Our Vanderbilt Men’s Golf Team with terrific effort despite adversity; Baseball today 5 P.M. CT vs Wright State, SEC Network
May 30, 2025
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Our senior, Jackson Van Paris, is an All American and 2nd team All-SEC (Photo courtesy of Instagram).
Our Vanderbilt Baseball Team is Profoundly Exceptional
May 29, 2025
Our superb freshman Brodie Johnston was phenomenal in the SEC Tournament. (Photo courtesy of You Tube).
A friend of mine in Birmingham, “PW” Watts, emailed me after the San Antonio Spurs, with Coach Greg Popovich, Tim Duncan (the Big Fundamental), Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, had won their fifth NBA Championship in 15 years in 2014, and called the Spurs, “sublime.” I agreed with PW then and I will say the same about Coach Tim Corbin and this Vanderbilt University Baseball Team.
This coach and these group of players are profoundly good and not just on the baseball field, where they are prolific. When Coach Corbin meets with his players, which is frequently, he mainly talks about the players doing everything they can to be “good men.” To Coach Corbin, that’s what’s most important.
If you read the roster bios on each player, Coach Corbin has comments on each one. They’re awesome comments and so accurate, and he closes talking about almost every one of the guys saying, “he was on the Dean’s list in the fall.”
Isn’t that what college athletics is supposed to be about? With Greg Sankey and the Big Ten Commissioner, Tony Petitti, trying to professionalize college football more every day as they now try to institute a 16 team playoff, it’s really nice to see a coach who still cares about academics for his players, and players who care about doing well in all facets of their lives.
This team plays the game the right way. They’re warriors on the field, but they’re also gentlemen. The “heart beat,” as Coach Corbin likes to say, is unified, and together. It leads to successful results on the baseball field and in life for these young men.
I love this 2025 team. I have loved every team we’ve had under Coach Corbin. They’ve all been special. But these guys bring their own uniqueness to Vanderbilt baseball. They’re their own entity. And it’s a special legacy they are in the midst of leaving.
We have a lot of work left. We have a regional to host with three other highly competitive teams. We play Wright State (38-19, 25-5 Horizon), a team that hits .305 and has some pretty decent pitching. Game time tomorrow, Friday, is 5 P.M. CT on the SEC Network. JD Thompson will be on the hill for us, while I’m guesstimating it’ll be sophomore left hander Griffen Paige for them (1-3 with an 8.90 ERA, but had a very good start last time out versus Northern Kentucky, 6 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, 8 K’s). Louisville (35-21, 15-15 ACC), which defeated us up at their place in mid May, and East Tennessee State (41-15, 14-7 Southern Conf), play at 1 P.M. CT at our regional Friday.
But we played spectacular baseball at the SEC Tournament with superb pitching by JD, Cody Bowker, Connor Fennell and Austin Nye, among others, superb defense, led by some amazing plays by our “sublime” freshman Brodie Johnston, who, when God decided he wanted to create a prototypical baseball player to play for Vanderbilt University and beyond, he turned his attention to Ooltewah, Tennessee on March 13, 2006 and brought one Brodie Kenneth Johnston into the world. Brodie is another gift to this profoundly exceptional baseball team. He made play after play at third, throwing out a runner at home on Saturday in a key moment against Tennessee, making super play after super play at third and hitting a key two run shot on Sunday versus Ole Miss, his 13th homer and 52nd and 53rd Ribeyes of the season.
The whole infield was terrific. Another great freshman, Rustan Rigdon, was turning double plays beautifully. Ruston has found a home and had three hits on Saturday in a huge performance for us. Our spectacular senior, Jonathan “Johnny
V” Vastine, was his typical stellar self at short, and our awesome first baseman, Riley Nelson, was digging’em out at first. Riley is an outstanding defensive first baseman as well as an outstanding hitter for us.
Centerfielder RJ Austin, our inspirational leader along with Johnny V and JD, led us in the outfield along with the great Jacob Humphrey, our right fielder, who hit a crucial home run to right on Sunday. Left fielder Braden Holcomb may not have been known for his defense coming out of high school because his bat was so prolific, but the sophomore made a tremendous grab of a sinking line drive in left on Sunday. Braden is excellent in left and brings a massive stick to the plate.
And our great catcher, Colin Barczi, is just steady and brings greatness to the position, both behind the dish and at the plate.
So, this all adds up to an exceptional baseball team. We’ve got our work cut out for us to make it to Omaha. Watching the Selection Show on Monday, I thought to myself, “Wow, there is a massive amount of talent in this 64 team field.”
