Sunday, June 13, 2010

More Photos from Saturday's win

Click Here to view Jimmy Jones' photo gallery from Saturday's 6-2 win over Florida State.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

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)

Saturday Photos: Vanderbilt 6, Florida State 2

Click Here to view Ross Obley's Photo Gallery

Armstrong tabbed to pitch Super Regional Championship

By Eric Jones

Tim Corbin announced that Jack Armstrong will be the starting pitcher for the Commodores tomorrow. Although Jack has had some tough luck thus far in the post-season, you might choose to look at the last time he pitched in his native Sunshine State. It was back on April 4, when Armstrong threw six shutout innings to get his fourth win while preventing the Dores from suffering a sweep by the Gators. Plus his hometown of Jupiter is just hours away, so Jack may have to get some extra tickets from his teammates.

Commodores even series

TALLAHASSE, Fla. – Vanderbilt jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and added three more runs in the eighth to defeat Florida State, 6-2, in Game 2 of the NCAA Super Regional Saturday at Dick Howser Stadium.

The Commodores and Seminoles will play Sunday (Noon CT) for the right to go to the College World Series.

Check back soon for a full recap and official postgame coverage.

Garvin Great in Post-Season

by Eric Jones

Maybe it was a good thing that Grayson Garvin didn't throw a pitch in anger before March 30. The seemingly innocuous scoreless inning that day against the Terriers with three strikeouts proved the lefty was ready to go. It was bigger still just four days later when Corey Williams took a ball off the kneecap versus Florida that required season-ending surgery while leaving the Commodores with just Richie Goodenow and freshman Sam Selman as the only other left-handed options for match-ups.

Rehabbing to be completely healthy proved to be a good thing, especially now in the post-season. In three post-season appearances including action today, G-Squared has been impressive allowing just three runs on 14 hits over 15.2 innings. The 1.72 ERA over that span, combined with 13 strikeouts have been huge.

The three-inning save today, Garvin's first as a Commodore, shows his versatility and is a glimpse that there may be even better things to come.

TV Coverage Map for Super Regional

(Click on the above photo to enlarge)

The above photo is the television coverage map for today's Super Regional game against Florida State. There are two Super Regional games on ESPN at the 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT slot (TCU vs. Texas is also on ESPN). If you live in Tennessee or Florida you will see the VU vs. FSU game, if you live in Texas you will see the UT vs. TCU game.

All of the other states will receive whip-around coverage between the games in progress.

Baseball starting lineup vs. Florida State


By Travis Young

Live from Dick Howser Stadium

Weather Report: It's currently 92 degrees with partly cloudy skies at Dick Howser Stadium. Saturday's game time (Noon CT) temperature is scheduled to be 94 degrees with the heat index over 100 degrees. Winds are calm, blowing from Northeast at 4 mph.

Here is Vanderbilt's lineup for the second game of the NCAA Super Regional vs. Florida State

1. Brian Harris SS
2. Anthony Gomez 2B
3. Aaron Westlake 1B
4. Jason Esposito 3B
5. Curt Casali DH
6. Andrew Giobbi C
7. Joe Loftus RF
8. Mike Yastrzemski LF
9. Connor Harrell CF
-- Sonny Gray SP

VU goes with the same lineup as yesterday after pounding out 16 hits against FSU.

The Commodores will send staff-ace Sonny Gray (9-3, 3.51 ERA) to the bump today. Gray a second-team All-SEC selection ranks second-among all SEC pitchers in strikeouts with 110. Gray's 110 punchouts ranks 7th in VU's single season record books. Gray ranks first on the team in innings pitched (102.2), opponents batting average (.243) and walks (45).

FSU will counter with left-hander Brian Busch (5-1, 4.24 ERA). The 6-foot-2 237 pound southpaw has 68 strikeouts and 31 walks in 70.0 innings while opponents are batting .232 off him. The sophomore has allowed 23 extra-base hits this year (16 doubles, 6 home runs, 1 triple).

