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.