Audio: Post-UL press conference

by Barca Blog - Listen to head coach Tim Corbin, pitcher Nick Christiani and shortstop Brian Harris talk to the press following the Commodores' 8-4 win over Louisville Sunday. Click Here for Audio

FINAL: Vanderbilt 8, Louisville 4

By Travis Young - The Commodores defeated top-seeded Louisville 8-4 Sunday night at Jim Patterson Stadium at the third day of the NCAA Regionals. Click here for the official post game coverage from Vanderbilt's 8-4 win over Louisville Sunday.

Vanderbilt advances to play Louisville in tomorrow (Monday) night's Regional final at 6 p.m. CT. Stay tuned to vucommodores.com and the official Road Blog for all your Vanderbilt storylines.

IN PROGRESS: Vanderbilt vs. Louisville

By Travis Young - The Commodores are currently leading the No. 1 seeded Louisville Cardinals 8-3 in the top of the eighth inning in the third day of the NCAA Louisville Regional. Click here to follow the action.

For instant updates on the game in progress check out live stats or twitter updates at vucommodores. Click here for Twitter updates.

Sunday Lineup vs. Louisville

by Travis Young - Here is the lineup for tonight's game against top-seeded Louisville. The game will start at 6 p.m. CT.

1. Brian Harris SS
2. Jonathan White CF
3. Curt Casali 1B
4. Steven Liddle RF
5. Andrew Giobbi C
6. Aaron Westlake DH
7. Joe Loftus LF
8. Jason Esposito 3B
8. Riley Reynolds 2B
SP: Nick Christiani (5-6, 5.05 ERA)

Weather: Sunny, 80 degrees.Winds blowing from the northeast at 4 mph.

Louisville will send lefthander Bob Revesz (4-1, 4.08 ERA) to the hill tonight to face the Commodores. Revesz is not your prototypical power southpaw as he has 26 strikeouts in 57.1 innings of work this season. He is allowing an average of over one hit per inning while opponents are hitting .284 off him.

Vanderbilt has seen Revesz once already this season as he started against the Commodores on April 22. In the start against the Commodores, VU tagged Revesz for six hits and two runs in 4.2 innings of work. Revesz struck out three Commodores in the no decision start.

The Commodores rallied to defeat Louisville 4-3 in its only meeting between the two schools this season.

Vanderbilt will counter with Nick Christiani. The senior righthander allowed three runs, four hits and one walk against LSU in the SEC Tournament championship on May 24.

Fans can follow all of Sunday night's action at vucommodores.com by clicking here.

Audio: Post-MTSU press conference

by Barca Blog - Listen to head coach Tim Corbin,and pitcher Caleb Cotham talk to the press following the Commodores' 6-0 win over Middle Tennessee Sunday. Click Here for Audio

FINAL: Vanderbilt 6, MTSU 0

The Commodores defeated MTSU 6-0 Sunday in a elimination game at the third day of the NCAA Regionals. Stay tuned to vucommodores.com for up-to-the-minute post game information from Vanderbilt's win over MTSU Sunday.

Vanderbilt advances to play Louisville tonight at 6 p.m. CT. The Commodores will have to beat the Cardinals twice (tonight and on Monday) in order to claim the Louisville Regional.

IN PROGRESS: Vanderbilt vs. MTSU

The Commodores and Blue Raiders are underway in an elimination game on the third day of the NCAA Louisville Regional. Click here to follow the action on vucommodores.com.

The winner will move on to face Louisville Sunday night at 6 p.m. CT

Sunday Lineup vs. Middle Tennessee

by Travis Young - Here is the lineup for today's elimination game against Middle Tennessee at the Louisville Regional. A couple changes in today’s lineup due to MTSU throwing righthander Chad Edwards. It marks the first time since the SEC Tournament that Vanderbilt will face a righthanded starter.

1. Brian Harris SS
2. Jonathan White CF
3. Steven Liddle RF
4. Curt Casali 1B
5. Aaron Westlake DH
6. Andrew Giobbi C
7. Jason Esposito 3B
8. Riley Reynolds 2B
9. Joe Loftus LF
SP: Caleb Cotham (6-5, 4.63 ERA)

Weather: Sunny, 78 degrees.Winds blowing from N to NW at 8 mph. Another beautiful day for America’s pastime .

As SID reported earlier on the blog, MTSU will send righthander Chad Edwards (8-1, 5.99 ERA) to the hill to face the Commodores. Edwards has the distinction of being the only pitcher to shutout the Commodores this year in a 8-0 decision on April 7. VU could only manage three hits with three walks, while Edwards struck out three in a 126 pitch complete game performance.

