Nice victory Sunday in Lexington for the team, 5-3, over the Wildcats. We moved to 28-11 overall and 9-9 in the SEC. We are currently in third place in the East behind No.1 Tennessee, which is 17-1 in conference and 38-3 overall and No.1 in the country. No.14 Georgia is second at 11-7 and 29-12. We are currently not ranked in the D-1 College Baseball Poll, by D-1 Baseball, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper has us ranked 6th, and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll has us at No.22 and we have a No.7 RPI, which is important to the NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Committee. So, it’s all across the board. We just need to start taking care of business and the rankings will take care of themselves. No.5 Arkansas leads the West at 12-6 and 32-9 overall. No.19 Auburn is next at 11-7 and 30-12. No.22 LSU is next at 10-8 and 27-13. No.21 A&M is tied with LSU at 10-8 and is 25-14 overall. Alabama is 9-9 and 25-17. So if the season ended today, we’d be tied with Alabama for the 7th seed. But there is a lot of baseball left to determine things.

On Sunday, freshman Bryce Cunningham pitched well for us and is really settling into his Sunday role. He might be the answer there. Bryce went 4, gave up 3 hits, with 1 earned run, a walk and 2 K’s. Bryce has good stuff and a mid 90’s fastball, so like what I’m seeing out of our Headland Alabama native. We’re developing as a team in a lot of areas. Our defense is fielding at .980, and that’s excellent. We’re hitting .297 as a team. Nick Maldonado pitched 2.1 innings and did pretty well, though he gave up one earned run but it wasn’t his fault as an error cost him getting out of the inning. Nick is getting back into the swing of things. He’s definitely going to help us in May. He could be a starter again by the time the regular season concludes. Nelson Berkwich and Thomas Schultz finished it off. Thomas went 2.2, gave up a hit, a walk and 4 K’s. He earned his 6th save of the season. He’s been super as a closer.His ERA is 1.71 and, in 21 innings, has only walked 4 and struck out 26. Enrique Bradfield made another circus catch over the left central field wall over the weekend robbing a Kentucky hitter of a home run. What a player he is. He’s hitting .293 and is 26-of-26 in stolen bases. That’s out of sight great. Would like to see Enrique hit .330 where he’s used to hitting. He’ll get there.

Right fielder Spencer Jones had an excellent week last week hitting .375 in 4 games. We were 3-1 in those games and took 2 out of 3 from KY over the weekend. Spence was 6-for-16 with 2 doubles, 1 triple and 6 Ribeyes. Spence is hitting .365 with 6 homers and 34 RBIs. Dom Keegan leads the team at .407 with 7 homers and 40 Ribbies.

And Chris McElvain was named SEC Pitcher of the Week for his performance last Friday Night in a 10-0 Commodores victory over Kentucky. Chris went 7, gave up no hits with 3 walks and 9 K’s. Christian Little finished off the no-hitter with 2 innings of no-hit ball with a walk and 4 K’s. So, super stuff from Chris. Like that from our Friday Night guy, and love what Christian and Patrick Reilly are doing out of the bullpen. They are valuable arms for us.

This week No.21 Texas A&M comes to the Hawk, Thursday-Saturday. Thursday’s game is at 7 PM CT on ESPNU, Friday’s game is at 6 PM CT on SEC Network+, and Saturday’s finale is at 2 PM CT on SEC Network+. So it’s a huge series for the team as we matriculate into the second half of the season against a high quality opponent. Will have pitchers and more on A&M tomorrow on the blog.

Men’s Golf

After a sensational performance at the SEC Championship and going back to back as SEC Champions, Coach Limbaugh has the team taking a short break to decompress a little and take final exams. Exams ain’t no joke on the West End, so the guys need to take care of their school work. And they’re now turning their attention to the NCAA Tournament. Can’t get over what a team we have with Cole Sherwood, Gordon Sargent, Reid Davenport, William Moll, Harrison Ott and Jackson Van Paris leading the way. What a year we’ve had, and there’s so much ahead to accomplish.

The NCAA Men’s Golf Selection Show will take place next Wednesday, May 4, at 3 PM CT on the Golf Channel. The six Regional sites are Bryan, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, New Haven, Connecticut, Palm Beach Gardens, FL., Stockton, California and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It would make sense for us to go to Tuscaloosa regionally since we’re No.3 in the country and we won the SEC, but I’m sure the guys will go wherever we get assigned. Florida or California would be pretty awesome, too. I’ll talk with Coach Limbaugh in the next week or so and give you more. NCAA Regional play will be played Monday, May 16th-Thursday May 18th, 3 rounds of stroke play. According to what I’m reading, 81 teams makeup the 6 regionals with the top 5 teams after 54 holes of stroke play qualifying for the NCAA Championships, which will be played once again at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona on Friday, May 27th through Wednesday, June 1st. I’ll give you more about the NCAA Championship format if we can make it there, which we’ve got a super shot if we keep up our stellar play. Coach Limbaugh will have the guys ready, that’s for sure. Have an awesome day. I’ll be in touch.

The Alabama A-Day game was slightly tainted due to pretty heavy rain in Tuscaloosa. Passing was at a premium, and Bryce Young wasn’t super, but Jalen Milroe, the presumptive backup, was stellar at times. Bryce is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, and he should be fine in the fall, but Alabama fans had to be encouraged by Milroe’s performance in case Young sustains an injury and for the prospects of 2023.

Young put together a stellar 2021 campaign completing 366-of-547 passes for 4,872 yards, 47 TDs against 7 ints. He, Jameson Williams, John Metchie, Brian Robinson and the great Will Anderson Jr, more on him in a minute, put the Crimson Tide on their collective backs and carried the team all the way to the national championship game against Georgia, where they fell to a hungry Dawgs team, 33-18, though Williams was injured after a long catch and run in the second quarter. His presence could have changed the outcome of the game.