Florida State's Saturday starting pitcher

By Travis Young

Florida State will send another left-hander to the mound on Saturday as Brian Busch will get the ball on the bump for the Seminoles. Busch, a native from Boca Raton, Fla., is 5-1 with a 4.24 ERA this season.

The 6-foot-2 237 pound southpaw has 68 strikeouts and 31 walks in 70.0 innings while opponents are batting .232 off him. The sophomore has allowed 23 extra-base hits this year (16 doubles, 6 home runs, 1 triple).

Busch will be making his 20th appearance and ninth start of the year today at Dick Howser Stadium. In eight starts this season, Busch is 1-1 with a 6.13 ERA. His longest outing of the year came against NC State when he earned a no-decision in 6.1 innings of work.

In his most recent start, Busch allowed three runs, one earned on five hits in 6.2-innings to pick up the win vs. Central Connecticut State at the Norwich Regional on June 4.

How to follow VU-FSU game - 12 p.m. CT

by Barca Blog (Photo by Ross Obley)

First pitch for Game 2 of Vanderbilt's best of three-game series with Florida State in the Tallahassee Super Regional is scheduled for Noon CT Saturday inside Dick Howser Stadium.

The game will be televised on ESPN and can also be seen online via ESPN3.com. You can also tune into Joe Fisher's radio call on 560 AM and VUCommodores.com.

For score updates,  follow @VandyBaseball on Twitter, or track live stats at VUcommodores.com.

The Seminoles took the series opener, 9-8, Friday behind Mike McGee's two-out solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. With a win today, FSU would advance to the College World Series for the 20th time in school history. The Commodores need to take the final two games to get to Omaha.

Tallahassee Super Regional (Best 2 of 3)
Friday: Florida State 9, Vanderbilt 8
Saturday: Noon CT (ESPN)
Sunday (if necessary): Noon CT (ESPN)

Saturday morning Super Regional news

by Barca Blog (Photo by Ross Obley)

Let's take a trip Around the Web to get the latest news on the NCAA Tallahassee Super Regional.

*Official Game 1 Recaps: Vanderbilt | Florida State

*Vanderbilt overcomes six-run deficit but suffer cruel ending (Jeff Lockridge, The Tennessean)

*Commodores make some dazzling defensive plays in Game 1 (Jeff Lockridge, The Tennessean)

*Mike Yastrzemski Jr., was almost the hero Friday (Garry Smits, The Florida Times-Union)

*Mike McGee's walk-off home run gives Florida State edge in super regional (Garry Smits, The Florida Times-Union)

*McGee's clutch for the Seminoles once again (Casey Moore, Tallahassee Democrat)

*No amount of heat could keep FSU fans away (Casey Moore, Tallahassee Democrat)

*Florida State refuses to savior walk-off homer (Ira Schoffel, Tallahassee Democrat)

*Several FSU heroes are playing first Super Regional (Ira Schoffel, Tallahassee Democrat)

*Former walk-on Brian Harris shines for Vandy (Jimmy Jones, College Baseball Insider)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Friday Photos: Florida State 9, Vanderbilt 8

Click Here to view Ross Obley's Photo Gallery

Video: Postgame Press Conference

By Travis Young

Here is today's postgame press conference from Vanderbilt's 9-8 setback to Florida State at the NCAA Super Regional in Tallahassee, Fla.


Coin toss now looms large

By Eric Jones

In the initial meeting with both Vanderbilt and FSU team officials and administrators yesterday, there was a coin-toss initiated by a member of the NCAA Tournament committee. The coin-toss was done to determine which team would be the home team should the best-of-three series go through Sunday. FSU head coach Mike Martin was given the privilege as host to call heads or tails. He chose tails and the coin came up heads, so Tim Corbin won the right for Vanderbilt to be home team in the final game. Now that may prove to be an advantage with the Dores losing today 9-8 on a walk-off homerun.

Vanderbilt benefited at the NCAA Regional in Louisville in a similar manner as it was determined that Louisville had been the home team more than the visiting team during the tournament. The result, Vanderbilt was named as the home team for the championship game and had that last opportunity when Connor Harrell capitalized with the game-winning bunt. Now the Commodores will fight for that chance to take this series to Sunday.

