Drew Birchmeier, an 85 three-star by 247 sports, and an underrated 2 star by Rivals, is the Commodores eighth commitment for 2016. Drew is a 6’4″, 275 defensive end/tight end from Midlothian, Virginia.
Really liked Drew’s film. I know Coach Mason really likes defense, but I also know he really likes offense, and Drew to me, will be a really good dilemma for the staff as he can really play tight end as well as defensive end. He posted 12 tackles for loss last year as a junior and also amassed five sacks. But his pass catching and his blocking really stood out to me just as much if not more so. I’m not saying he’s Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys yet,  but he’s a heckuva tight end. He has great hands, makes TD catches and can knock the defensive player senseless. Really like this pickup for Coach Mason and the staff. Almost like Drew better on the offensive side of the ball. He’s an outstanding tight end.

Drew, out of Cosby High in east Central Virginia, picked us over offers from Cornell, Harvard, East Carolina, Marshall, Temple, Old Dominion and Yale. Michigan State, North Carolina and Va. Tech were showing a lot of interest.

Coach Mason and the staff got another good player, and with the three other players I mentioned as potential commits down the road, we’re really recruiting on the defensive line, though personally, I’d like to see Drew be a tight end for us and we could get Criddle, Keeler and Swann for our defensive line. All are very interested.

Like this pickup a lot. Drew is the second player from Virginia to commit to us joining 84, three star wide receiver Donaven Tennyson, who is from Richmond.

VU football got its seventh commit for 2016 when St. Thomas Aquinas ( Fort Lauderdale, Fl.) cornerback Frank Coppet gave Derek and the staff his pledge to play football for the Commodores. Frank is 6’0″, 180 and is only ranked as a 78, two-star, but I watched his film and I love the way he hits. He can really get the ball carrier down. He has good ball skills also, and at the Friday Night Lights event at VU this past Friday, Frank was a star and had a couple of ints. I love the way he tackles. Highly physical player. Looks really tough. Frank comes from a program that has won eight state championships, many of them in Class 7A, the next to highest classification in Florida high school football. Aquinas won the state in ’14, and they have two national championships on their resume, in 2008 and 2010. So we’re getting a very good player from an excellent program. Frank joins Austin Quillen of Jenks, Oklahoma in our defensive backfield in the 2016 class. Austin is a three-star safety and quite a hitter himself. Love the physicality Frank plays with. Good addition to the class.
It is being reported by Vandy247 that we have another commit coming our way. Will keep you posted once I hear who that player is. Looks like recruiting has really picked up in the last month. Having baseball do so well has to help our recruiting efforts somewhat, and I believe with our new young coaches, safeties coach Mark Mattioli and wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton, and our other coaches having a year under their belts, we can really build good relationships with the high school players and get them to come play for us. Coach Mason is impressive. I’d want to play for him.

David Price had two nice outings last week. Last Tuesday, he beat the Indians, 7-3. Dave went 6.2 innings, giving up nine hits, only one run, with no walks and seven K’s. He threw 114 pitches with 80 of them for strikes and 34 balls. Yesterday, Dave got into some trouble giving up four runs on six hits with no walks and five K’s. He threw 99 pitches with 69 of them for strikes and 30 balls in six innings of work. He didn’t have his greatest game, but it wasn’t bad. The Tigers fell behind 4-0 to the White Sox, but came back and won it in the bottom of the ninth. VMart had a huge three run double in the bottom of the eighth and catcher James McCann (no relation to Brian of the Yankees) homered in the ninth for the win. The Tigers moved to 39-36 on the season, and are 6.5 back of the unstoppable Royals, which just swept the A’s in Oakland over the weekend. It looks like at this point the Royals are unstoppable, but things can change quickly. The Tigers face the Pirates and Pedro tomorrow night for a three game series in the Motor City. Justin Verlander goes against Gerrit Cole in a classic matchup. Cole is having a huge year for the Bucs;  he’s 11-3 with a 2.16 ERA with 25 walks and 102 K’s. Verlander just getting back. Should be an excellent game.

