We finished off the weekend in the East with a resounding 10-4 victory over the Vols on Sunday before another raucous crowd in Knoxville. Corbs was saying, facetiously, that there were no COVID cases in Knoxville, according to the fan turnout at the stadium. There were rowdy, and most likely inebriated students, and a packed stadium. It was pretty unbelievable. Friday was a super night with Kumar on the mound for a 5-0 victory as Kumar pitched 7 shutout innings of 3 hit ball with a walk and 8 K’s. The great Nick Maldonado finished it off. Shortstop Carter Young and third baseman Jayson Gonzalez both homered.

Saturday was more forgettable. We held a 4-3 lead entering the bottom of the 8th, but Luke Murphy, who has been so reliable this season and has been a stud, gave up a grand slam, and we lost 8-4. I thought we left Luke in there too long and it cost us. Luke had hit a batter to load the bases and Chris McElvain was in the bullpen ready. McElvain is reliable as he showed on Sunday and thought we should have gone to him, but decided not to and it was costly.

On Sunday, as I said to one of my friends, that was more like it. Our great centerfielder Enrique Bradfield was 2 for 3 and stole 4 bases. He stole 2nd twice and third twice. Thought he might steal home there for a second. Maybe he’ll do that as we continue on into the season. Enrique runs like a gazelle. I would call him the fastest player in the country. He is now 26 0f 28 in stolen bases. We’re looking at the next Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s of the 70’s and 80’s, or going even further back in the day, Maury Wills of the Dodgers in the 1960’s and early 70’s. Enrique is just a game changer. Would love to see the stolen base return in professional baseball, and if Enrique can get there, he can change the dynamic of the game again, for the better.

Carter Young was once again on fire. Carter was 2 for 4 with 3 Ribeyes. He had an RBI single in the third and a 2 run homer in the fourth. Carter is now hitting .300 with 9 homers and 33 Ribbies. Enrique is hitting .336. First baseman Dominique Keegan hit his 7th homer of the season. He is hitting .394 with 32 RBIs to go along with the 7 homers. Dom is leading the SEC in hitting. Jack Bulger was named SEC Freshman of the week for his performance over the weekend. Sunday, he was 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Jack is hitting .313. Isaiah Thomas is back, which is huge. Isaiah was 2 for 4 on Sunday and is now hitting .340 with 6 homers and 17 Ribbies. He’s missed some time with injuries, but he’s back and healthy and that’s awesome for the team. Cooper Davis is back as well. Would like to see Cooper pick his average up, it’s at .224, but he’s shown signs of breaking out of it. Parker Noland also hit a 2 run shot. He has 5 homers and 25 RBIs. He is batting .281. Parker can be a .300 hitter. Would like to see him get on a tear. Still no sign of second baseman Tate Kolwyck. Corbs thinks he’ll be back soon. Corbs didn’t have an update on Sam Hliboki either last Wednesday. Concerned that Sam may have a pretty serious arm injury, but hoping for the best. Will update later this week on both. Corbs sounded optimistic about Tate, so maybe this weekend versus Mississippi State.

Freshman Patrick Reilly pitched 3 innings on Sunday, gave up 2 hits, 2 earned runs, with 3 walks and 5 K’s. He was better this week than last. We need a third guy to step up. Need Patrick to stretch it out a little farther in his starts to be an effective pitcher for us, but he showed some progress on Sunday. Chris McElvain gave us 4 pretty strong innings. He really battled. He gave up 3 hits, 2 earned, with 2 walks and 4 K’s. Christian Little entered the game in the bottom of the 8th, but walked the first batter he faced and Corbs went to the bullpen for freshman lefty Hunter Owen, who coaxed a pop out to short. Corbs went to the pen again and got Maldonado again, and Nick finished it off with 1.2 innings of no hit ball, walking none and striking out 2. He’s looking like our closer. Really liked what Corbs did with the pitching on Sunday. If there was any sign of trouble, he went for another guy. We were NOT going to lose that game. Hunter Owen probably earned himself some more chances with getting that one batter out. That was major at the time. With the way Tennessee hits home runs, they hit 3 on Sunday and probably 8 for the weekend, getting outs and keeping them in the park was a necessity on Sunday. So super work from Hunter.

Maldonado is now 1-1 with an 0.90 ERA. He’s walked 3 and struck out 25. He earned his second save on Sunday. Awesome pitcher.

