Our Vanderbilt Baseball team led by Parker Noland’s 4 for 4 night, Enrique Bradfield’s two for 4 night with 2 more stolen bases, his 24th and 25th and 118th of his career, a 4 RBI night from Davis Diaz and a 3 Ribeye night from RJ Shreck, were victorious in dominating fashion over North Alabama, 14-2, at the Hawk. The game was called after seven innings due to the run rule in college baseball. If a team leads another team by 10 runs through 7, the game is called. So, impressive job by the guys.

Now, it’s onto the South Carolina Gamecocks. We are 27-6 overall and 11-1 in the SEC. SC is 29-4 and 9-2. Their game last Sunday vs LSU was rained out so they’ve played one less SEC game than us. We are No.4 in the country, as ranked by the preeminent service, D-1 Baseball.com. They are No.6. So, it comes down to cases, as the Braves historically great late broadcaster Ernie Johnson Sr. used to say.

The question for us is will Carter Holton get the ball Friday? I’ve read one source say that Corbs and Scott Brown are going to hold him out another week, while another says he’ll pitch, but it’ll be a game time decision. I like Holton to pitch. I’m a cup half full guy, what can I say. And Carter is a bulldog and he got rest last weekend, so I like him to be on the hill at 6 PM CT Friday vs the Gamecocks at the Hawk. Saturday’s game, in which lefty Hunter Owen will start, will start at 2 PM. And our great lefty Devin Futrell will take the hill Sunday with first pitch at 1 PM CT. All 3 games will be broadcast on SEC Network+. Not sure about South Carolina’s starters. Will send out a quick blast tomorrow when I find that out and find out if Holton is starting if that will be announced before the game.

Tremendously important series for the team. We haven’t played top level competition in the SEC just yet, but we have certainly been taking care of business in impressive fashion. We have a string team without a doubt. But this will be a major gauge on where our team is. Will have a report on the weekend series on Monday and more on SC tomorrow, their starting rotation for this weekend.

They are hitting .293 as a team. Designated hitter Ethan Perry is batting .449 with 26 homers and 52 RBIs. Shortstop Braylen Wilmer is hitting .313 with 9 and 30. Catcher Cole Messina is hitting .307 with 10 homers and 39 Ribbies. And former Vanderbilt player first baseman, Gavin Casas, is hitting .284 with 15 homers and 37 RBIs.

They have hit 78 homers through 33 games. We have hit 45 long ones through 33 games. Our pitching staff will have its work cut out for it. Their team pitching ERA is 3.10 and ours’ is 3.18. They field at .973 percent and we field at .981percent. Our team batting average is .290.

So our pitchers need to keep the ball in the ballpark this weekend. We’ve got to really lock down this weekend because this is one serious opponent. Looking forward to it. Will keep you apprised and send out a blast on the pitchers tomorrow.

Men’s Golf scorches the Mason Rudolph

Our Vanderbilt Men’s Golf team snapped back from two performances that were below theirs’ and Coach Limbaugh’s standards with a resounding victory at the Mason Rudolph Championship at the Vanderbilt Legends Club, South Course, that finished this past Tuesday.

The great Gordon Sargent, coming off his Masters appearance in which he was disappointed by finishing 9 over and missing the cut but gained valuable experience, led the team shooting 66, 64,66 for a 17 under score on the Par 71 to win the individual title and lead us to a score of 34 under, 23 strokes clear of second place, No.14 Tennessee, which finished at -11. No.20 Ole Miss was third at -9. We are still the No.1 team in the country by Golfstat.com and Golfweek rankings.

Willam Moll finished tied for third posting 8 under. Reid Davenport finished tied 5th with teammate Matthew Riedel at -7. Jackson Van Paris finished -3 and tied for 11th. Cole Sherwood finished +2 for the tournament and freshman Wells Williams didn’t have his best finishing +7.

But an awesome effort by Gordon, William, Reid and Matthew and the rest of the fellas.