David is now 7-2 with a 2.62 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched, good number). He has walked only 21 and struck out 100. His strike out totals have really picked up recently. He’s just a strike thrower, who’s bringing it 94-95, his cut fastball is excellent, and his curve ball has really developed. He has a lot of confidence throwing the curve now. His change up is pretty solid, too.

Sonny takes the hill tomorrow night vs. the Rockies in Oakland. He earned a 6-3 victory over the Rangers in Texas last Thursday. Sonny went 6, gave up three runs on nine hits with one walk and seven K’s. He threw 92 pitches with 60 for strikes and 32 balls. He was pretty good. Sonny is now 9-3 with a 2.09 ERA, an 0.99 WHIP with 26 walks and 97 K’s. He was hitting 94-95 with his fastball against the Rangers and his curve was good as usual. His slider is a good pitch coming in at 89-90. The Rangers hit him somewhat, but overall he was solid. The A’s are 34-44 after getting swept by the Royals over the weekend, and are 10 games back of the ‘Stros in the AL: West.

Pedro and the Bucs travel to Detroit for a three game series beginning tomorrow night at Comerica Park. Pedro is hitting .242 with 10 long ones and 42 Ribeyes. Struggling a little with his fielding at first at times, and still not hitting great against left handed pitchers, but has hit the ball pretty well lately. Should be a classic three game set in Detroit. The Pirates took two of three from the Braves at PNC Park over the weekend. They are now 42-33 in the NL Central, nine games back of the sizzling Cardinals, which are 51-24. They are in the lead of the Wild Card standings in the National League, so that’s really good. I don’t know if the Cardinals are catchable, but the fortunes of baseball teams can change in a hurry, so if the Bucs can keep playing well, they could close the gap by the All-Star break if the Cards falter a little.

Ryan Flaherty is the regular second baseman for the Orioles and playing very well. Ryan was 0 for 3 yesterday but is hitting .254 with three homers and 20 RBI’s. He’s also an excellent defensive player. The O’s have been hot lately and now lead the AL East by a percentage point over the Rays and a half game over the Yanks.

John Kilichoski will be returning to the baseball team next year instead of going pro. That’s good. We will need John’s arm as a possible weekend starter. Not sure what Corbs will do with our weekend rotation next year yet, but John is certainly an option. Other guys like Collin Snider, Jordan Sheffield, Ben Bowden, and even Kyle Wright could be in the mix. There will be others. We apparently have some stud freshmen coming in. Will be an interesting year next year. We lost some really good players, but we have Bryan Reynolds, Jeren Kendall, Will
Toffey, Penn Murfee Karl Ellison, Jason Delay and Ro Coleman back and some guys who haven’t played much but have talent. Tyler Campbell will be back, too. It’ll be interesting to see what Corbs does at short.

Basketball had 2016 four-star power forward Javin Montgomery-DeLaurier visiting over the weekend along with a couple of four-star guards for 2017. Recruiting is really picking up in basketball. 247 sports basketball lead analyst Jerry Meyer has Javin, from Charlottesville, Va.,  coming to us along with super five-star power forward Braxton Blackwell (6’8″, 220, Nashville). Javin and Braxton look to be out main guys right now for 2016, but we’ll see what develops. I like the team we have coming back, that is for sure.

Brandt and Jon Curran finished tied for 10th at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut over the weekend. Brandt shot a 63 on Saturday, and looked right there only three shots back, but could only muster a 71 yesterday. JC played very well shooting a 69 yesterday. The greens were slow because it rained so hard Saturday night in Cromwell and it was hard to make putts on Sunday. Bubba won it. He played very well. Brandt is now 6th in the Fed Ex Cup Standings, while JC is 81st. The top 125 qualify for the tour next year, so JC still has to play well. He’s playing this weekend at the Greenbriar Classic over the Fourth. Brandt withdrew for some reason. Really not sure why. With the Open Championship coming up in two and a half weeks, I thought it was smart for Brandt to be entered in the Greenbriar. May have something to do with maintaining his physical health. Would like to have seen him play.