But I love this head coach, these coaches and this stellar group of profoundly good players, who also happen to be profoundly great people. It starts at the top and we’ve got the man who has done it at Vanderbilt University for 23 years and counting.
This team is sublime. This coach is sublime. This season could very well end up being sublime. We’ve got the pieces in place to make it that way. It starts Friday at 5 P. M. CT. Can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Our Commodores get the job done in Knoxville; major series coming up Thursday through Saturday; postseason right around the corner. Where we stand
May 13, 2025
Our Vanderbilt Commodores Baseball team secured a phenomenal series victory at parts unknown in Tennessee on Sunday against a team we absolutely detest.
The Dores hit four homers, led by Colin Barczi’s two, and Jonathan Vastine’s and Mike Mancini’s solo shots in our 7-5 victory over the team from the East and their very much disliked coach; at least as far as we’re concerned. We took two of three from them, including a 10-6 victory Saturday and the 7-5 W on Sunday. Ethan McElvain was gigantic on Sunday to close out the victory and earn the save for our team, striking out one of their players with the bases loaded and 2 outs as we were hanging on to our 7-5 lead. Ethan is a warrior, and Corbs loves warriors. That’s what Corbs is and Ethan certainly is, too, as are a lot of the players on this spectacular baseball team, including our leaders, Vastine, RJ Austin and JD Thompson.
We moved to 16-11 in the SEC and 36-16 overall, and are now ranked No.9 in the country by the D1Baseball.com top 25 rankings. They fell to 15-12 and 39-13. They are now ranked 17th nationally.
Our metrics are good for the postseason as we head into the Kentucky series at home @ the Hawk starting Thursday and continuing through Saturday. Our RPI is 3, our Quad one wins are 15, which is excellent, our strength of schedule is now No.2 in the country, and we are presently the fourth place team in the SEC, which, if the SEC Tournament was held today, would allow us to have a double bye at Hoover and play on Thursday in the 16-team, single elimination format. It’s a riveting format with Texas and Oklahoma in the conference now. Every team gets a shot, but it’s just one shot, and a bye is big, while a double bye is even bigger. Thanks to Vandy 247 Sports for the intel on the metrics.
Texas is No.1 in the SEC with a 20-9 conference record and a 40-10 overall mark. Arkansas is second at 18-9 and 41-11; LSU, now No.1 in the country according to D1baseball, is third at 17-10 and 40-12 overall. Our guys, Georgia and Auburn are tied for fourth at 16-11, and we are the fourth seed by virtue of our head to head record with the other two teams we’re tied with. We are 4-2 against Georgia and Auburn, Georgia is 3-3 against us and Auburn and Auburn is 2-4 against us and Georgia. We lost two out of three at Auburn to start the SEC season, but could have easily won that series as we had a 6-2 lead on Sunday and lost 7-6. We swept Georgia at home April 17th-19th. The record versus the other teams amongst those respective teams that are tied is the first tiebreaker. If it was just us and Auburn which were tied, Auburn would get the tiebreaker because they took 2 out of 3 from us at their place March 14th-16th.
However, there is a lot to be decided when Kentucky comes to town this Thursday. If Corbs was to read this, he would get hot because he knows this scenario won’t matter if we can’t be successful this weekend. But it’s fun for sportswriters and VU fans to pontificate on. Thursday’s game is at 6 P.M. CT on SEC Network+; Friday’s game is at 6 P.M. CT on SEC Net+; and Saturday’s game is at 2 P.M. CT on SECN+.
So there’s still a lot of work ahead of us. But we still can, at least as fans and a VU sportswriter, enjoy what our players did over the weekend in eastern Tennessee. Saturday we were a 10-6 winner after a tough 3-2 loss on Friday Night. JD Thompson pitched well Friday despite the loss. JD is doing very well for us right now, which bodes well for our immediate and long term future this season. We stole 8 bases on Saturday off their pitching and catcher. Jacob Humphrey swiped 3 and has 19 on the season. He came out of Sunday’s game out of caution for a concussion. He sustained a concussion a couple of weeks ago. Jacob’s return Thursday is TBD. Sophomore David Mendez replaced Jacob on Sunday, and while Mendez is a pretty good replacement, we need Jacob if he can get back. He’s an electric player for us. Rustan Rigdon stole two bags and has 16 on the year. Rustan also made an excellent play at second on Sunday, stopping a ball heading for center field and making a leaping throw to first baseman Riley Nelson, who dug it out for the stellar play. Riley is quite a first baseman along with being a terrific hitter for us. Riley (7), Braden Holcomb (2) and Mike Mancini (2) also stole a bag. Braden was 2 for 4 with his eighth homer of the season and added 3 Ribeyes. RJ Austin was 1 for 5, but drove in three. Jacob was two for three with the three stolen bases and made a spectacular catch in the 8th to preserve the lead. The hitter smashed it to the right field corner in what looked like would be a sure triple. But our star senior dove to his left and snagged the ball before it hit the ground for the defensive play of the game to get us out of the inning. Ethan came on in the bottom of the 9th and closed it out 1-2-3.