Cotham is coming off a strong, complete game seven-inning outing against Arkansas in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. Cotham, pitching with a torn meniscus, allowed Arkansas to only one run on five hits with seven strikeouts.

Vanderbilt will be the home team Sunday against the second-seeded Blue Raiders.

Fans can follow all of the day's action at vucommodores.com by clicking here.

Mr. Consistent

By Travis Young - Steven Liddle is quietly putting together a very nice season for the Commodores this season. In a league that features players like Kent Matthes, Rich Poythress and Nick Ebert, Liddle’s name kind of flies under the radar.

Through 61 games this season, the second-team All-SEC outfielder is currently tied or leading the team in eight offensive categories; (runs (62), doubles (21), home runs (10), triples (2), slugging % (.582) on-base % (.449), walks (40) and total bases (139). Liddle is second on the team in hitting with at .351 average while batting mostly out of the two through four hole this season.

Through May 24, Liddle ranked in the top-10 among all Southeastern Conference players in seven offensive categories; (batting average, on-base percentage, runs, hits, doubles, walks and total bases).

VU head coach Tim Corbin knew when they recruited him that they were getting a special talent in Liddle.

“Steve is a good all-around player who has always competed at a high level,” head coach Tim Corbin said. “He is very fundamentally sound in the outfield and handles the bat well. He has developed into a real good player for us and he is only in his second year of college baseball.”

In addition to his constant bat in the heart of the order, Liddle has showed that he can play defense as well, boasting a .984 fielding percentage while recording 118 put outs.

Coming into the season, Liddle was expected to start in either left or right field after coming on strong at the end of the year, but has blossomed into one of team’s best hitters. Liddle hit .310 with 28 RBI and 28 runs scored in 54 games last season, but has exploded offensively this season in becoming one of team’s most clutch hitters.

Steve Martin sightings galore at the Opry

by Leathers - Of all things, backstage at the Saturday night Grand Ole Opry turned into a Steve Martin lookalike affair, thanks in large part to our own Commodore head football coach.

With the help of Vanderbilt Athletics fan and longtime Opry member Whisperin' Bill Anderson, Bobby Johnson got to meet Martin, the legendary actor/comedian whom total strangers continue to confuse the coach with. (Check out the back stage photo take of the duo.)

Johnson, accompanied by his wife Catherine, was introduced to his famous lookalike after Martin's opening set at the Opry.

"He was preoccupied and I definitely understand why," the head coach said, "but he was very cordial and just real excited about playing on the Opry."

"As we were introduced, he said, 'Hey, we look alike.' That's what Catherine has been saying for years now," Johnson added.

An lifelong banjo picker, Martin was making his highly anticipated first appearance on the Opry stage. He was joined by an all-star lineup of talent, including Vince Gill and wife Amy Grant, John McEuen of the Nitty Gitty Dirt Band, fiddler Stuart Duncan and guitarist Tim O'Brien, in front of a packed house.

Familar Foe..Again

by SID - Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee will meet for the fourth time this season with the stakes on this game being the highest it has ever been. The winner advances into the regional finals, while the loser's season is done.

The Blue Raiders lead the season series 2-1 by virtue of their 5-4 win over Vanderbilt on Friday.

As Barca Blog earlier reported Caleb Cotham (6-5, 4.63 ERA) is going for the Commodores, while Middle Tennessee is sending right-hander Chad Edwards (8-1, 5.99 ERA) to the bump. Edwards has the distinction of being the only pitcher to shutout the Commodores this year in a 8-0 decision on April 7. VU could only manage three hits with three walks, while Edwards struck out three in a 126 pitch complete game performance.

Was Edwards' shutout more of an aberration than the norm as his overall numbers would indicate? An 8-1 record with a six ERA likely means that MTSU's lineup produced a lot of runs when he was on the mound, with his start against Vanderbilt his lone complete game of the year. Opponents are hitting .335 off of him and he has just 40 strikeouts with 15 walks in 67.2 innings. While the Commodores didn't have much success against him the first time, a second look could provide a much different result.

If Vanderbilt is to advance to its fourth regional final appearance in five NCAA trips under Tim Corbin, it will need to get the momentum early and not let Edwards get comfortable on the mound. As the team showed in Saturday's 10-0 win over Indiana, an early lead gives the team more confidence and it carries throughout the game.

Neither team wants to call it a season so this afternoon's game will be one with a lot of intensity and emotion.

Hitting notes

by Barca Blog - A couple of notes and quotes from Saturday's 10-0 win over Indiana.