Luke List finished 1 over and tied for 56th at the Air Capital Classic in Wichita on the Web.com tour this past weekend. Luke is now 38th on the 25 list, the 25 that automatically qualify for the PGA tour next season. He’s right there. If he could get a victory this weekend at the Nova Scotia Open he would be in the top five at least. So there is still plenty of tournaments for Luke to keep climbing up the ranks. Luke and JC play all the time.

Will have the latest football commit once I get the intel. Thanks.

Vanderbilt (51-20) vs. Virginia (43-24)

First pitch: 7 PM CT/ 8 PM ET

ESPN: Karl Ravech, Kyle Peterson Aaron Boone, Jessica Mendoza, Kaylee Hartung

Weather: 89 degrees at first pitch, 5 % rain, wind SSE at 11 MPH. That should be good for the long ball

Pitchers:

VU

RHP Walker Buehler: 5-2, 2.85 ERA, 85.1 innings, 25 walks, 89 K’s. 11 doubles, 1 triple, 5 Hrs. Opponents hitting .255 against him.

Virginia:

LHP Brandon Waddell: 4-5, 4.02 ERA, 103 innings pitched, 47 walks, 87 K’s. 19 doubles, five triples, four Homers. Opponents batting .278 against him.

Last outing for both:

Walker pitched a beauty against TCU last Friday night going 6.2 innings, giving up four hits, one earned with one walk and eight K’s. John Kilichowski finished it off for the Dores pitching 2.1 innings of one hit ball allowing no runs, with no walks and  out 2 K’s in a 7-1 Dores victory  that got us to the championship round.

Waddell threw five innings against Florida last Saturday night, giving up six hits, four earned with three walks and three K’s. Josh Sborz finished it off with four innings of three hit, no run ball and got the win as the Cavaliers defeated the Gators, 5-4, to make it to the championship series with us.

Intangibles:

Us: We have our pitching setup nicely with Walker, Kilichowski and Kyle if we need them. I would say all hans on deck. Carson could pitch, maybe even Pfeif.

Virginia: Waddell pitched nine innings against us in the second game last year of the championship series and allowed only one earned run in a UVA victory that sent it to a game three in which we won.

Who knows who else O’Connor will use. Nathan Kirby, their sometimes stud and 40th pick by the Mariners is available, and I’m not counting it out for O’Connor to go back to Sborz again if necessary.

Things we have to do:

Pfeif deserved a better fate last night. He pitched his heart out. If we could have hit at all and played defense, we could have closed it out with the way Phil pitched and how Ben relieved him. But we struggled in the field and with the bats with runners in scoring position. When we’ve struggled in games this year it’s been with hitting with runners in scoring position. Zander is usually a sure handed first baseman, but he had issues last night.

Keys to victory:

Simple: Pitch, defend and hit in the clutch. If we do that we’ll win the national championship.