The defense was spectacular all weekend. Really like what I’m seeing out of Carter Young at short. He’s a tremendous defensive player as well as a stud at the plate. Dom Keegan saves a lot of throws with his ability at first. The rest of the defense is strong. Catcher C.J. Rodriguez is an awesome defensive catcher and is hitting .317 with 4 homers and 19 Ribbies. We’ve got some really good players on both offense and defense. Parker Noland looks like he’s figured out second base, and Gonzalez is getting better and better at third. Jayson’s missed a lot of time in his career and is really putting it together in his senior season. He has a cannon for an arm. Jayson is also hitting .315 with 6 homers and 28 Ribbies. We’ve got excellent power at the plate. Our defense is fielding at a .975 clip. We only committed one error all weekend and that was on Saturday.

We are now ranked No.2 by D1 Baseball, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the USA Today Coaches Poll. Baseball America has us at No.3. We are behind Arkansas in those first 3 polls and behind Ark and Ms. State in BA poll. Our record is now 28-6 overall and 11-4 in the SEC. We are tied with Arkansas for the best record in the SEC at 11-4. State is 10-5 and UT and South Carolina are 10-5. Florida and Ole Miss are 9-6.

Key week as tonight we face Austin Peay at 6:30 PM CT on SEC Network+, and this weekend we host Mississippi State with games Friday through Sunday at the Hawk. Friday’s game is at 7 PM CT on the SEC Network, Saturdays’ game is at 7 PM CT on ESPNU, and Sunday’s game is at 1 PM CT on SEC Network+. You can get SEC Network+ on your Smart TV, computer, iphone or Ipad by downloading the ESPN App. Austin Peay is 12-21 overall and 9-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference. State is 27-8 overall. Will have more later this week on the team. Playing well. Would like to get Tate back, but Parker is doing a solid job at second. Will keep you posted on Tate and Hliboki.

MLB players

Dansby Swanson, Kyle Wright, Braves

Dans is playing terrific shortstop and is hitting it better and better. He’s batting only .203, but is showing signs of getting that average up. He had a huge walk-off single on Thursday in the bottom of the 9th to lift the Braves to a 7-6 victory over the Miami Marlins. The Braves HAD to have that game as the Marlins had come into Truist Park and taken the first 3 games. The Marlins scored twice in the top of the 9th to take a 6-5 lead, but the Braves rallied back to tie it and loaded the bases with Dans at the plate. Dans lined a single to left to drive in the winning run. The Braves took 2 of 3 from the Cubs at Wrigley over the weekend. Kyle Wright got the start on Friday as regular starter Drew Smyly went on the Injured List, and Kyle did a solid job. On a day in which the temperature was in the mid 40’s, Kyle went 4.1 innings, gave up 3 hits, 2 earned runs, with 2 walks and 5 K’s. He hit 4 batters and gave up a homer, but still battled well in tough conditions. Kyle will start once again for the Braves on Friday against the Diamondbacks at Truist Park. The Braves are at the struggling Yankees tonight and tomorrow night. Today’s game is at 5:35 PM CT on Bally Sports, 810 on Charter and 646 on DirecTV. Tomorrow’s game is also at 5:35 PM CT and will be televised by ESPN. So big start to the week for the Atlanta team. The Braves are now 7-9 and 2 1/2 back of the Mets in the NL East. The Mets are 7-4. The Phillies are 8-8 and the Marlins are at 7-8. The Yankees are at 5-10, but are expected to break out of it with their massive bats, particularly in Yankee Stadium, the ultimate hitters’ park. So big week for Dans, Kyle and the Bravos.

Yaz, Curt Casali, Tyler Beede, Sam Selman, Giants

Mike Yastrzemski has had a somewhat slow start at the plate, but has hit better lately and looks to be getting back to his form of being a .300 hitter in the near future, next 3 or 4 weeks. Mike is only hitting .170 with 2 homers and 3 Ribbies, but had 2 hits and an RBI Friday and a double last night against the Phillies. He’s playing stellar right field as usual. Would like to see Mike get that bat going again. He’s definitely got it in him. Meanwhile, the Giants are playing super baseball at 10-6. They just started off the Phillies series with a 2-0 victory last night at Philly. They have gotten super pitching and play great defense, and hit pretty well situationally. Manager Gabe Kapler sees MIke getting better and better, and for his bats to start cookin’ very soon. Curt Casali had a double last night. He’s only hitting .100, but he’s a lot better than that. Sometimes it takes a while for the players to get their bats going in the early going in MLB. Curt is a guy who can hit .250, .260 and give his team tremendous defense and quarterbacking for the pitchers when he’s behind the plate. Centerfielder Austin Slater credited Curt with doing a phenomenal job with the Giants’ pitching and saying he’s a key reason the pitchers are doing so well. The Dodgers are outstanding, but lost last night to the Seattle Mariners, and are now 13-4, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the NL West. The Padres are 10-8. A lot of talent in the NL West. The Dodgers and Padres are loaded, but the Giants have terrific pitching and defense and that wins a lot of games and their bats will heat up. Tyler Beede was placed on the 60 day IL on February 26th, so that puts him back with the team probably mid to late May or early June. Tyler had Tommy John Surgery on his right elbow. Would like to see him get back in the starting rotation. I couldn’t find the Giants’ Media Relations rep’s email, so I wrote him a letter with my card and return email address, so should know something more about Tyler at the end of the week. Sam Selman was called up to the Giants yesterday from their Minor League affiliate, so excellent opportunity for Sam. Can’t wait to see him pitch at least when the Giants play on the East Coast and the Central Time Zone and maybe on early Saturday and Sunday games at Oracle Park in SF.