Then, on Sunday, we took off with the bats. Our great catcher, Colin Barczi, hit a pair of shots, one solo and one a two run shot in the top of the 6th to score himself and Holcomb, who had tripled right before Colin’s oppo shot. That made the score 5-3. Then there was a two hour lightning delay. After the delay, Vastine launched his shot to left. Pretty amazing stuff from our super senior after sitting on the bench for two hours waiting to hit. Then in the top of the 9th, our DH, Mike Mancini, cranked one over the left field wall, a huge shot that put us up 7-5. Ethan came on and ran into some trouble in the bottom of the 9th, but shut the door with the bases jammed and two outs by striking out their hitter to close out the game and clinch the series. Corbs said in the postgame that the team grew up 10 years after that series victory on Sunday.
So, awesome way to close out the weekend. We got solid pitching Sunday from England Bryan, who was hitting 97-98 MPH on the radar gun, Luke Guth, who is looking very reliable, and Miller Green. Alex Kranzler struggled a little, but he’s still trustable. Connor Fennell started and wasn’t his sharpest, but we still have trust in Connor. Cody Bowker got the start Saturday Night and pitched decently. We need Cody and Connor to be good for us, and, of course, JD as well.
So here we are heading into the last weekend of the season. Here is the SEC schedule for Thursday through Saturday. We play Kentucky (13-14, 28-20). Kentucky is looking for victories to get in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament and enhance its position in the SEC Tournament, so they’ll be hungry. We need to be just as relentless as we have been this season. No.3 (nationally) Texas (20-7, 40-10) plays @ OU (13-14, 32-17). Texas A&M (10-17, 27-20) is @ No. 10 Georgia (16-11, 40-13). No.18 Alabama (15-12, 39-13) is @ No.23 Florida (13-14, 35-18), which has come on lately. No.1 LSU (17-10, 40-12) is @South Carolina (5-22, 26-26). Mississippi State (12-15, 31-20) is @ Missouri (3-24, but swept A&M on the road this past weekend, 16-35). No.6 Auburn (16-11, 36-15) is @ Ole Miss (14-13, 34-17). And No.17 Tennessee (thought I could make it through this column without saying their name, so it goes, 15-12, 39-13) is @ No.8 Arkansas (18-9, 41-11).
So a lot of work ahead of us, but I like the way this team is trending with a lot of electric baseball in front of us. I’ll keep you very much apprised throughout the weekend as our team competes with Kentucky. The stakes are high, so we’ll need to maintain our blue collar, relentless mentality throughout the weekend starting Thursday at 6 P.M. on SECN+.
Men’s Golf surging at the Amherst (VA) Regional
The Vanderbilt Men’s Golf Team is presently in first place in day three, the final day of the Amherst, Virginia regional. Amherst has been getting the weather that has been transpiring throughout the southeast the last several days, and play has been suspended for the day and will resume Wednesday at 6:30 A.M. CT. However, through holes 6-8, we are presently at three under as a team for the tournament and three shots ahead of Oklahoma and Tennessee, which are each at even par. The top 5 in the 14 team regional qualifies for the NCAA Championships. More on that after we complete play and hopefully emerge successfully. We’ve gotten stellar play from senior Jackson Van Paris, who has taken the team on his shoulders this week and has been that way all season. JVP is presently -1 today and 7 under for the tournament and is leading the individual leaderboard. The next two guys are at 4 under par. So, awesome work by our dedicated senior from Pinehurst, North Carolina. Will absolutely keep you apprised of our attempt to close this out and win the region and qualify for the NCAA Championships. More to come tomorrow.
Great stuff from our Vandy Boys. You gotta love these guys. Clark and Mark are still forming their respective teams for 2025-26. Love the prospects for both our football and men’s basketball coaches and teams.
Baseball is the priority right now though. Men’s golf is riveting also. Anchor Down and I’ll keep you informed in the upcoming days starting tomorrow with a report on our men’s golf team and throughout the weekend with our Vandy Boys.