Start me up

Playing in their first elimination game of the NCAA tournament, the Commodores needed a quick start on the scoreboard Saturday to erase any jitters, especially after getting in a 4-0 hole in Friday's regional opening loss to Middle Tennessee.

Head coach Tim Corbin searched for a spark and he started with leadoff hitter Brian Harris.

"Harry, you got to get it going now," Corbin said during pregame warmups. "We run on you and your due."

Harris didn't disappoint. In his first at bat, the MBA product took a 2-2 offering deep over the left field fence, his eighth round tripper of the year. Jonathan White followed with a triple and scored on Curt Casali's groundout to short, giving the 'Dores a 2-0 lead right off the bat.

“We talked about getting momentum today," Corbin said. "We needed to get some things flowing offensively for our psyche more than anything else. We had some good hitters that just had tougher days yesterday."

The Commodores' 1-4 hitters (Harris, White, Liddle, Casali) were held to 1-for-15 at the plate with one run and no RBIs against MTSU -- the only hit being White's double in the ninth. Corbin's same four (except Liddle and Casali swapped places in the order) had a huge day Saturday, going 7-for-17 with six RBIs, six runs and four extra-base hits.

"They were very productive," Corbin added. "I thought that’s where the leadership came from. They got in there and swung the bat very well. It was a team effort today, but it started from the top."

Being Aggressive

Corbin provided the stat of the game in his postgame press conference.

"We really earned this game offensively. (Friday) we walked eight times and struck out once. (Saturday) we struck out nine times and walked once, so all of our offense was generated from struck balls off (Matt Bashore) who had won his last five starts. That kid was basically unhittable in the Big Ten.

"We talked about just trying to force it a little bit (on offense). I think the kids just reacted and got it going. They just got knocked back on their heels a little bit Friday and were disappointed but got back up and started unloading and throwing punches."

Reynolds provides punch

Freshman second baseman Riley Reynolds has made some dazzling plays in the field so far, but was also able to give the 'Dores an offensive punch out of the ninth spot in the lineup Saturday.

The Lee's Summit, Mo., native broke out of a 2-for-19 slump against the Hoosiers by going 3-for 4 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI. It was his first multi-hit game since May 9 against Georgia.

"Riley wore out that left field line," Corbin said of the left-handed hitter. "It was nice to see because he has been kept in check the last three weeks, so it was good to get him going."

Pitching notes

by Barca Blog - As expected, Caleb Cotham will take the mound for the Commodores against Middle Tennessee in an elimination game Sunday afternoon at Patterson Stadium.

Cotham, pitching with a torn meniscus, shined in his first start in three weeks last Saturday at the SEC Tournament. The redshirt sophomore allowed only one run on five hits with seven strikeouts in a seven-inning complete game against Arkansas.

No word yet on who VU would start if they advance to Sunday night's contest with Louisville (or Monday night for that matter). Corbin did suggest that it wouldn't be out of the question to use Mike Minor or Sonny Gray at some point in relief if the Commodores can keep winning.

"Guaranteed, Sonny and Minor are going to be asking for the ball again," Corbin said. "Common sense would tell you they won’t return, but it happened in 2007 with David Price. If you’re playing winner take all, you do whatever you can. Those guys are competitors. We’ll do what we have to do. I’m not going to run them out there for a long time, but we’ll wait until we get there."

Minor threw 134 pitches Friday while Gray registered 107 Saturday.

Also, Corbin explained why Gray was pulled after eight innings instead of leaving him on the hill to finish off a complete-game shutout against Indiana.

"It was more along the lines to get Taylor (Hill) some work because he hadn’t pitched in four weeks (May 5 vs. Belmont) and I really wanted to get him out there on the bump. Sonny had gone over 100 pitches. He could have finished it off and probably wanted to. In order for us to win this tournament, we’ll have to play five games, and using Taylor for one inning would not hurt us. He really needed the work if he’s going to help us down the road."

Anxiously awaiting

by Barca Blog - You can understand if Sonny Gray was anxious prior to Vanderbilt’s contest with Indiana Saturday. The weight of the Commodores’ season was riding on the freshman hurler’s right arm.

“(Sonny’s) running around before the game with a bat in his hand,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin noticed. “I had to get him out of the sun. He had some nervous energy working.”

Gray took that energy and unleashed his most dominant performance of his young career, not allowing an extra base hit in a career-high eight innings of shutout work to lead the Commodores to a 10-0 rout of Indiana.

Gray left IU’s potent offense playing the guessing game as he mowed down 10 Hoosier hitters with a good mixture of fastballs, breaking balls and offspeed pitches to keep their hitting attack off balance. He was in total control, too, only walking one of 30 batters faced.

