Dores in Hoover today at 1 P.M. CT/ 2 ET vs Kentucky, Preview; Men’s Golf do well in first round of Athens Regional
Our 12th seeded Vanderbilt Commodores, who are 32-24 overall and finished 14-16 in the SEC after sweeping South Carolina over the weekend at the Hawk, are in the Hoover Met today for the first round of the SEC Baseball Tournament. We will face Kentucky at approximately 1 P.M. CT/2 East for a shot at matriculating and keeping our NCAA hopes alive and having a shot at excelling in Hoover.
The SEC Network will televise. We need two victories in this tournament, and maybe even three, to solidify our NCAA Tournament chances. So it all starts today versus the Wildcats, who we took two of three from in the regular season in Lexington.
We’ll go with right hander and stellar Friday Night starter Connor Fennell, who is 4-2 with a 4.80 ERA, but has been terrific lately in his starts versus Alabama, Missouri and South Carolina, respectively. Connor has walked 19 and struck out 97, which is excellent. He has allowed 13 doubles, one triple and 15 homers. The opponents batting average against him is .252. Gotta keep it in the ball park. The Hoover Met is more of a pitcher’s park, but there are definitely long balls hit out of there.
Kentucky, which is 31-20, and 13-17 in the SEC and also playing for their NCAA Tournament chances, will go with junior left hander Ben Cleaver, I’m guessing. Cleaver is 2-3 with a 3.83 ERA, 25 walks, 44 K’s. He has given up 7 doubles, 0 triples and 5 homers. Opponents are batting .250 against him.
In the Friday Night game in Lexington on April 17th, Fennell faced Jaxon Jelkin. Fennell went 6.1, gave up 5 hits, 1 earned with 2 walks and 3 K’s.
Cleaver didn’t pitch, but Kentucky won, 5-2. Our bullpen got hit pretty hard that night. I’m not positive Cleaver is starting for them, so this is a guesstimate. I’ll update if I find out anything else before the game.
We’ve hit well this season at .291, and played really solid defense fielding at a .976 clip. Just gotta get pitching in this tournament. We showed some good signs against South Carolina. Fennell was solid as always on Thursday and we got a solid start from Jacob Faulkner on Saturday. We’re just getting it done by committee right now. We’ve got a lot of young, talented arms who seem to be figuring it out right now. Alex Kranzler, our junior, has been pitching well lately.
We’ve just got to get through today. I picked us 5-4 on my All Sports Blog yesterday, so hopeful that comes to fruition. Will elaborate more Wednesday if we emerge victorious today. Come on Fellas.
Golf tied for second after first day of NCAA Regionals in Athens.
Our Men’s Golf team is in second place tied with Auburn at -7 after the first round of the NCAA Regionals at University of Georgia Golf Club in Athens.
We are three back of Louisville, which is at -10, and we are tied with No.1 ranked Auburn. We got stellar performances from freshmen Jon Ed Steed and Will Hartman, who both shot 4 under par 67. Senior Wells Williams is at -1. The second round is underway and we’re on the course. Will keep you updated. There are 13 teams in this Regional with the top 5 teams after the third round advancing to the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa North Course in Carlsbad, CA. starting Friday, May 29th. So, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
Luckily for both of our teams, we have Tim Corbin and Scott Limbaugh, respectively.
Will keep you apprised. Thanks and have a great day.