Florida State takes Game 1

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Mike McGee hit a walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to give Florida State a 9-8 victory over Vanderbilt in Game 1 of the Tallahassee Super Regional Friday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium.

With the victory, the Seminoles are one win away from advancing to the College World Series on Omaha. Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday at Noon CT on ESPN. If a third game is required it will be played on Sunday at Noon CT on ESPN.

Check VUcommodores.com for a complete recap later today.

(Photo by Ross Obley)

Geesh It's Hot

By Eric Jones (Photo by Ross Obley)

The funniest thing that I saw today as I made my way up from the Vanderbilt player/pass gate in the ticket office to the pressbox, was the guy dressed up like a devil, complete with red tights, horns and even a tail (the pitchfork didn't make it past security). He was at the front of a long line of fans at the Coke stand and asked loudly, "You're really going to charge me $2.00 for a cup of ice?!"

Yes, it is that hot here at Dick Howser Stadium. At 95 with a heat index of over 100 degrees, it makes you feel like you have stepped into a hot, wet blanket each time you go outside. Then again, this is Florida, imagine those poor souls at the Magic Kingdom. Still you have to wonder about the heat effect on this game.

One thing is for sure, the ball flies out of this ballpark. The Commodores have left the ballpark four times (Casali, Esposito, Loftus and Yastrzemski) and the Seminoles trail this homerun derby with three (Boyd, Johnson and just now McGee). The last time the Commodores hit four homeruns in the same game was back on April 26, 2009 against Mississippi State.

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.

Video: Pre-game batting practice

By Travis Young

I grabbed some video of the baseball team taking batting practice before its first game against Florida State at Dick Howser Stadium on Friday morning. First pitch is slated for 11:05 a.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

See video below.

Baseball starting lineup vs. Florida State


By Travis Young

Live from Dick Howser Stadium

Weather Report: It's currently 89 degrees at Mike Martin Field. The game time (11 a.m. CT) temperature is 93 degrees. The high today in Tallahassee is 97 degrees with high humidity so it might be the warmest game the Commodores have played in this year.

Here is Vanderbilt's lineup for the first game of the NCAA Super Regional vs. Florida State

1. Brian Harris SS
2. Anthony Gomez 2B
3. Aaron Westlake 1B
4. Jason Esposito 3B
5. Curt Casali DH
6. Andrew Giobbi C
7. Joe Loftus RF
8. Mike Yastrzemski LF
9. Connor Harrell CF
-- Taylor Hill SP

Taylor Hill (6-5, 4.15 ERA) will make his team-leading 17th start against the Seminoles tomorrow. With the lowest walks per nine innings among Commodore starters (2.21), Taylor may be just what is needed to combat a team that likes to take a lot of pitches and has walked 378 times through 62 games (6.09 walks per game).

FSU will counter with crafty lefty, Sean Gilmartin (8-7, 4.74 ERA). Gilmartin has a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (102 SO to 30 BB) in 100.2 innings this year. In addition, the crafty lefty has allowed a team-high 35 extra-base hits, including 14 home runs while opponents are hitting .283 off him.

A little info on Florida State...

By Travis Young

Florida State punched its ticket to the NCAA Super Regionals last weekend by winning three straight games in the NCAA Norwich Regional. The Seminoles defeated Central Connecticut State (11-3), before beating Oregon twice (W, 6-4 and W, 5-3). Florida State (45-17) went 18-12 in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season before winning its fifth ACC Tournament in school history at the end of May.

Individually, FSU is led by juniors Tyler Holt and Mike McGee. Holt earned Collegiate Baseball Second-Team All-American honors for the second straight year while McGee was a third-team all-american honoree as a relief pitcher. Holt leads the team with a .349 average to go along with 24 doubles, 12 home runs and 29 stolen bases. McGee, a two-way player, is hitting .335 with a team-best 14 home runs and 67 RBI. The FSU lineup has five players with at least 8 home runs and four players with at least 48 RBI. As a team, Florida State is hitting .300 with a team on-base percentage of .414 and slugging .495. The Seminoles have also shown that they have some speed on the base paths while converting 94-of-110 attempts.