It was an emotional scene on the mound in the eighth inning when Corbs had to go get Carson for the last time in Carson’s career at Vanderbilt University. What a young man, what a representative of Vanderbilt. And one heckuva  pitcher. The media asked Corbs about Carson’s pitching last night after the game and why he came and got him in the eighth, which was the totally right call. Corbs said the change needed to be made. Carson threw 118 pitches and he was getting in a little trouble, but he pitched a gem. Corbs said if he’d let him, Carson would throw again tonight. Probably 118 more.
CF pitched 7.2 innings, giving up just two hits, no runs with two walks and eight K’s. It was a beauty. He threw 118 pitches, 71 for strikes with 47 balls. Just your typical gutty, courageous performance that we’ve been blessed with over the last three years by Carson Fulmer. With all that was going on with the season and the impending MLB draft during the spring, Carson still managed to achieve a 4.0 GPA. He’s unreal. So proud of him. Kyle Peterson of ESPN said the White Sox, who picked CF eighth overall in the draft, may use him as a closer at the latter part of this season. Don’t know if the White Sox will be in the hunt in the AL Central, but Carson could be a weapon for them at the end of the year, if they’re relevant. DP did that for the Rays in 2007, his first year, and actually won the ALCS sixth game to send the Rays to the World Series. Not sure what the White Sox’ chances are, but this idea that Carson is a closer type rather than a starter is a bunch of baloney. Carson has the fortitude that David and Sonny have, he has the will to throw 150 pitches a game if somebody would let him, his fastball can top out at 97-98, his knuckle curve is a total weapon and looks un-hittable and could very well be in the major leagues. I’m excited to see Carson Fulmer starting for the Chicago White Sox at the beginning of next year. I’m predicting it. He’s that good. It’s been a thrill to watch him. Love the guy, and excited to see him compete in the majors along with Dansby (Dbacks) Rhett (Nationals) and Pfeif (Dodgers) when they get there, along with David, Sonny, Mike, when he gets back to the Braves, Pedro, Ryan and hopefully Tony Kemp for the Astros soon. Tony is tearing it up at triple A Fresno right now and the Astros are definitely relevant as a World Series contender. Tony could be their center fielder before the season is over with. He’s so awesome.

Will Toffey with the huge two run double that started the scoring for us in the bottom of the fifth last night. Toff has been spectacular the past two months. He and Jeren Kendall are cornerstones for our team the next couple of years. Of course, we have Reynolds coming back next year, which is huge, too. Reynolds will be our leader next year. Ro had a huge RBI single, Ro’s back next year, Dans had an RBI double and Reynolds had an RBI single. Jeren Kendall made a really nice catch near the left central wall. Reynolds got going a little sideways on a ground rule double over his head, but you can’t find much of anything wrong with the way Bryan is playing. He’s superb. Ben Bowden with a huge out in the top of the eighth to get us out of a jam. Ben was very, very clutch in that situation with two runners on and two outs in a game that was still in the balance. I love Ben’s demeanor on the mound, and he throws some serious heat. Kyle struggled a little in the ninth, but made some big pitches when he had to, to finish off the game. Trust Kyle completely if we need him tonight.

But we have work left. Phil Pfeifer will be on the mound for us tonight. Pfeif, the junior lefty, is 6-4, with a 3.77 ERA with 43 walks and 112 K’s. He’s given up 11 doubles, one triple and five homers in 90.2 innings. And Pfeif has been stellar lately. His 93-94 MPH fastball and his breaking stuff need to be on for us tonight. We’ve got a fresh John Kilichowski in the pen along with Jordan Sheffield and Ben could come back out there, with Kyle available to close it out if we need him to.

UVA will start Nathan Kirby, a right hander who was the 40th overall pick in the draft by the Seattle Mariners. Kirby throws hard. He’s been hurt this year; UVA has really battled injuries. But his stuff is great, and he’s dangerous. Despite being injured, the Mariners thought so much of him that they drafted him 40th, so that speaks a lot to his talent. He is 5-3 with a 2.61 ERA. In 62 innings, he has walked 31 and struck out 76. He’s given up seven doubles, one triple and only three homers. Opponents are hitting .239 against him. Opponents are hitting .217 against Pfeif. He really has battled through injuries, and pitched Friday against Florida and got roughed up pretty good by the Gators. Kirby went just 2.2 innings, gave up four hits and four runs. But he has great stuff, so we’ll have to be dialed in with the bats.

