker's Blocked Shot in OT (increase video size)

Flip It: Students camp out for UK game

by Barca Blog

Earlier today, Travis Young talked to Vanderbilt students that camped out to get prime seating for the Kentucky basketball game. The scene was unbelievable with over 1,000 students waiting to get inside Memorial Gym. The line stretched all the way to the intersection of 25th and Jess Neely Drive.

Watch the video, which was shot on my Flip cam, below:

Flip It & Office Junk: Baseball Banquet

by Barca Blog

Two more videos for the blog... This time we focus on last weekend's Vanderbilt Baseball banquet and intern Travis' escapade after the function. Enjoy!

Flip It: Baseball Banquet Recap (SID provides the commentary)



Office Junk: Travis the Salsa Crasher