The conditions were very wet on A Day, and Young is a proven commodity, so once he gets cranking in fall workouts and the offensive line, which did get eaten up by Anderson Jr., Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell among others in the spring game, is a full go with some injured players back in the fall, Young’s results should be a lot better. He’ll have some new skilled players to work with as B-Rob, Metchie and Williams are all going to the NFL. As far as the draft goes, which starts Thursday at 7 PM CT on ESPN, big left tackle Evan Neal is expected to go in the top 3 picks, with No.1 a real possibility to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Williams is a first rounder, Metchie could be late first round, early 2nd, and B-Rob an early second rounder. All should be excellent NFL players. Guys like Phidarian Mathism who really came on strong last year with 10 1/2 TFLs and 9 sacks, and Daniel Wright along with Jalyn Armour-Davis, should hear their names called. Phid Mathis could be an early second rounder if not sooner.

So now you have a new running back rotation with Georgia Tech transfer and former 95, 4 star Jahmyr Gibbs leading the way. Gibbs looks terrific. He rushed for 100 yards in the spring game including a 75 yard house call. He looks superb. Trey Sanders was his primary backup as Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams are recovering from injuries, so the running back room should be in pretty good shape come the fall once McClellan and Williams return. Outside at wide receiver, Christian Leary was impressive in the spring game. He caught 5 passes for 106 yards and a TD, a 52 yard beautiful throw from Milroe. Milroe was 11-of-23 for 149 yards, the TD to Leary and 44 yards rushing. He showed flashes of brilliance. If he can become a consistent passer, the sky’s the limit. Jermaine Burton, the transfer wide receiver from Georgia, should make an immediate impact. He’s got the speed and the hands, to be a Metchie/Williams combo type receiver. Ja’Corey Brooks didn’t play in the spring game, but caught 15 passes for 192 yards and 2 TDs in 2021, including the huge 25 yarder from Young @Auburn that tied the game up late and allowed the Crimson Tide to pull off what looked like an improbable victory on the road against its archival. JoJo Earle had a few drops in the spring game, but like Leary and Brooks, was a 97, 4 star. Leary was 95 and Brooks was a 98, 5 star. Guys like Traeshon Holden, Thaiu Jones-Bell, and two, 96 4 star freshmen, Shazz Preston and Kendrick Law, and 5 star Aaron Anderson will add even more depth and talent at wide receiver. So the cupboard isn’t bare at the skilled positions. Cameron Late is back at tight end, and he’s a big play player for the Crimson Tide. Could be a very valuable part of the offense. Young likes going to him a lot. Sort of a security piece for Young and the offense. He’s an important player this upcoming season. Robbie Ouzts and graduate Kendall Randolph are listed as the backups.

The offensive line has a lot of pieces, and were missing 2 key guys in the spring, but at the moment, looks like a work in progress. Strength Coach David Ballou will be working with them until August and throughout the season and first year offensive line coach Eric Wolford will try to develop them into a cohesive, dominant unit, which you have to have in the SEC. I’m looking for massive sophomore J.C. Latham to have an All-SEC, All-American type year. He’s 6’6”, 326 and was a 5 star in the 2021 class. He should be a dominant player. Across the board you have left guard Javion Cohen (Jr. 6’4”, 305), center Seth McLaughlin (Sophomore, 6’4”, 295), right guard and the veteran and leader of the line, Emil Ekiyor (redshirt senior, 6’3”, 307) and right tackle Damieon George Jr. ( Jr. 6’6”, 333). So, as Theodopolis likes, there is some serious “size” at the tackle positions. McLaughlin needs to get bigger. Tyler Steen, a four star transfer from Vanderbilt, who is 6’5”, 317, will be a piece in the puzzle. The Brockmeyer twins from Fort Worth, Tommy, a 6’5”, 304 5 star, who is a sophomore, and James, a 6’3”, 282, and s 92 4 star, should add depth and may challenge for starting jobs before it’s all said and done. Tommy is a left tackle and James plays center. Darrian Dalcourt, a senior who is 6’3”, 305, is a piece that could be a big contributor. There are others. S has recruited well on the line like everywhere else, so there are 12 to 15 guys who can contribute in 2022.