On the mound, the Seminoles have a team ERA of 4.31 with 501 strikeouts in 546.2 innings. McGee is the team’s top pitcher out of the bullpen, boasting a 4-0 record with an astonishing 0.38 ERA and 11 saves. The All-American reliever has allowed only one extra-base in 24.1 innings of relief while opponents are hitting just .103 off him. FSU has used a variety of arms in the weekend rotation as five players have made at least six starts. Lefthanders Sean Gilmartin and John Gast have started 28 games between the two of them and have ERA’s of above 4.70.

On Friday, the 'Noles will send sophomore lefthander Gilmartin (8-7, 4.74 ERA) to the mound. Gilmartin has a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (102 SO to 30 BB) in 100.2 innings this year. In addition, the crafty lefty has allowed a team-high 35 extra-base hits, including 14 home runs while opponents are hitting .283 off him. According to Levitron 3000, Gilmartin's fastball sits at 85-90 mph.

FSU is making its third straight Super Regional and its 10th Super Regional appearance in school history. The Seminoles are 26-8 at Dick Howser Stadium this year.

How to follow VU/FSU game - 11 a.m. CT

by Barca Blog (Photo by John Russell)

First pitch for Game 1 of Vanderbilt's best of three-game series with Florida State in the Tallahassee Super Regional is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT Friday inside Dick Howser Stadium (preview).

The game will be televised on ESPN2 and can also be seen online via ESPN3.com. You can also tune into Joe Fisher's radio call on 560 AM and VUCommodores.com.

For score updates,  follow @VandyBaseball on Twitter, or track live stats at VUcommodores.com.

Friday morning Super Regional news

by Barca Blog (Photo by John Russell)

Let's take a trip Around the Web to get the latest news on the NCAA Tallahassee Super Regional. The Commodores and Seminoles will open their best of three-game series Friday at 11 a.m. CT (ESPN2) inside Dick Howser Stadium.

*Official Game Previews: Vanderbilt | Florida State

*Vanderbilt's lineup could face three left-handed starters this weekend (Jeff Lockridge, The Tennessean)

*Vanderbilt hopes its never-say-die attitude paves way to Omaha (Andy Gardiner, USA Today)

*Brian Harris has turned into perhaps the most valuable cog for the Commodores (Brian Bennett, ESPN.com)

*Vanderbilt's Yastrzemski has strong ties to FSU (Casey Moore, Tallahassee Democrat)

*The Vanderbilt baseball team knows a thing or two about playing in unfriendly confines (Casey Moore, Tallahassee Democrat)

*The Seminoles have lost the first game of a Super Regional seven straight times (Casey Moore, Tallahassee Democrat)

*FSU's Mike McGee shining in role on the mound (Casey Moore, Tallahassee Democrat)

*The Florida State baseball team has learned its most important lessons through losses (Bob Ferrante, The Lakeland Ledger)

* If FSU reaches the College World Series, the turning point might not have been anything the 'Noles did on the field (Garry Smits, The Florida Times-Union)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Giobbi and Gomez talk Super Regional

By Travis Young

Instead of Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team, Vanderbilt’s Andrew Giobbi and Anthony Gomez filled in as co-anchors for a vucommodores.com exclusive video after practice Thursday at Mike Martin Field in Tallahassee.

The extreme heat, Dick Howser Stadium’s short right-field porch and team colors are all topics covered by Gio and Go-Go in the video below.

Gomez named Freshman All-American


by SID

Earlier this week second baseman Anthony Gomez was named to Collegiate Baseball's Freshman All-American team.

Gomez currently leads the Commodores with a .377 batting average with two homers and 28 RBI in 57 games (48 starts) on the year. He is one of the toughest players to strikeout in the nation with just eight strikeouts in 204 at bats on the year (ranked fifth in nation at one K every 25.5 at-bat)

The New Jersey product is also a fine fielding second baseman with just five errors on the season and sports a .971 on base percentage.

Gomez is the 18th Commodore to receive Freshmen honors and the seventh player to receive the plaudit under Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.