Johnston, Holcomb, RJ, Riley and the Bats cooked over the weekend as the Dores keep climbing in the SEC and national scene; Football, Men’s and Women’s Bball, Men’s Golf and Women’s Tennis also
May 6, 2025
The Vanderbilt Commodores Baseball team finished this past weekend off electrically with super freshman Brodie Johnston and stellar sophomore Braden Holcomb putting an exclamation point on a dramatic Commodores victory Sunday at the Hawk, 9-7, over the Alabama Crimson Tide. With the victory which allowed us to take two out of three from Bama, the Dores moved to 34-14 on the season and 14-10 in the SEC, good for tied for 5th with Tennessee in the SEC standings. No.1 Texas is first at 19-5 and is 38-8 overall; No.7 Arkansas, which swept Texas over the weekend in Fayetteville, is second at 17-7, and 40-9 overall; No.3 LSU (38-11) and No.6 Georgia (39-11) are tied for third at 15-9 and and No. 15 Tennessee (37-11) and us are at 14-10, tied for fifth. We have a major week this week starting today with a 6 P. M. Central time game @ Louisville in the annual “Battle for the Barrel.” The game will be broadcast by the ACC Network.
We are now ranked 11th in the country by D1 Baseball.com and Baseball America. Our RPI is No.3 and our strength of schedule is also third nationally. The great sportswriter Chris Lee of Vandy 247 Sports showed today on the site that we are ranked first in the KPI Rankings, which is a strength of record metric. So, all impressive stuff for a team that is coming together at the right time. D1Baseball,com had us as a 9 seed going into last week, so if we can have a good week this week, which includes @ Louisville today and at Tennessee over the weekend, we can put ourselves in position for that coveted top 8 national seed, which gives a team home field throughout the regionals and Super regionals. So, massive week starting today. But here’s a look at what transpired over the weekend at the Hawk. It was a majestic Friday and a particularly majestic Sunday.
Friday Night, we received a stellar pitching performance from JD Thompson who went 7, gave up only 2 hits, no runs with 2 walks and 11 strikeouts in a 12-2, 8 inning, run rule game. The run rule applies if one team has a 10 run lead through 7 innings. JD was terrific. Miller Green pitched the last inning, and while Miller struggled a little giving up two runs on three hits, I still believe he can help us during the home stretch of the season and in the postseason. The bats came alive in the sixth inning after being silent through the first five frames. Alabama pitcher Tyler Fay had been tough, but in the sixth we struck for three runs, we added three more in the 7th, and we tacked on 6 more in the bottom of the 8th to run rule them, 12-2. Our great centerfielder RJ Austin was 4 for 5 with 4 Ribeyes, including a three run shot in the eighth. Our exceptional junior transfer first baseman Riley Nelson (Western Texas College and Yavapai College), who is hitting .361 with 6 long ones and 35 Ribbies, was 2 for 4, and our superb freshman third baseman Brodie Johnston was 3 for 4 with 2 runs batted in. Senior shortstop Jonathan Vastine, who has been phenomenal in SEC play, was 2 for 4 with an RBI. So, awesome performance Friday Night. Saturday didn’t work out as well as we fell, 5-2. But Sunday was a typical vintage Tim Corbin-coached Vanderbilt University Baseball performance in a game that will be remembered for a good while, particularly if we finish our season off well and go extremely deep in the postseason, which we are highly capable of.
It was not looking that swift for the guys as we were down 7-2 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. Our superb sophomore Dayton transfer pitcher Connor Fennell, who dominated Ole Miss the week before, had some trouble against the Crimson Tide giving up a couple of long ones with runners on base, so it was looking pretty slim for us going into the bottom of the 8th. But then, our bats woke up in a big way. After Nelson and Johnston popped out , Holcomb hit a solo shot to right central with two outs to cut the lead to 7-3. Mac Rose walked, then catcher Colin Barczi, who has put together some clutch at bats for us this season, cranked one over the right field wall to cut the lead to 7-5 going into the ninth. In the top of the ninth, the Tide’s leadoff hitter doubled off our usual stellar closer, Sawyer Hawks. Sawyer got the Tide’s next hitter to pop out to second baseman Mike Mancini. Bryce Fowler, the Tide’s runner aboard second, could not advance. Sawyer walked Kade Snell, then we made the defensive play that saved the game and possibly transformed our season. Tide centerfielder Richie Bonomolo hit a line drive headed for left field. But Brodie reached out and snatched it. Brodie then fired the ball over to Mancini, who touched second for an inning ending double play. It was gigantic as it turned out. That play might be overlooked when we look back on this dramatic game, but it was critically important and was a possible epiphany for this baseball team’s season and giving us a shot in the bottom of the 9th. That’s when the fireworks ensued.