On defense, it’s about Will Anderson Jr. and his comrades on the edge. Offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has been around the block and coached a lot of great football players. He coached Tom Brady and the New England Patriots as offensive coordinator, he was head coach at Penn State and he was head coach of the Houston Texans. He said Anderson Jr. is the best football player he’s ever seen. The 6’4”, 243 pound rising junior tallied 31 tackles for loss and 17 1/2 sacks, both of which led the country. He should have been in New York for the Heisman Trophy and he might win it this year. He dominated once again in the spring game with 2 sacks in the first half, and didn’t play any in the second half. He’s unblockable. You add the great Dallas Turner, who had 3 sacks in the spring game was the most valuable defensive player, and posted 10 TFLs and 8 sacks last season, and Chris Braswell, and you’ve got a sacking force. Braswell also took down the quarterback twice in the spring game. S wants to use all 3 at the same time this coming season. Good luck with that opposing offensive line coaches and coordinators. These guys are unstoppable. Braswell and Turner were both 5 stars in the 2021 class and play like it. They’ along with Anderson Jr. will terrorize opposing quarterbacks in the fall. Another guy I liked a lot in the spring game was 6’3”, 309 defensive tackle Jamil Burroughs. He had a couple of sacks in the spring game and looks like he’ll be a force playing with 6’3”, 300 pound senior D.J. Dale. Senior bookends Justin Eboigbe (6’5”, 292) and Byron Young (6’3”, 292) are looking for breakout seasons. Inside linebacker and a guy who should be a leader on the team, Henry To’o To’o (6’2”, 228), will return for his senior season. To’o To’o led the defense in tackles with 111, added 7 1/2 TFLs and 4 sacks. He’s an extremely valuable piece in the middle of the defense and will be calling the signals. Anderson Jr. also amassed 101 tackles last season just for good measure. What a player. Jaylen Moody, a redhshirt senior and 6’2”, 225, looked excellent in the spring game and is poised for a breakout year as well in 2022. In the secondary, S got stellar junior transfer Eli Ricks from LSU to play one corner. Kook Aid-McKinstry, the 5 star in 2021, is set to play the other. DeMarcco Hellams is back at free safety and looks to be a leader back there with Ricks and the great Jordan Battle. Bsttle and Hellams both had 3 picks in 2021, and Battle has been one of the elite Tide defensive players since he’s been in Tuscaloosa. He just has a propensity to make big plays and make pick six’s at the most clutch times in games. Brain Branch will play the Star and Malachi Moore will back him up. Battle and Hellams are seniors and McKinstry is a sophomore. Branch and Moore are juniors. Kristian Story, who backs up Battle at strong safety, had an interception in the spring game and looks like a stellar player. Khyree Jackson, a senior transfer from East Mississippi Community College, is another capable player backing up Kool-Aid at corner.

There is excellent talent and excellent depth on this defense. Pete Golding has got to love what he’s working with. Golding just needs to get a driver if he’s going to have a couple of nightcaps after games so he’ll be coaching and not doing community service or serving a weekend in the slammer.

The outstanding Will Reichard is back to kick. S solved his kicking problems when he signed Reichard. He’s a senior. Jack Martin, a senior, is backing him up. Martin and Reichard both kicked well in the A-Day game. James Burnip is the punter and averaged 39 yards on punts last season. Reichard was 22-of-28 on field goals last season. He was 5-of-5 from 20-29 yards, 9-of-10 from 30-39 yards, 7-of-11 from 40-49 yards, and 1-of-2 from 50 or longer with his long being 51. He didn’t have to kick a ton because of Young and the offense. Earle is listed as the punt returner. And kick returner is to be determined. Maybe Gibbs, Earle even Burton with his electric speed.

Schedule

The Tide opens with Utah State on Saturday, Sept. 3rd in T-town, then take a trip to Austin to face Sark and the Longhorns on Saturday, Sept. 10th. Texas will try to prove they belong in the Southeastern Conference eventually, but they’ll have a tall order. Then Saturday, Sept. 17th Louisiana-Monroe comes to Tuscaloosa. Saturday, Sept. 24th, Vandy comes to town. Could be a long afternoon for my Commodores. They should be improved, but not enough to hang with the Crimson Tide. Saturday, Oct. 1, the Tide is @ Arkansas for a road test. Sam Pittman has recruited well and will have a solid team, so a challenge there as well like Austin. Then Jimbo Fisher and his highly touted freshman class at Texas A&M comes to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, Oct.8th. There are no announced TV times, but I can guarantee that’ll be a 2:30 PM CT on CBS. While Fisher had the number one recruiting class in the country in 2022, they are freshmen, and it takes a “minute” for those guys to get acclimated to the college game. Alabama struggled with that a little last season. Fisher has recruited well and defeated Bama last season in a remarkable performance by now Auburn Tiger Zach Calzada at quarterback, so this one is circled by Saban and the team. Then the Tide has another challenge @Tennesee on Saturday, October 15. Josh Heupel should have a good returning team in 2022, so that should be formidable. Then it’s Mississippi State at home on Saturday, October 22. That’ll be homecoming. That’s kind of a tough opponent on homecoming, but I just don’t know if Leach can get it done. He might be too pass happy for the SEC. This is a big year for him. The team is off Oct. 29. Then on Nov. 5, it’s@ Brian Kelly and LSU. Very interesting to see if Kelly has any more ability against Saban on the Bayou. He’ll have more talent to work with, but it’s another tall order for a new SEC coach. Kelly seems a little soft to me, and not a great fit in Baton Rouge. So, we’ll see. At Ole Miss on Saturday, Nov.12 is formidable as well. Lane will pull out all the tricks against S and the Tide, so big game in mid November. Austin Peay comes to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, Nov. 19th and Auburn comes to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, Nov. 26. I’ll have my Auburn preview at the end of this week or Monday of next week with a more in depth look at the Tigers. Wild offseason down on the Plains. Maybe Bryan Harsin can survive and do well. That should be a 2:30 PM CBS game as always. The SEC Championship Game is Saturday, Dec. 3rd at Mercedes- Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The usual time is 3 PM CT on CBS.

So, the Crimson Tide looks to be a favorite in the SEC along with Georgia. Can Georgia maintain success after a tremendous season in 2021? That’ll be a major question. They’ll be loaded with talent as Kirby Smart has recruited at a high level. The Crimson Tide has challenges in their schedule, and Georgia is the favorite in the East with Florida having a new coach in Billy Napier, whom I expect to do well in the future. But South Carolina is better and Kentucky has been very good for a while now under Mark Stoops. Nationally, the Crimson Tide could see the likes of Ohio State, which is loaded. Penn State, which has a good team. USC under Lincoln Riley should be much improved. Clemson may be better, but they have hit the skids a little lately. Oklahoma has a new coach in Brent Venables, the long time defensive coordinator from Clemson. So another compelling 2022 season in college football and for the Crimson Tide. I expect them to be firmly in the thick of things come November and playing once again for a playoff spot and another National Championship shot under Coach Saban.