Note****** Virginia will now start left hander Adam Haseley. Haseley is 2-1 with a 2.66 ERA in 23.2 innings with eight walks, 16 K’s, five doubles, 0 triples and one home run allowed. Opponents are hitting .264 against him. Look for closer Josh Sborz to get a lot of work as well. He’s their workhorse and has 15 saves. UVA coach Brian O’Connor is going to throw the kitchen sink at us tonight to try and get over the top. Phil Pfeifer and the bullpen, if needed, will have to be good, we need to keep up our stellar defense, and hit when it counts. Not sure about Haseley’s stuff, but he’s a lefty and that makes it harder.

David Price pitches tonight against the Indians. Will have David’s review tomorrow at some point or maybe Thursday. Sonny pitches Thursday at the Rangers. Will also have Pedro and Flaherty updates this week as well.

Derek and the staff secured their sixth commitment in recruiting as 86, three-star running back Sam Brodner of Glen Ellyn, Illinois hopped on board last night. Sam ran for 1,950 yards and 25 touchdowns last year for the Glenbard West Hilltoppers which finished last season 12-1 and reached the semifinals of the Illinois 8A playoffs, the highest classification in the state. Sam has been timed at 4.49 in the 40. His film looks excellent. He’s a hard-nosed, downhill runner, who blocks well, catches well and can make plenty of house calls. Really like this pickup by Derek. We beat out Illinois for Sam’s services, but there were others very interested. Looks like a Ralph Webb type of tough, hard-nosed running back who can make explosive, game changing plays. He can get tough yards and is great in the open field.  Sam is 5’10”, 210. Will keep you posted on the next  guy who comes our way. Really like the way this class is starting to shape up. Could be some more commits soon.

Weather looks perfect tonight for 7 PM CT/ 8 PM ET first pitch. 77 degrees, 10% rain, wind E @ 6 MPH. ESPN will televise. Need to finish the job tonight.

Prediction:

 VU 5, UVA 3

Game time 7 PM CT/8 PM ET TD Ameritrade Park, Omaha, Nebraska
TV: ESPN

Weather: Sunny 84, 0 % rain, Wind NNW @ 14 MPH

Could be blowing in some, so could impede the long ball, but maybe it’ll be blowing out to right with the westerly wind for our left handed hitters like Reynolds, Wiseman and Jeren.

Tonight’s prediction:

VU 3, UVA 2

The fifth commit is Cameron Tidd, an 84, 3-star, defensive tackle/end out of  Greenwood, Indiana. Cameron is 6’3″, 265 pounds, looks real tough, runs really well and is really good against the run. Saw his pass rushing ability on film too; looks very good there. We got a really good player and sounds like an awesome kid from his interview. He likes the academics at VU, playing at the highest level at a program on the rise, and he loves the city of Nashville. Cameron joins 88, three-star quarterback Deuce Wallace (6’2″, 200, Sevierville, Tn.), 85,  three-star offensive tackle Devin Cochran (6’7″, 305, Norcross, Ga), 86, three-star safety Austin Quillen (6’0″, 196, Jenks, Oklahoma) and 82 three-star wide reeiver Donaven Tennyson (5’10”, 170, Richmond, Va.).
And there is some more good news to the Tidd commitment. Tidd told Vandysports.com that he would be recruiting for VU, and the first guy he would be recruiting is his teammate, 87, three-star defensive tackle Jovan Swann (6’3″, 255). Jovan has us high on his list.

Cameron picked us over offers from Navy and Air Force among others with Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue, BC and Cincy heavily involved. Cameron benches 335 and won the state championship in the discus throwing it 190 feet. Not sure how that works, never threw it, but he won the state, so it must be pretty good.

Some other interesting news is that we have a four-star running back visiting us this weekend. Four-star Tre Bryant out of St. Louis will be in Nashville to see Coach Mason and the coaches. Tre is 5’11”, 195 and I watched his film, and he’s highly impressive. Great runner. Runs hard, runs tough and can definitely make house calls. Looks 4.4 speed-wise.

Derek and the coaches are doing some serious work right now.