The Tide put in their stellar closer Carson Ozmer, who was 14 of 14 in save opportunities this year. His ERA was under 2 and his WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) was under 1, which is almost un-hittable. However, Mancini led off with a single to left to get it started. Our great freshman left fielder Ruston Rigdon was hit by pitch. RJ came up next and bunted to move runners to second and third. I was a bit surprised by that because you always want the bat in RJ’s hands in that situation, but I couldn’t tell if he was trying to get a base hit on the bunt, or move the guys over. Nonetheless, it was runners on second and third with one out. Riley came up and grounded out to the pitcher. Mancini might have made it home as the ball bounced to the pitchers left, but he didn’t want to be the second out there, so he stayed put. I don’t blame him for that. It turned out to the the right decision. So there were two outs with runners on second and third with Johnston coming up. Brodie looked so confident when he stepped up to the plate. He looked like one of the top players in the country coming out of Boyd Buchanan High School in Ooltewah, TN., which he was, so I thought to myself, maybe we’ve got a shot here. With the pressure as intense as it gets in SEC Baseball, Brodie hit a line drive no doubt double to the left central field gap to drive in Mancini and Rigdon and we were all tied up at 7. Next up was our superb hoss, Braden, who had tripled and homered in his previous two at bats. With a 1-2 count, and the pressure as intense as it gets, Braden drove one to deep centerfield that kept carrying and cleared the central field wall for a dynamic two run homer to end the game and give our guys a scintillating, incredibly important victory over the Crimson Tide, 9-7. It was majestic with the pressure the guys had on them in the moment, particularly Brodie and Braden, and great stuff from Mike, Ruston and RJ as well. Brodie was named SEC Freshman of the week yesterday on account of his stellar play last week.
So we matriculate into May on a high note facing major rivalry games ahead. Here’s a look at what’s next.
Today at 6 PM CT it’s the Louisville Cardinals, always a tough out, The game is at Louisville. The Cardinals are not presently ranked, but have been in the top 25 all season before losing 2 out of 3 @ Notre Dame this past weekend. The Cardinals are 32-15 overall, 13-11 in the ACC, and 25-4 at their home confines of Jim Patterson Stadium. They took 2 out of 3 from now No.2 Florida State the weekend of April 25-27th (Friday-Sunday) at home. They took 1 of 3 @ No.9 Clemson April 17th-19th, a Thursday through a Saturday with an 8-6, 12 inning victory on Saturday, 4/19. They defeated now No.1 Texas at Arlington, TX. the first game of the season 4-3 on Friday, Feb. 14th. They’ve split games with Kentucky, which is 25-20 overall and 10-14 in the SEC. The Cardinals won at Jim Patterson, 4-3, in 10 innings on Tuesday, 4/8, and lost to the Wildcats at Lexington, 17-5, on Tuesday, 4/22. So, for every good team in the country there are ups and downs throughout the season, but there have been a lot of ups for this team, particularly at home. They’re an excellent hitting team with a .313 team batting average. Centerfielder Lucas Moore leads the team with a .380 average. He has also stolen 39 of 40 bases. The team has stolen 120 out of 132 bags this season. They are 10th in the country in that category. VMI leads with 200. Moore is fifth in the country in stolen bases with his 39, so Collin Barczi will be tested behind the plate and our pitching needs to limit the base stealing if possible. Their power guy is first baseman Davis Tague, who has connected for 15 homers and 43 RBIs on the season. He’s hitting .283. Left fielder Zion Rose is hitting .337 with 9 homers and 50 RBIs. And designated hitter Eddie King Jr. is hitting .336 with 9 homers and 41 runs driven in. Their team ERA is 5.53. They seem to run a bullpen game during the mid-week games, but they may use more of a weekend rotation guy against us. Wish I had that intel for you. Some candidates are Peter Michael (4-3, 5.01), Parker Detmers (1-1, 3.94) and Wyatt Danilowicz (0-1, 2.25), but nothing concrete. Their fielding percentage is .972. Coach Dan McDonnell has taken his Louisville teams to 5 College World Series (2007, ’13, ’14, ’17, ’19). He’s good. Not Tim Corbin good, but he’s good.