****Will have Auburn report Thursday or Monday. Have a great week.*****

Chris McElvain and Christian Little pitched beautifully last night in Lexington allowing 0 hits in 9 innings, and the bats pounded out 12 hits in our 10-0 victory over Kentucky.

With the victory we moved to 8-8 in the SEC and 27-10 overall. Kentucky fell to 5-11, and 21-17. Game 2 is today at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network. Freshman lefty Carter Holton (4-2, 4.57) is on the mound for us and will square off with Jr. RHP Zack Lee (0-0, 3.77) of Kentucky.

Chris went 7, gave up 0 hits with 3 walks and 9 K’s. Really outstanding performance by our junior. Christian came in for the 8th and 9th and allowed 0 hits with a walk and 4 K’s. Chris was mixing a good slider with a 92-93 MPH fastball, and Christian was lighting up the gun at 96-98 and mixing in some good off-speed.

Spencer Jones was 2 for 5 with a triple and 3 Ribeyes. Spence is awesome. Jack Bulger, who has been knocking the cover off the ball, was 2 for 4 with a pair of Ribbies. Dom Keegan was 2 for 4 with an RBI, Calvin Hewitt was in left field and he is really pushing for a starting spot as he made a tremendous catch against the wall in left and was 2 for 4. Calvin is really a fine hitter and baseball player overall. And freshman Matthew Polk was the DH and was awesome going 2 for 4 with an RBI. Really like Matthew’s bat. He’s going to help us the rest of this season. Our defense was excellent.

Just a really nice start to the series. Big start for Carter today. Would love to see him duplicate the kind of performance we got from Chris and Christian last night. They were lights out.

Men’s Golf in Quarters

We are in a very tight match with Mississippi State. The matches are tied at 2-2-1. Willam Moll is up 4 through 14, Reid Davenport is up 1 through 14, Cole Sherwood is down 3 through 15, Gordon Sargent is down 1 through 13, and Harrison Ott is tied through 13. So we need to dig deep to pull this out. Come on guys. Will let you know what transpires. Need to lock in and get this done. Thanks.

Our Men’s Golf team just keeps answering the bell every time out. They’re just a terrifically consistent team. We won the stroke play competition of the SEC Championship at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, GA. today by shooting 3 under as a team and finshing 16 under to defeat Texas A&M by 3 shots. A&M finished at -13. Florida was next at -12, LSU was -9, Missouri was -1, Georgia was Even, Tennessee was +3 and Mississippi State finished =4.

We now move on to the 8 team match play event tomorrow with our first match against the 8th seed Bulldogs of Mississippi State. We tee off at 6:30 AM CT with Cole Sherwood facing Ford Clegg of State. At 6:40 AM CT, Reid Davenport faces Ruan Pretorius. At 6:50 AM CT, William Moll faces Benjamin Nelson. At 7 AM CT, Harrison Ott faces Harrison Davis. And at 7:10 AM CT Gordon Sargent squares off with Hunter Logan.

Gordon finished in second place in the individual competition at -5. John Dubois of Florida finished first at -6. Cole finished tied for 3rd at -4, Reid finished tied 11th at -2, and Williams Moll finished tied for 18th at Even Par.

The winners of the Elite Eight will square off in the Final Four. The quartefinals and semifinals will be televised by SEC Network+ starting at 3 PM CT and Sunday’s Championship match will begin at 6:30 AM CT and be televised by the SEC Network. But we’ve got to take care of business against State before we think about anything else. Will have a full report on the guys tomorrow. Playing so well. Know Coach Limbaugh is pumped, but knowing him, he’s now locked in on tomorrow. But that’s another superb accomplishment by this spectacular group of young men and players. So proud of them. Excited for what we can do this weekend, too. Will have a report tomorrow. Anchor Down.

VU Baseball

Our baseball team is @ Kentucky for a weekend series. Game 1 is today in about 10 minutes on SEC Network+ with junior right hander Chris McElvain (4-2, 4.05) squaring off with Wildcats graduate left hander Mason Hazelwood (1-0, 4.50). Saturday, our game starts at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network with freshman lefty Carter Holton (4-2, 4.57) going for us versus Kentucky junior right hander Zack Lee (0-0, 3.77). Sunday freshman right hander Bryce Cunningham gets the ball for us versus a pitcher to be determined for the Cats. First pitch is at 12 PM CT on SEC Network+.

Big series for the guys this weekend. Need a really good outing from Chris to start the series off right.

Have a super weekend, God Bless, Go Dores and i’ll keep you posted on golf and baseball progress throughout the weekend.

Our Men’s Golf team just keeps answering the bell every time out. They’re just a terrifically consistent team. We won the stroke play competition of the SEC Championship at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, GA. today by shooting 3 under as a team and finshing 16 under to defeat Texas A&M by 3 shots. A&M finished at -13. Florida was next at -12, LSU was -9, Missouri was -1, Georgia was Even, Tennessee was +3 and Mississippi State finished =4.

We now move on to the 8 team match play event tomorrow with our first match against the 8th seed Bulldogs of Mississippi State. We tee off at 6:30 AM CT with Cole Sherwood facing Ford Clegg of State. At 6:40 AM CT, Reid Davenport faces Ruan Pretorius. At 6:50 AM CT, William Moll faces Benjamin Nelson. At 7 AM CT, Harrison Ott faces Harrison Davis. And at 7:10 AM CT Gordon Sargent squares off with Hunter Logan.

Gordon finished in second place in the individual competition at -5. John Dubois of Florida finished first at -6. Cole finished tied for 3rd at -4, Reid finished tied 11th at -2, and Williams Moll finished tied for 18th at Even Par.