“He was pretty dominant today,” Indiana head coach Tracy Smith said. “When you face that type of pitching performance, your margin of error is very small. When he starts throwing the breaking ball consistently with his velocity it makes it very, very tough.”

Gray’s only challenge came in the fifth with Vanderbilt holding a 3-0 lead. After IU loaded the bases with no outs, the Smyrna, Tenn., native buckled down to freeze Tyler Rogers and Jake Dunning on back-to-back strikeouts. He then forced Brian Lambert into a groundout to shortstop to end the inning and thwart any momentum IU had built up.

“We’ve gotten out of situations like that before,” Gray said, “and I told myself that I was going to cut-it loose and just see what happens.”

What happened was anything but your typical freshman performance, especially when you consider it took place on the biggest stage. But as Corbin pointed out about Gray, “there’s no freshman in him.”

(Photo by Jimmy Jones)

The Greatest

by Barca Blog - Who knew that sticking around for tonight's regional nightcap between Louisville and MTSU would include getting to see the sporting world's greatest icon of all-time... Muhammad Ali. The Louisville native received a standing ovation accompanied with the classic "Ali... Ali...Ali" chant after it was announced he was in attendance during an early inning break.

"The Greatest" is pictured above with another former baseball superstar, Barry Bonds (errr.... actually it's Kevin Colon, who serves as the Associate Director of Student-Athletics for Vanderbilt Baseball).

'Dores will get rematch with MTSU

by Barca Blog - No. 1 seed Louisville rallied late to edge No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee 3-2 Saturday night at Patterson Stadium. Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, the Cardinals tied the game on Josh Richmond's leadoff solo homer to left. Louisville took the lead for good in the top of the ninth when Jeff Arnold scored on catcher Drew Robertson's errant throw to third after a pitchout. UL reliever Derek Self then retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.

Vanderbilt will get a rematch with MTSU in an elimination game Sunday at 2 p.m. CT. The winner of that game will have to beat Louisville twice -- on Sunday and Monday at 6 p.m. CT -- to advance to the super regional.

Photos: Vanderbilt vs. Indiana

by Barca Blog - Here's a link to Jimmy Jones' photo gallery from today's win over Indiana. Photo Gallery

Audio: Postgame press conference

by Barca Blog - Listen to head coach Tim Corbin, pitcher Sonny Gray and outfielder Steven Liddle talk to the press following the Commodores' 10-0 win over Indiana Saturday. Click Here for Audio

FINAL: Vanderbilt 10, Indiana 0

The Commodores defeated Indiana 10-0 Saturday in a elimination game at the second day of the NCAA Regionals. Click here for up-to-the-minute post game information, including quotes, audio and photos from Vanderbilt's win Saturday.

Vanderbilt will play the loser of No. 1 Louisville and No. 2 Middle Tennessee at 2 p.m. CT Sunday.

IN PROGRESS: Vanderbilt vs. Indiana

The Commodores and Hoosiers are underway in a elimination game on the second day of the NCAA Louisville Regional. Click here to follow the action on vucommodores.com.

Starting Lineup vs. Indiana

by Travis Young - Here is the lineup for today's elimination game against Indiana. The lineup is a little different than yesterday as Curt Casali will bat in the three hole while Steven Liddle slides down to the cleanup spot. Giobbi and Westlake switched places in the order as Giobbi will hit fifth and Westlake sixth. Loftus and Esposito will switch places in the order as Loftus moves up to seventh while Esposito will bat eighth.

1. Brian Harris SS
2. Jonathan White CF
3. Curt Casali 1B
4. Steven Liddle RF
5. Andrew Giobbi C
6. Aaron Westlake DH
7. Joe Loftus LF
8. Jason Esposito 3B
9. Riley Reynolds 2B
SP: Sonny Gray (4-1, 5.14 ERA)

Weather: Partly Cloudy, 78 degrees.Winds blowing from the SW at 10 mph. The flag in center field indicates the wind is blowing out to center field.

Indiana will start junior left-hander Matt Bashore while Vanderbilt will counter with Gray. Bashore is 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA with 101 strikeouts and 29 walks in 90.2 innings of work. Scouting reports have him throwing anywhere from 88-91, with the ability to dial it up to 93-94.

Gray is coming off one of his best start's of his collegiate career where he struck out a career high 11 batters in seven innings of work against South Carolina at the SEC Tournament last week.

Vanderbilt will be the home team Saturday against the fourth-seeded Hoosiers.

Fans can follow all of the day's action at vucommodores.com

NCAA Louisville Regional Day 2

by Barca Blog - After a stinging 5-4 loss to in-state rival Middle Tennessee, the Commodores have no choice but to shrug it off if they wish to stay in Louisville past Saturday. Just like last year in Tempe, VU will have to do it the hard way with four straight wins to make it to the super regional.