I know we have a massive weekend series in Knoxville, but this game takes precedence. I’ll have more on UT tomorrow, but we’ve got to survive and advance through this game as it’s important in the national picture for our RPI and our national seeding if we can get over the top. We are now hitting .270 as a team with Riley leading us at .361 (6 homers, 35 RBIs). Jacob Humphrey is injured and not sure about his return date, but hopeful it’s very soon. Braden has been doing a nice job in his spot in right field while Jacob has been out of the lineup. Jacob is hitting .314 and has stolen 16 of 17 bases. Braden is hitting .287 and has been sizzling lately. He has 7 homers and 27 Ribbies. Brodie is batting .272, and he’s also been cookin’ lately in the SEC, and has 9 deep ones and 46 Ribeyes on the year. RJ had been in a slump until last week and was injured for a minute, but looks to have come out of it. He’s hitting .266 with 11 doubles (Brodie leads the team with 14), and 4 team leading triples, maybe the most exciting play in baseball, though a grand salami or a two run shot like Braden hit on Sunday is pretty terrific also. But love the triples and RJ provides them, which is an incredible asset to have. RJ is 19 of 23 in stolen bases. We have stolen 82 of 98 attempts this season. Jonathan Vastine is hitting .272 on the year with 6 homers and 30 Ribeyes. Jonathan and RJ are such superb leaders for this team with JD Thompson the leader of the pitching staff. Our team pitching ERA is 3.81. That’s great, but would like to still see some more consistency out of our starters and our bullpen. That will hopefully happen going forward, starting tonight. The defense is tremendous. We are fielding at a .983 percentage, which is good for fourth in the country. Wow. Charlotte leads the nation at .984. We’re tied with Arkansas and University of Texas Rio Grande? at .983. For some reason, the NCAA has us behind Arkansas and Rio Grande, though we’ve made fewer errors. I’ll look into that and get back to you on the reason why that is. Regardless, we are a sensational defensive team.
Not sure what Corbs wants to do tonight with his starting pitcher. Austin Nye has been very good as our midweek pitcher going 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA with 16 walks and 46 K’s. Coach Corbin may very well go with the freshman right hander out of Roseville, California or he might take a shot with hard throwing lefty Ethan McElvain, who has a 7.54 ERA, but has talent through the roof if he can control his pitches. It will be an interesting decision. I’m leaning towards Nye.
This team is special for sure. It’s hard to compare Tim Corbin coached teams because they all have their own unique and spectacular personalities, but this one stands out to me alongside the other great Corbin’ coached teams. We have great camaraderie, superb heart and stellar mental toughness. And we’ve got a lot of baseball left ahead of us starting today at 6 P.M on the ACC Network. Will have a report tomorrow along with a preview of our weekend series at the Eastern part of the state. So much can happen in this next week and a half. After the Tennessee series, which is this Friday through Sunday, we’ll host the Kentucky Wildcats the following Thursday-Saturday, May 15th-17th. Then the SEC Tournament commences Tuesday, May 20th-Sunday May 25th at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, AL. It will be a single elimination game tournament with all 16 teams playing. If we can get in the top four of the conference standings at the end of the regular season, we’ll earn a double bye and not have to play until Thursday, 5/22, which would be tremendous. The SEC Network will televise the majority of the Tournament, with ESPN2 taking over Sunday, May 25th at 2 P.M. Central. Will have TV for Tennessee series tomorrow, Wednesday. So, need to bear down right now. Like the guys to do just that.
Football, Men’s Basketball, Men’s Golf, Women’s Tennis
Just wanted to share a little intel on some of our other terrific teams. Clark has added a terrific 2025 class with a nice freshmen group led by 92 four-star safety Carson Lawrence, who is an early enrollee, along with 14 linemen, incoming freshmen and transfers, 8 on offense and 6 on defense. It’s been a stellar offseason for Clark and the team. Diego will be back, as will Eli Stowers, Junior Sherrill, Sedy Alexander, AJ Newberry, superb corner Martel Hight, a talented linebacker corps and some serious talent and depth upfront, and in the secondary. It’s a historically talented Vanderbilt roster. I know it can be hard to get your hopes up sometimes with football because it’s been tough through the years, but this coaching staff and this team are different. Diego always thinks he’s the best player on the field every Saturday and his confidence and competitiveness permeates throughout the team. There are high hopes for sure. Game one is Charleston Southern, Saturday, August 30th, at FirstBank Stadium, which should be almost entirely redone and ready for our thrilling upcoming 2025 season giving fans a spectacular fan experience. I’ll keep you apprised of developments as we matriculate into the summer with any more transfers coming our way. We’ve got 6, 2026 commits and one of them is massive in 92, 4-star cornerback Caden Harris from Brownsville, Tennessee. We beat out Tennessee, Notre Dame, Georgia and Auburn among others for Caden. It was a tremendous get by Clark and the staff. We’re 34th right now in the 2026 recruiting rankings according to 247 Sports and General Manager Barton Simmons says the momentum is surging for our program after our 2024 season as we defeated Alabama at FirstBank, and Auburn and Kentucky on the road and looked exceptionally impressive in our Birmingham Bowl victory over Georgia Tech.