The winners of the Elite Eight will square off in the Final Four. The quartefinals and semifinals will be televised by SEC Network+ starting at 3 PM CT and Sunday’s Championship match will begin at 6:30 AM CT and be televised by the SEC Network. But we’ve got to take care of business against State before we think about anything else. Will have a full report on the guys tomorrow. Playing so well. Know Coach Limbaugh is pumped, but knowing him, he’s now locked in on tomorrow. But that’s another superb accomplishment by this spectacular group of young men and players. So proud of them. Excited for what we can do this weekend, too. Will have a report tomorrow. Anchor Down.

VU Baseball

Our baseball team is @ Kentucky for a weekend series. Game 1 is today in about 30 minutes on SEC Network+ with junior right hander Chris McElvain (4-2, 4.05) squaring off with Wildcats graduate left hander Mason Hazelwood (1-0, 4.50). Saturday, our game starts at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network with freshman lefty Carter Holton (4-2, 4.57) going for us versus Kentucky junior right hander Zack Lee (0-0, 3.77). Sunday freshman right hander Bryce Cunningham gets the ball for us versus a pitcher to be determined for the Cats. First pitch is at 12 PM CT on SEC Network+.

Big series for the guys this weekend. Need a really good outing from Chris to start the series off right.

Have a super weekend, God Bless, Go Dores and i’ll keep you posted on golf and baseball progress throughout the weekend.

Our Men’s Golf team is excelling so far in the first round of the SEC Championship at Sea Island Golf Club, the Seaside Course at St. Simons Island, GA. Presently, we are leading the tournament at 5 under par, 3 shots ahead of South Carolina and Georgia, which are at 2 under. Senior Reid Davenport is at -3, sophomore Cole Sherwood is at -2 and freshman Gordon Sargent is at -2. Our fourth scorer is Harrison Ott at +2. We are through holes 7-11. A lot of golf left, a lot, but a super start by the team. Will let you know where we stand at the end fo the round. There will be 3 stroke play rounds today, Thursday and Friday and the top 8 scoring teams will play match play after that starting Saturday and concluding Sunday.

VU Baseball

Baseball won 7-0 last night over Tennessee Tech to move to 26-10 on the season as freshman lefty Devin Futrell put together another stellar performance. Futrell went 6, gave up 3 hits, 0 runs with 0 walks and 6 K’s. Devin moved to 8-0 overall and his ERA is now a team best 1.85. Brett Hansen, Jack Anderson and Nick Maldonado finished it off each pitching an inning for the final 3 frames. Nick allowed 0 runs, 0 hits with a walk and 2 K’s. Would love to get him going again. We now head to Lexington to face Kentucky for a weekend series. Kentucky is 5-10 in the SEC and 21-16 overall, but they are capable and it’s on the road, so we must bear down there. Game 1 is Friday at 5:30 PM CT on SEC Network+. Saturday’s game is at 11 AM CT on the SEC Network, and Sunday’s game is at 12 PM CT on SEC Network+. Will keep you posted as much as I can. I have to leave town for a couple of days, but will be back Saturday for more coverage on the teams.

VU Football

Football spring game ended in a 32-32 tie. Sounded like there were a lot of solid individual performances. Ken Seals, Mike Wright and A.J. Swann all played well under center. Some of our younger receivers performed well, and our offensive line is coming along. Defensively, we’re better this season. Will have more on the game next week. Our schedule is a beast. We open @Hawaii, Saturday, Aug. 27th, We host Elon, Saturday, Sept. 3rd, we host a very good Wake Forest team, Saturday, Sept. 10th, we’re @Northern Illinois, Saturday, Sept. 17th, we’re @Alabama, wow, Saturday, Sept. 24th, versus Ole Miss, Saturday, Oct.8th, @Georgia, another monumental one, Saturday, Oct. 15th, @Missouri, Saturday, Oct. 22nd, Off, then versus South Carolina, Saturday, Nov. 5th, @Kentucky, Saturday, Nov.12th, versus Florida, Saturday, Nov. 19th, versus Tennessee, Saturday, Nov.26th.

We’re going to have to play hard to make a bowl game. That’s the goal. Can we achieve it? We’ve got a shot. We’ll have to do well in the non-conference slate and then pull off a couple of upsets in SEC play. South Carolina and Missouri look like our most winnable opportunities, but we’ll be a lot better in year 2 under Clark, so excited to see the guys compete. Will have more on the spring game next week.

Women’s Tennis

The VU Women’s Tennis team won 4 out of their last 5 and play Ole Miss Thursday at 11 AM CT in the first round of the SEC Tournament in Gainesville, FL. We finished the season 15-8 overall and 6-7 in conference. We just came off a weekend sweep of Mississippi State and Ole Miss at the Currey Tennis Center. So the women are getting hot. Will keep you posted.

Men’s Tennis

The Men’s team finished its season at 14-11 overall and 2-10 in the SEC. We face Alabama in the first round of the SEC Tournament right now. It started at 10 AM CT. Need a good showing in this tournament to have a shot at the NCAA’s. We probably have to win it.

****Update on Men’s Golf****

We are now -7 overall and lead South Carolina and Georgia by 5 shots. Those teams are -2. We are through 9 holes except for Reid Davenport, who has played 10. Reid is 4 under, Gordon is 3 under, and Cole is 2 under.

I forgot to mention this, but Gordon Sargent and Cole Sherwood were selected to the Palmer Cup team, the prestigious Amateur Ryder Cup like competition between the U.S. and Europe. 12 players are selected for both sides. Huge honor for Gordon and Cole and they are both highly deserving. The competition will be held July 1-3 at the Golf Club de Geneve in Switzerland. So huge deal for our 2 studs. Sherwood is the 2nd ranked player in the country and Sargent is 4th. Great stuff from the guys.