Bryan Reynolds, Pirates

BR is doing a tremendous job for the Pirates. Bryan is hitting .317 with 2 homers and 7 RBIs. He’s playing solid left field for them as well. BR can always hit it, and after a little slump in the shortened season last year, he’s back to being the player that everybody knows he is. Really like what I’m seeing from Bryan. The Pirates are 7-9 and 2 1/2 games back of the Reds in the NL Central.

Walker Buehler, David Price, Dodgers

Walker has pitched very well going 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP, walks plus hits per inning pitched. He’s walked 1 and struck out 12. I’ve watched him some and he’s hitting 96-98 consistently with his fastball and his curve and changeup and lighting in a bottle good. David has taken on the role of a reliever and he’s done well. After a tough first game in Colorado, which is a difficult place for anyone to pitch with the altitude and the ball carrying like a rocket through that mile high air, David has thrown 5 straight innings of no run ball. He’s given up only 2 hits with 2 walks and 8 K’s. Overall, he’s 1-0 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP. But in Denver he gave up 4 hits and 3 runs in 2 innings, but even in that game he settled down in his second inning of work and pitched well. So feel good about David going forward. If someone in the rotation sustains an injury, David could get the call. Don’t want anyone to get injured, but maybe manager Dave Roberts will give Dave a look if someone is struggling. It won’t be Walker or Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw is electric right now. Trevor Bauer is a stud as well. David could fit in as a spot starter or keep coming out of the bullpen where he has started to excel.

Sonny Gray, Carson Fulmer Reds

Sonny got his first start on Saturday and went 4.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 runs with 2 walks and 6 K’s. He had been hurt the first couple weeks of the season, but is now solidly back in the rotation. The Reds have a good team at 9-6 and Sonny can be a key factor in carrying them in the NL Central. Carson has pitched very well out of the bullpen for the Reds. and seems to have found a home in Cincinnati. Carson has pitched in 6 games, 9.2 innings, giving up 7 hits, 1 run with 2 walks and 9 K’s. He’s 0-0 with an 0.93 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. With former Commodores pitching coach Derek Johnson at Cincy, Sonny has excelled and it looks like Carson will excel as well. Hoping CF can get a start soon. His stellar bullpen work may earn him a shot.

Mike Minor, KC Royals

Mike’s a member of the Royals now and is 1-1 with a 5.17 ERA. A bit of a slow start, but Mike will pick it up. The Royals are surprisingly leading the AL Central at 9-6. Mike’s on a good team and I fully expect him to get it going.

Pitchers this week

Thursday

Walker vs Yu Darvish, San Diego, 9:10 PM CT. Late one, but excellent matchup. Will catch a little Thursday and the rest on Friday AM or PM.

Friday

Mike Minor, KC @ Detroit, Casey Mize. 6:10 PM CT. Mike goes against the former first pick in the draft in 2018 from Auburn.

Arizona @ Braves. Luke Weaver vs Kyle Wright. 6:20 PM CT. Another key start for Kyle. They’re all key for him as he tries to establish himself as a starter for the Braves.

Cincy @ St. Louis. Sonny vs. Kwang-Hyun Kim. 7:15 PM CT. Key game for Sonny and the Reds as the Cards are 8-8 going into tonight.

Big week for our baseball team and our MLBers.

Football

We now have 6 commits for the 2022 class as 6’1″,” 195 outside linebacker Alex Williams committed last Saturday. Alex is from Wewahitchka, FL. He looks like a really solid athlete. Is an excellent running back and outside linebacker on film. Like what we’re getting here. He joins high 3 star inside LB Langston Patterson from Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, solid 3 star outside LB B J. Diakite from Pinson, AL., solid 3 star QB Drew Dickey from Austin, TX, 3 star DE Linus Zink from Rabun Gap, GA., and 3 star tight end Cole Spence from Alpharetta, GA. With the 6 commits we are ranked 31st in the country in recruiting by 247 sports. Alex is not rated at present, but looks like an 85-86, 3 star. Will have a full report on the Spring game on Thursday.