Men’s Basketball
Coach Mark Byington has done a terrific job rebuilding our men’s basketball team for 2025-26. it’s just the landscape now in college basketball that you’ll lose most of your team after a season. Hopeful that can change with some adjustments by anyone who has some power in college athletics. We retained three outstanding players in Devin McGlockton, Tyler Nickel and Tyler Tanner. Karris Bilal, a freshman point guard, who didn’t play last year due to injury, may be coming back as well. We lost AJ Hoggard, Chris Manon and Grant Huffman to graduation, which I’m proud of those guys for graduating and hope for them to have continued success in their future endeavors; they deserve it. Jason Edwards, MJ Collins and Jaylen Carey all transferred. But I love the guys we have returning. They’re all great young guys, players and leaders. And Mark has reloaded to the max. We have three freshmen in the fold for next season, in 6’10’, 89 three-star center in Jayden Leverett, 88, 3 star, 6’3″, small forward Jaylon Dean-Vines, and unranked 6’6″ small forward in Chandler Bing. Then we added four, 4 stars in the transfer portal among them a 92 point guard, Frankie Collins, from TCU, a 92, 6’10” power forward Jalen Washington from the University of North Carolina, more size to go along with those guys and two more solid players, one of whom, Mason Nicholson, is a 6’10″280, 88 3 star center from Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Alabama. So Mark is doin’ the work. We’re in it for some other guys as well to add one or two more pieces to the ’25-’26 roster. I like us to have a better team next season and matriculate even further in ’25-’26 through the SEC and deep into March.
Men’s Golf/Women’s Tennis
Our Men’s Golf Team didn’t reach the regular season standards we normally reach, but as our superb head coach Scott Limbaugh always says, it’s championship season, and anything can happen in that arena. We are ranked 18th in the CLIPPD rankings and 17 in the Bushnell/Golfweek rankings. We will be competing in the Amherst, Virginia Regional with 13 other teams next Monday, May 12th through next Wednesday, May 14th in a 54 hole event with the top five teams from the 54 hole event advancing to the NCAA Championships in Carlsbad, California at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa North Course Friday, May 23rd though Wednesday, May 28th with one team emerging from that as a national champion. We’ve got our work cut out for us for sure. Senior Jackson Van Paris has had a stellar season, and junior Wells Williams was named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, which is an amazing honor. Proud of both of them. We just need our stud senior Gordon Sargent to find his rhythm in the NCAA’s and help lead this team as it tries to reach greatness this postseason. The other teams in the Amherst region are: No. 6/7 LSU, No. 7/6 Oklahoma, No. 19/23 Pepperdine, No.25 Tennessee, No. 20 Arizona, Stanford, Wake, Arkansas, Florida Gulf Coast, Kent State, Princeton and Howard. There are 6 regional sites with the top 5 teams from each site advancing to the NCAA Championships for a total of 30 teams in the NCAA Championship field. Coach Limbaugh has authored many magical seasons for us, so I’m certainly not counting us out with this coach at the helm and the talent we have. Just got to be focused from tee shot number one on. Will keep you posted next week.
Women’s Tennis
The No. 15 Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis team finished off a highly successful season with a heartbreaking home loss to No.17 UCLA, 4-3, in the second round of the NCAA Regional held in Nashville at the Lummis Tennis Center. We still finished the season with a 20-7 record and were 11-4 in the SEC with at least three, maybe four top 5 national victories over top 5 nationally ranked SEC opponents. The team was awesome and coach Aleke Tsoubanos did a phenomenal job guiding this team through the rigors of an SEC season facing stellar opponent after stellar opponent. Our great senior, Celia-Belle Mohr, finished ranked fifth in the country in singles and will most likely compete in the national singles and doubles event after the team national championship has been decided. Celia, from Montargis, France, had a phenomenal senior season and the future is bright for her. We have some good players returning and will keep you posted on Celia and the national finals at the end of this season.
Women’s Basketball
Coach Shea Ralph has our program on the rise, and although we had a first round exit in the NCAA Tournament, I love our future with the great Mikayla Blakes and a superb cast of players around her returning. Will keep you informed as things develop this summer. Love what Coach Ralph has done with the team and what she has in store for us in 2025-26. We may very well be a looking at a much deeper run in March of 2026.
MLB Postseason Predictions
April 2, 2025
The 2025 Major League Baseball season is into its first week and teams are already positioning themselves for a shot at capturing a World Series Championship in early November. Apologies for the late start on this; White’s World Unplugged has been preoccupied with covering Duke, Houston, Florida and Auburn “matriculate” in their respective quests for a college basketball national championship. The Final Four matchups, which start Saturday, look terrific. Auburn vs Florida at 5:09 PM CT on CBS, and Duke vs Houston at 7:49 P.M. CT on CBS. Florida is a 2 1/2 point favorite over Auburn, and Duke is a 4 1/2 point favorite over Houston.