The NBA Playoffs have commenced, and there is a lot of electric action going on in these first round matchups. Phoenix went 64-18 this season for the best record in the league and look highly formidable in the postseason with Devin Booker, C Paul and De’Andre Ayton. The Dallas Mavericks were the second hottest team in the league from January till early April, but Luka Doncic is hurt right now with a strained calf and that hurts the cause, though they defeated the Utah Jazz last night as Jalen Brunson went for 41 and Maxi Kleber was 8 of 11 from trifecta for 25 in a Mavs’ 110-104 victory. The series is now tied 1-1 and heads to Utah for games 3 and 4 starting tomorrow night.

Here are White’s World’s predictions for the NBA playoffs. ESPN, TNT, NBA TV and ABC will cover the playoffs. ABC will handle the NBA Finals.

Eastern Conference first round

Miami Heat over Atlanta Hawks in 5

Philly 76ers over Toronto Raptors in 5

Milwaukee Bucks over Chicago Bulls in 6

Boston Celtics over Brooklyn Nets in 7

Western Conference first round

Phoenix Suns over New Orleans Pelicans in 4

Dallas over Utah in 7

Golden State Warriors over Denver Nuggets in 6

Memphis Grizzlies over Minnesota T Wolves in 7

Conference Semis

East

Heat over 76ers in 6

Celtics over Bucks in 7

West

Suns over Mavs in 6

Grizzlies over Warriors in 7

Conference Finals

East

Heat over Celtics in 6

West

Suns over Grizzlies in 7

NBA Finals

This Phoenix Suns team looks unstoppable, but I’m going to go against the grain and take Jimmy “Buckets” Butler, Bam Adabayo and Tyler Herro and the South Beach team. Give me the Heat to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in mid June. The Finals begins June 2nd with game 7 scheduled for June 19th

Heat over Suns in 6

MVP of Finals, “Buckets”

Our Vandy Boys host the 23rd ranked Florida Gators at the Hawk with games today at 6 PM CT on ESPN2, tomorrow at 6 PM CT on the SEC Network, and Sunday at 12 PM CT on ESPN2.

Today at 6 PM, right handed junior Chris McElvain, who is 4-2 with a 3.59 ERA, and 2-2 with a 4.63 ERA in SEC games, will take the hill vs. Florida sophomore left hander Hunter Barco, who is 5-2 with a 2.23 ERA. That’s a challenge for us, so we’ll have to be strong on the mound, in the field and be clutch at the plate.

Saturday at 6 PM, freshman left hander Carter Holton, who is 4-2 with a 4.14 ERA, and 1-2 with a 5.89 ERA in conference, will face Florida sophomore right hander Brandon Sproat, who is 4-3 with a 4.23 ERA.

Sunday’s starters for both teams are to be announced later, probably Saturday night after the game, or Sunday AM. Please be Christian Little for us. We need to get that stud in the weekend rotation.

We are hitting .266 in conference play. Dom Keegan is leading the team at .345 with a homer and 8 Ribeyes. Need to pick it up with the bats this weekend.

Our defense has been pretty stellar lately. In the SEC, we are fielding at a .990 percentage, which is outstanding. Florida is hitting .287 as a team and fielding at a .979 clip. They don’t have their specific SEC numbers on their team website, so those are for the entire year so far. Outfielder Jud Fabian, a junior who seems like he’s been there forever, is hitting .275, but has 13 homers and 32 RBIs. Outfielder/catcher Wyatt Langford leads the team in hitting at .339 and has cranked 12 homers and added 36 RBIs.

So we’ve got our work cut out for us. Extremely important series for our baseball team as we’re hitting the midway point of the SEC season and it’s time to start playing baseball the way we’re capable of playing. Our 2019 and 2020 recruiting classes were No.1 in the country as ranked by Perfect Game.com, and our 2018 and 2021 classes were ranked second by Perfect Game, so there is no shortage of talent on this baseball team. We just need to reach our potential right now, tonight. We need to get it done. Should be an excellent series.

Football commit, Spring game

Clark got another commit from 85, 3 star running back Sedrick Alexander from LBJ high school in Austin, Texas. In his junior season, the 5’8, 190 pound Jackson rushed for 1,587 yards and 18 TDs while leading his Jaguars team to a 15-1 record. Sedrick chose VU over Air Force, Navy and others. He sounds like a very solid young guy and excellent running back. Sedrick joins 87, 3 star linebacker Ethan Crisp (6’3”, 205) from Mount Juliet, TN., 86, 3 star tight end Julien Randolph (6’5”, 210) from Ashburn, VA. and 86, 3 star quarterback Reese Mooney (6’1”, 200) from Denham Springs, LA. Our class is now ranked 30th nationally 8th in the SEC.

Interestingly, three, 4 star recruits, whom we are are recruiting heavily, will be deciding very soon. Ninety, four star quarterback Kenny Minchey (6’1”, 206) from Hendersonville, TN., 90, 4 star offensive tackle Luke Brown (6’5”, 300) from Henry Country High School in Paris, Tennessee, and 89, 3 star quarterback Marcel Reed (6’1”, 175) from MBA in Nashville will all be announcing soon. So fingers crossed on those three guys. Watched film on the 2 quarterbacks. Kenny has a cannon and is so accurate. Marcel has a super arm and awesome wheels. So let’s sign’em all up.