Video: Super Regional Press Conference

By Travis Young

Vanderbilt head baseball coach Tim Corbin met with media this afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium in preparation for the NCAA Super Regional against Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla.

Corbin talked about winning the NCAA Louisville Regional last weekend and what his team has done to get where they're at.

See video below.

Video: Big Jack returns home...sort of

By Eric Jones

It's always good to have someone on every trip that acts as a navigator. You can't spell 'navigator' without 'gator' which is good considering we are in Florida. Yes, I know Vanderbilt is playing the Seminoles, but there is a gator reference right by campus here. The Burt Reynolds dorm is just a Aaron Westlake homerun from Dick Howser Stadium and Burt (or Turd Ferguson for all you SNL fans) did star in the movie "Gator."

Our navigator on this trip is Jupiter, Florida native Jack Armstrong and I had a chance to catch up with him after practice. Here is what Jack had to say.

Six Commodores taken in baseball draft


by SID

Six Vanderbilt players were selected in the 2010 Major League Amateur Baseball Draft held over three days earlier this week.

Click here for full release.

Hill on the Hill for Super Regional Opener


By Eric Jones

No more speculation regarding who will start on the hill for the Commodores in tomorrow's Super Regional opener against Florida State. Taylor Hill (6-5, 4.15 ERA) will make his team-leading 17th start against the Seminoles tomorrow. With the lowest walks per nine innings among Commodore starters (2.21), Taylor may be just what is needed to combat a team that likes to take a lot of pitches and has walked 378 times through 62 games (6.09 walks per game).

Hill needed just seven pitches (six for strikes) to get credit for the win over Louisville in the Regional Championship game this past Monday. It was a nice comeback for the native of Old Hickory, Tennessee who received a no-decision in the Regional opener against Illinois State where he lasted just 3.1 innings in the Commodores extra-inning win.

In addition, there may be a little extra incentive for Taylor as well, who was selected in the 30th round of the MLB Amateur Draft by the Cleveland Indians two days ago. For a guy who gets a copious amount of groundballs to go with good control, it was a surprise that Hill lasted that long. So it would not be a surprise to see Taylor use that as extra incentive in what will be the Commodores biggest game of the year.

Practice day complete in Tallahassee


by SID

The first day in Tallahassee is done at Dick Howser Stadium. Commodore head coach Tim Corbin arrived for a pre-tournament coaches press conference at 11 a.m. CT, followed by interviews with ESPN production personnel.

Also interviewed briefly by ESPN were Jason Esposito, Andrew Giobbi, Brian Harris, Connor Harrell and Aaron Westlake. Look for those in some form or another on the broadcasts this weekend.

One interesting side note- during the production meeting the players were asked to briefly describe what Vanderbilt Baseball is all about. Andrew Giobbi simply said "pitching and defense", then noted the irony that the players interviewed were all position players. The catcher went on to describe the great performances the pitchers have had all season as well as last weekend in Louisville when they held the Cardinals potent offensive attack to two runs in the final 19 innings.

You ever go somewhere where as soon as you walk outside you start to sweat? Not just cause it is hot, but because of the humidity? Well that's Tallahassee. It was 95 degrees with 50 percent humidity during the Commodores practice session at 1:45 p.m. CT. The guys will definitely need to stay hydrated during the 11 a.m. CT game tomorrow.

After the practice the team went back to the hotel with a team meal scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.

Travis "TYPO" Young shot some flip videos after practice with Stooche Jones. Check them out when he gets them up on the blog at TYPO standard time.

Johnson on 104.5 The Zone Thursday PM

by Leathers

Bobby Johnson will spend 30 minutes this afternoon talking Vanderbilt football with hosts from 104.5 The Zone's "3 Hour Lunch" Show. The Johnson segment starts at 1:30 pm CT.

Johnson will appear on-location with co-hosts Brent Dougherty, Clay Travis and Blaine Bishop. Commodore fans wanting to greet the coach can attend the show at Ferguson's located across from Vanderbilt's 100 Oaks Mall at 3201 Powell Lane.