Men’s Golf

Our 13th ranked Men’s Golf Team competes in the SEC Tournament at the Seaside Course in Sea Island, GA. starting tomorrow, Wednesday. Stroke play will start Wednesday and continue through Friday with the top 8 teams from stroke play making it to the Match Play competition Saturday and Sunday. We will tee off at 6:50 AM CT Wednesday. So big week for William Moll, Matthew Riedel, Reid Davenport, Harrison Ott and Cole Sherwood as we try to have great success in the tournament. Coach Scott Limbaugh calls it the most important week of the year, as are the NCAA’s, those 2 1/2 weeks. The Seaside Course plays 7,005 yards and is a Par 70. At the Gator Invitational in February, we finished 7th out of 21. At the LSU Invitational in late Feb., we finished 2nd out of 15 teams. At the Tiger Invitational at Auburn, we finished tied for 3rd out of 18. At the Old Waverly Collegiate in West Point, MS., we finished tied for 4th out of 16. And, finally, at the Country Club of Birmingham Invitational we finished 4th out of 14. We played in very strong fields throughout the winter/spring season and are tournament tough heading into the SEC Championships. Coach Limbaugh likes our competitiveness. So, excited for tomorrow and hoping this squad can have great success this week. There will be coverage of the tournament this weekend on the SEC Network. Will keep you posted on our progress.

Women’s Tennis

Our 22nd ranked women’s tennis team, 13-8 overall, 5-8 in the SEC and coming off a big 4-0 victory at No.41 MS. State a week ago Sunday, starts play in the SEC Tournament today with a match against No.27 South Carolina. The Gamecocks defeated us a couple of weeks ago at their place, so we need to step it up today. We play them at 3 PM CT in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama courts. You can watch it on the www.vucommodores. com website. So, huge day for fifth year seniors Christina Rosca, Emma Kurtz and the team. Coach Aleke Tsoubanos will have our team ready.

Astra Sharma wins WTA Tourney

Astra won the MUSC Health Women’s Open in Charleston, S.C. on Sunday defeating No.1 sead and 25th ranked player in the world Ons Jabeur from Tunisia, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1. What a huge statement victory from our former player from Perth, Australia. Astra moved up 40 spots to 125th in the world and I have an email into Geoff McDonald and I’ll try Aleke tonight on whether Astra has now qualified for the French, Wimbledon and U.S. Will keep you posted on that. But what a performance by Astra. That is tremendous.

Women’s Soccer

Our 10th ranked Women’s Soccer team will play the winner of Penn State-Alabama in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Cary, N.C. on Saturday, May 1st at 6 PM CT. We are a seeded team at 16th in the tournament in the 48 team field. If we were to win, we would play top seeded and No.1 team in the country Florida State in the third round most likely since they’ll be tough to beat in the second round. But first things first. We’ll need to take care of business in round 2. We finished the season 9-5-1 and were 1-1-1 in the spring. After the long layoff from the fall, we lost to Memphis, 1-0 in overtime, defeated Kennesaw State and tied then No.7 Duke, 0-0 in Durham, N.C. So big stuff coming up for the soccer team. Penn State is 10-2-1 and Alabama State is 8-2-2. They will play Wednesday, April 28th. The Final Four will be in Cary, N.C. on Thursday, May 13th and the National Championship Game is Monday, May 17th. ESPN2 will televise the Final Four of the College Cup and ESPNU will televise the Championship match. A lot of work ahead of us, but also a lot of optimism. Haley Hopkins, our star forward, and the team were spectacular in the SEC Tournament in the fall, and Coach Darren Ambrose and the team have high expectations heading into the NCAA’s, with a lot of the players returning next season. This is actually the 2020 NCAA Championship in Soccer as the fall championships were moved to the spring due to COVID.

Stack adds another

Coach Jerry Stackhouse added one more piece to the 2021-22 squad with TCU transfer Terren Frank, a former high 3 star recruit from Chatsworth, California, Sierra Canyon High School where Scotty Pippen Jr. played. Frank is 6’8,” 235 pounder who can play either power forward or small forward. He will have four seasons of eligibility remaining when he starts with us this upcoming season. Interestingly, former VU small forward Maxwell Evans transferred to TCU after this season was completed. Frank joins Minnesota 7’0” center Liam Robbins and Dayton combo guard Rodney Chatman as the newest transfers on the team. High 3 star incoming freshmen Peyton Daniels, 6’2,” 195 combo guard from Atlanta, and high 3 star Gabe Dorsey, 6’6,” 200 pound small forward from Pottstown, PA., are also joining the team. Some excellent players coming in and if we can keep Pipp and Dylan Disu, we’ll be dangerous, a team that can play into March and make noise. The way Stack develops players, I see that happening.