Will be in touch this weekend. Let’s Anchor Down at the Hawk and in Vanderbilt Stadium at the spring game. The Spring game kicks off at 1 PM CT on SEC Network+ and ESPN+. Quarterback position will be an interesting competition, probably continuing into the summer, and want to see the O line. We did lose Tyler Steen, our left tackle, to a transfer. He transferred to Alabama. But we have some potential pieces that could make us a solid outfit up front. Want to see our skilled players, and our defense as well. Will have a full report for you on Monday. Enjoy your Easter weekend.

Scottie Scheffler put on a ball striking and chipping and putting clinic at Augusta National to capture the Green Jacket and the $2.7 million first place paycheck at the 86th Masters. Scheffler was brilliant with the only glitch being the 4 putt on 18 for a double bogey, but by then it was all academic. His approach shot on 18 on Saturday after driving it into the bushes was remarkable. He hit a 6 iron out of the pine straw under the trees over the green. It was a 200 yard shot, very difficult and he handled it masterfully for one of the better bogeys you’ll ever see in a major. His chip in on 3 on Sunday was beyond clutch as Cam Smith was bearing down on him and 2 shots back. From there he was solid and Smith had the misfortune of hitting it into the water on 12 and triple bogeying ending his chances of winning. The back to back sand shots by Rory and Collin Morikawa that went in on 18 were thrillers. Rory really stepped it up on Sunday with a 64. Bodes well for the rest of the majors. Tiger Woods made it around for 72 holes, but shot 78 on Saturday and Sunday, so not so successful, though it was impressive he made it all 4 rounds after an almost fatal car crash in March of 2021. He’s got a long way to go to keep up with these guys though if he ever can.

Spike me Up and White’s World were winners with their respective Scheffler picks and B Barr won H2’s masters pool with some terrific picking. Nice little paycheck for B2 as well. All in all, a fantastic weekend of golf as it always is at Augusta National. Scottie Scheffler looks like a multiple major champion in the making, but the competition is fierce with many other multiple major winners already and many threatening to join that group, so some riveting golf ahead. The PGA Championship is at Southern Hills in Tulsa, OK May 19-22nd, the U.S. Open is June 16th-19th on NBC at the Country Club in Brookline, MA. sight of the U.S., Ryder Cup winning team in 1993 and Justin Leonard’s historic 70 footer. The Open Championship is July 14th-17th at historic St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland. So the majors look riveting and the regular season looks electric as well.

Winner this week

The RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head. Super field with guys like Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, former champion Webb Simpson, Sungjae Im, Matt Kuchar, Tyrrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann, Daniel Berger and Corey Conners.

The defending champion is the great 48 year old Stewart Cink. You can win golf tournaments in your late 40’s on the PGA Tour and maybe into your early 50’s. Guys take such good care of themselves now that it is possible

TV

Thursday-Friday, 2-5 PM CT, Golf Channel. Saturday-Sunday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-5 PM CT CBS.

Harbor Town is a par 71, 7,121 yards. The 18th is a terrific par 4, 485 yards long with water running down the entire left side and a dogleg right to left with a pretty narrow but long green. Should be some dramatics there on Sunday.

Weather is 79 Thursday, no rain, wind SSW 12 Friday, 73, Slight chance of rain 73, wind 13 MPH, Saturday, 75, chance of scattered showers, t storms, 44%, wind SE 9. Sunday, 75, 46% chance of scattered. NE !1.

I’ll take the 35 year old Irishman. He won the Open Championship in 2019, and won the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in August of 2015. He finished tied 3rd at the Masters last week shooting 3 under 69 on Sunday for a total 5 under score. Scheffler finished at -10 and Rory was second at -7.

Shane Lowry

Have a super Easter weekend. I’ll check back with you early next week.

Scott Limbaugh is the best Men’s Golf coach in the country and it’s not very close. At least that’s what I think. We’ve won 4 of our last 5 tournaments we’ve played in and just completed a victory yesterday at the Mossy Oak Collegiate at Mossy Oak Golf Course in West Point, Mississippi.

The team shot 25 under and bested 2nd place Auburn by 12 shots as the Tigers shot -13. LSU was third at -10. We are ranked third in the country by Golfstat, the premiere ranking service in collegiate golf. Oklahoma is No.1, Oklahoma State is No.2 and we’re next. Arkansas is No.10, Georgia is No.12, Auburn is 15, Tennessee is 18, A&M is 19, Ole Miss is 21, South Carolina is 22, and LSU is 25. We won over another terrific 18 team field. This goes along with our victory at the Prestige in La Quinta, Califiornia on Feb. 23rd, our victory at the Cabo Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico on March 1st, our 2nd place finish at the Linger Longer Invitational at Lake Oconee, GA, we just lost by a shot to Georgia on their home turf, March 22nd, and our victory at the Mason Rudolph Championship April 3rd at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, our home track. These fields we’ve defeated have been elite, a good sign for our immediate future as we move into the postseason.

Our superb freshman, Gordon Sargent, fired a 12 under par, 204, on the par 72, for 3 rounds. Par for the 3 days was 216. Gordon was brilliant. And to think we have this young stud for a couple more years, hopefully, is thrilling. But, just want to enjoy him and his teammates this season and give them so much respect for all they’ve accomplished. Senior Reid Davenport finished at -8 to finish third. Sophomore Cole Sherwood finished tied for 12th at -2, and junior William Moll, a talent who is just finding his sea legs back on this team after coming back from an injury and getting his game back in gear, finished tied for 23rd at even par. And fifth year senior Harrison Ott finished tied for 31st at +1. Just a terrific effort by the guys at Mossy Oak. Really proud of those guys who are representing Vanderbilt University tremendously.