Now, we’re on to very serious business, the postseason, with the SEC Championships starting next Wednesday, April 19th at Sea Island golf Club the Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Georgia. We’ll be battling it out with serious talent. Auburn is No.9 in the Rankings, Florida is No.10, Tennessee, which defeated us in an SEC Match Play event final back in October of 2022, is No.14. Alabama is No.17. Miss State is No.18. Ole Miss is No.20. Arkansas, and Georgia are both capable of going the distance. The SEC’s start next Wednesday, April 19th, and go through Sunday, April 23rd. The first three days, Wednesday-Friday, are stroke play, and teams will be seeded 1-8 depending on the results of stroke play for the Match Play. We are the two time defending champion.

Looks like we’ve righted the ship. In the Calusa Cup, we were without Gordon, who was getting ready to play in the Masters. So that hurt.

Always bullish on Scott Limbaugh teams and this one is as good as any we’ve had. Another major challenge ahead for us. Excited to see our guys compete. I know Coach Limbaugh, Coach Gator Todd and the guys are amped up as well.

One note

I’ll be out of town next weekend, so will do what I can to keep up with baseball and golf. I’ll have previews on Wednesday before we play next weekend. Baseball plays at Tennessee next weekend in another huge tilt Friday, April 21-Sunday, April 23rd. Friday’s game is at 5 PM CT on the SEC Network, Saturday’s game is at 11 AM CT on ESPN2, and Sunday’s game is at 12 PM CT on ESPN2. So, tremendous weekend in the East next week. We’ll play Indiana State in a midweek game at home on Tueday, April 18th at 6 PM CT at the Hawk. SEC Net+ will broadcast.

May have to give a full report the on Baseball and Men’s Golf on Monday, April 24th. Hope this works.

Let’s have a great weekend versus SC.

Football

I’ll try to get out a full Vanderbilt Football 2023 report on Tuesday. Will do everything I can to do that. It might take till Wednesday, but I’ll lock in and get it done before the end of day Wednesday.

MLB guys

Dans Swanson was four for four Tuesday Night versus Seattle in a Cubs’ 14-9 victory. The man is scorching the baseball at a .400 average, with 0 homers and 5 Ribeyes. Dans’ homers will pick up. Playing stellar short as always. He left the game late Tuesday Night due to soreness and concern for his wife, Mallory, who suffered a devastating knee injury in a soccer game that has ended her appearance at this year’s Women’s World Cup in July in Australia and New Zealand. Mallory and Dans are a power couple in sports, and Dans was pretty shaken up when it happened to his wife, who had become a superstar on the U.S. Women’s National team scoring 7 goals in 5 games recently. Dans was by Mallory’s side all last week and weekend and trying to play baseball. Just think he was sore and distraught for Mallory. Very sorry for Mallory, an awesome young woman, devoted wife and tremendous soccer player. Mallory is 24, so she’ll get another shot in the 2027 World Cup, but it’s disappointing for her I’m sure. Thoughts and prayers go out to Mallory and Dans. Dans is playing superb baseball. The Cubs are 6-5 and a game and a half behind NL Central leading Milwaukee, which is at 8-4.

Yaz is hitting .244 with 2 homers and 5 Ribeyes for the SF Giants. Kyle Wright pitched for the Braves for the first time Tuesday Night, and is working his way back into the rotation. Expect big things from both guys and Tony Kemp is getting a lot of playing time in Oakland. Getting his bat figured out right now, but his defense, as always, is superb.

Sony Gray is doing awesomely well for the Minnesota Twins. The Man pitched a gem last night going 5, giving up 3 hits, 0 runs with 2 walks and 5 K’s. Sonny’s numbers are through the roof terrific this season so far. He’s 2-0 with an 0.53 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning, anything under 1.10 is excellent). He’s walked seven and struck out 19. The Twins are at 8-4 and lead the AL Central. Sonny is doin’ some serious work.

Will be back in touch tomorrow. My Tampa Bay Rays are cookin at 12-0. With a victory today, they would tie the ‘82 Braves and the ‘87 Brewers most consecutive victories to start a Major League season of all time. They play the Red Sox with first pitch right now.

Started loving the Rays when David Price was pitching for them and led them to a World Series in 2007, and was prolific for them before he moved on to other places. I love the responsible budget, high value, playoff mentality of this organization. The Rays, from owner Stu Sternberg all the way down to the players, are top notch. The Rays have the 28th lowest payroll in baseball out of 30 teams and just keep getting the job done. This may be their best team yet.