Head coach Tim Corbin commented on the 'Dores situation after Friday's defeat.

“We just need to put this game behind us. Our team knows that it’s a five-game tournament for us now, but you can’t look at that way when you get into Saturday’s game.

“We have enough pitching to last in this tournament. The MTSU game was obviously a tough loss because it was a one-run ballgame and we left a lot of runners in scoring position that we didn’t drive in.

“Saturday’s a fresh start and if we are meant to continue to play than we will have a good attitude.”

The 'Dores will take on Indiana, the Big Ten Tournament Champs, in today's elimination game at 2 p.m. CT inside Patterson Stadium. Follow the game here.

A little bit about Indiana

by SID - Indiana swept through the Big Ten tournament last week to pick up the league's automatic bid. The Hoosiers rolled through the Big Ten Tournament, outscoring its opponents 47-9 in four games in the tournament.

Indiana made three costly errors and played like a team making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996 in a 8-2 loss to Louisville Friday night.

Junior catcher Josh Phegley, a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, is hitting .350 with a team leading 17 homers and 66 RBI. Freshman designated hitter/outfielder Alex Dickerson leads the team with a .374 average and has provided power as well with 14 homers and 57 RBI. The Hoosiers are hitting .328 as a team with 61 homers and 423 runs scored (7.3 per game).

Junior left-hander Matt Bashore will get the start against Vanderbilt. Bashore is 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA with 101 strikeouts and 29 walks in 90.2 innings of work. Scouting reports have him throwing anywhere from 88-91, with the ability to dial it up to 93-94.

Junior right-hander Chris Squires is the team’s closer with eight saves in 19 relief appearances. He has a 4.01 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 18 walks in 51.2 innings.

As a team the Hoosiers sport a 5.07 ERA with 430 strikeouts and 215 walks in 509.1 innings.

So far the Louisville Regional has played out according to seed. If the Commodores are to extend their season for at least another day, the offense will have to do a better job of hitting with runners on base. The team left 12 on in the loss to Middle yesterday and 1-for-12 in RBI opportunities.

Sonny Gray gets the start and will look to build on a career high 11 strikeout performance against South Carolina last week at the SEC tourney. The freshman gets his chance on the hill in a few hours. The Dores are the home team in the elimination game.

Saturday's Articles from Around the Web

MTSU's big hits beat Vanderbilt
MTSU's win was no upset
Grand opening for MTSU

Next Up: Indiana

by Barca Blog - No. 1 seed Louisville advanced into the winner's bracket of the NCAA Regional with an 8-2 victory over No. 4 seed Indiana Friday night at Patterson Field.

This result means the Commodores will face the Hoosiers Saturday at 2 p.m. CT in an elimination game.

IN PROGRESS: Indiana vs. Louisville

by Barca Blog - No. 1 seed Louisville and No. 4 seed Indiana are playing in front of a red-clad, sold-out crowd at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cardinals are up 3-2 going into the fourth inning. The Commodores will play the loser in an elimination game Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.

Track the action here.

Also, two random notes about this game:

1 - Every Louisville player took the field sporting a mohawk during pregame introductions. A couple of them even dyed their center strip red.... almost reminding me of the Red Rooster from WWF back in the day.

2- This is the first time Louisville has hosted a regional, although the Cards did entertain a super regional on their way to Omaha in 2007. Athletics officials brought in temporary bleachers for the first and third base lines, raising capacity from 2,500 to 4,100. Word is that the seats came directly from last weekend's Indy 500... but not sure if Helio Castroneves climbed them.

Photos: Vanderbilt vs. MTSU

by Barca Blog - Here's a link to John Russell's photo gallery from today's loss to Middle Tennessee. Photo Gallery

Audio: Postgame press conference

by Barca Blog - Listen to head coach Tim Corbin, designated hitter Aaron Westlake and pitcher Mike Minor talk to the press following the Commodores' 5-4 loss to MTSU Friday. Click Here for Audio

FINAL: Middle Tennessee 5, Vanderbilt 4

The Commodores fell to the Blue Raiders 5-4 Friday at the first day of the NCAA Regionals. Click here for a brief recap, post game notes and quotes from Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.

Vanderbilt will play the loser of No. 1 Louisville and No. 4 Indiana at 2 p.m. CT Saturday.

IN PROGRESS: Vanderbilt vs. MTSU

The Commodores and Blue Raiders are underway on the first day of the NCAA Louisville Regional. Click here to follow the action on vucommodores.com.