Coach Limbaugh has his team tuned up to do spectacular things. He says though, we have a lot of work ahead of us. The SEC Championships start next Wednesday, April 20th, at the Seaside Course in Sea Island, GA. There are 3, 18 hole rounds and then the top 8 play match play, which crowns the champion. We won this event last year, but the competition is fierce, so we’ll have to be at our best. Excited for the guys, Coach Limbaugh and assistant coach, Gator Todd, to get this opportunity. Exciting stuff going on with our Men’s Golf team. Can’t wait for next week. I’ll be out of pocket next Thursday-Sunday, unfortunately, but will have a report when I return to the office on Monday. Will of course recap the first round and try to get some reporting in from Thursday through Sunday, but will definitely have a recap of our phenomenal team the following Monday, April 25th. Cole Sherwood is on the Haskins Award Watch List which is presented to the best college golfer in the country. So, that’ll be compelling to see if Cole wins that award. I should have mentioned this previously, but we did add 2 players to the 2022 signing class. They are Wells Williams and John Broderick.

Wells hails from West Point, Mississippi and attends Oak Hill Academy. He’s the No.1 golfer in Mississippi and ranks 6th nationally. He has won the Mississippi Junior Amateur 3 times. Coach Limbaugh said Wells can make an immediate impact on our team.

John is from Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is a student at Belmont Hill School. He is the top ranked player in Massachusetts. He was named Massachusetts Junior player of the year and won the New England Amateur Championship. Coach Limbaugh loves John’s competitiveness and sees him thriving at Vanderbilt, in school and on our golf team.

So, extremely excited to add those 2 stellar young men and players.

Coach Limbaugh and Coach Todd recruit as well as any coaching staff in the country, and I would say, better than any other staff.

Just proud of what these guys are accomplishing with some thrilling stuff ahead as we push to be that spectacular team we want to be. We already are, but I know Coach Limbaugh, Coach Todd and the guys want more. We want more for them. Will keep you posted on all of our golf team’s upcoming competitions. Next up, the SEC Championships.

Baseball with solid victory

Our Vandy Boys had a very solid 7-4 victory over Western Kentucky last night at the Hawk. Left handed freshman Devin Futrell pitched 5, gave up 3 hits, 2 earned with 0 walks and 7 K’s. Devin has been an anchor for us in midweek games as he is 7-0 with a 2.45 ERA. We’re going to really need him going forward. He’s just a strike thrower. Doesn’t really light up the radar guy, but throws it 90, and has superb stuff and location. Really like what we’ve got in Devin. Left handed sophomore Nelson Berkwich pitched a solid inning, giving up 2 hits, but no runs with a walk and a strikeout. Nelson is very good pitcher for us. Grayson Moore, Brett Hansen, Thomas Schultz and Christian Little were terrific in relief. Grayson struggled a little, but he has a 94-95 MPH fastball and really like his stuff. Thomas was super as was Brett, and Christian is an absolute stud. He’s hitting 96-98 on the gun, and his stuff is electric. I hope we can get him into our weekend rotation. Looks like a potential Friday Night guy to me. We’ll see how things develop. He looks like Kumar. He’s only 18, too. Wow, if he can keep his head down and keep working, the sky’s the limit for Christian.

Jack Bulger continued his hitting tear going 3 for 4 with a long one and 2 Ribeyes. Jack hit his second of the season. Dom Keegan blasted his 6th of the year to deep central, Carter Young blasted his fifth, and almost had a 6th except for a superb catch by Western KY. center fielder Jackson Gray. Gray also hit a homer. He’s an outstanding player. Like seeing Carter’s bat heating up. Sophomore centerfielder Enrique Bradfield made the play of the year so far in deep left central, jumping up above the wall and robbing the Hilltopper batter of a double or maybe even a homer. It was a terrific play by our stellar outfielder.

The team played super defense. Carter was very good at short. He’s just a really smooth shortstop.. He gets it in his glove and releases it so quickly. He makes sure he gets rid of it to get the faster runners. Love what I’m seeing from Carter.

We are now 23-9 overall and 5-7 in the SEC. We have a gigantic weekend home series against Florida this Friday-Sunday. Florida is ranked 23rd nationally and is 21-11 overall and 5-7 in the SEC. Both teams need this series to get momentum going into the halfway point of the SEC season. Friday Night’s game is at 6 PM CT on ESPN 2, Saturday’s game is at 6 PM CT on the SEC Network, and Sunday’s finale is at 12 PM CT on ESPN2. It’s a huge series for us. Need our bats, arms and defense to be stellar this weekend. Will keep you apprised all weekend. Chris McElvain will go Friday, Carter Holton Saturday, and maybe Patrick Reilly on Sunday though Patrick got rocked by Auburn this past Sunday, so we’ll see. Will let you know the matchups when I find out. Will most likely be Friday morning. We need to step it up in the SEC. It’s time we did that. We fell out of the D-1 rankings this week, so would like to get back in there, and mainly just win all weekend.

Football has 3 commits, spring clicking well

Clark has already landed 3 commits for the 2023 class and they’re all very good players. Ethan Crisp, a 6’3”, 205 linebacker, from Mount Juliet, TN. has come aboard along with 6’5”, 210 tight end Julien Randolph from Ashburn, Virginia and 6’1”, 200 pound quarterback Reese Mooney from Denham Springs, LA. All 3 are soiid to high 3 stars. Like this talent and Clark and the staff are in on some other excellent players.

Spring ball has been extremely successful. Spring game is Saturday at 1 PM CT on SEC Network+ and ESPN+. Will have a full report on Monday. The quarterback competition is compelling with juniors Mike Wright and Ken Seals and true freshman and early enrollee and highly talented signal caller A. J,. Swann in the mix. I’ll let you know what I see on Monday on the QBs and the rest of the team. I like the program Clark is putting together.

Take care and will check back in Friday with baseball preview and recaps of games throughout the weekend.