Previews and Predictions for that stellar event at the Alamodome in San Antonio on this Blog tomorrow, Thursday.
The Masters commences next Thursday, April 10th, and it will be an epic weekend of golf starting Thursday, April 10th and continuing through Sunday, April 13th, with one highly skilled golfer donning a Green Jacket and capturing the coveted major at approximately 6:30 P.M. CT. It could be Scheffler, Mcilroy, DeChambeau, Rahm, or a host of others. Will have that preview/prediction next Wednesday, April 9th.
Here are White’s World’s predictions for the 2025 MLB season. There are 6 teams in each league that qualify for the playoffs. The top two seeds in each league get a bye and the other four teams in each league play a best of three Wild Card Series with No. 3 playing No.6 and No.4 playing No.5. The higher seeds have home field advantage throughout the Wild Card series. The home team in the World Series is decided by which team has the best regular season record.
Here are predictions for these October/November matchups.
American League
(Numbers are for seeding. i.e. The Yankees are No.1 in AL, and the Dodgers are No.1 in NL).
East Division Champion: 1.Yankees
Central: 3.KC Royals
West: 2.Texas Rangers
Wild Cards 4. Tampa Rays 5. Orioles 6. Red Sox
National League
East: 2. Phillies
Central: 3. Cardinals
West: 1. Dodgers
Wild Cards: 4. Padres, 5. Giants, 6. Mets
AL Wild Card Round
Red Sox over Royals in 3; Rays over O’s in 3
AL Divisional Series
Yankees over Rays in 5; Rangers over Red Sox in 4.
AL Championship Series
Yankees over Rangers in 7
NL Wild Card
Mets over Cards in 3; Padres over Giants in 3.
NL Divisional Series
Dodgers over Padres in 4; Phillies over Mets in 4
NL Championship Series
Phillies over Dodgers in 7, in an upset
The 2025 World Series
I’ll take Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies to win their 3rd Fall Classic in franchise history. The other two championships were over the Royals in 1980, and over the Rays in 2008.
Phillies over the Yankees in 7
World Series MVP
Bryce Harper
AL MVP
Aaron Judge
AL Cy Young
Jacob deGrom-Rangers
NL MVP
Shohei Ohtani- Dodgers
NL Cy Young
Paul Skenes-Pirates
Tomorrow: Final Four Predictions
Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball tremendous/Bracketology, VU Baseball cookin’, VU Women’s Basketball’s dynamic duo strikes again/Bracketology; Men’s/Women’s Golf/Tennis
February 28, 2025
Our men’s basketball team secured a phenomenal victory at College Station on Wednesday Night as we defeated the 12th ranked Texas A&M Aggies, 86-84, to move to 19-9 overall and 7-8 in the SEC. The No.12 Aggies (AP Poll) fell to 20-8 and 9-6.
To say it was a mild surprise might sound like an understatement unless you understand the makeup of this group, which we all do. They’re warriors and were not going to be denied at Reed Arena. Our terrific marksman guard/forwardTyler Nickel sank 7 of 10 trifectas and finished with 21 points. Guard MJ Collins had a big night with 16 points and four boards. Our super combo point guard/shooting guard, Jason Edwards, we’re kind of a position-less group, finished with 15 and was iron from the charity stripe sinking 8-for-8 at the stripe. We were 28-for-36 as a team from the line, 78%, and that was massive down the stretch.
The game took 2 hours 40 minutes with excessive foul calling and reviews. It was out of control. But our guys responded to those adverse conditions (the road and the refs) and emerged with a major resume building victory. Our terrific freshman point guard, Tyler Tanner, finished with 9 points and four assists, and was 4-for-4 from the line. These were all highly clutch free throw conversions in the last two minutes of the game. Big man Jaylen Carey sank a couple of key free throws late as well. Jaylen and our awesome other big man, Devin McGlockton, were saddled with foul trouble throughout the game. It was a very questionably officiated game. Devin fouled out, but pulled down 10 boards before he did. He always gives us superb minutes, even if he doesn’t score a ton of points. He usually gives us good offense though, and he’ll give us great effort every time out. One of the key moments in the game was when JaQualon “JQ” Roberts, our 6’8″, 230 inside guy, came in late with Devin and Jaylen in foul trouble. JQ gave us 8 valuable minutes. He pulled down four boards, had a massive dunk off a beautiful dish from MJ, and played awesome defense. JQ, one of the two holdovers from Stack’s program, along with Jordan Williams, which you gotta admire and appreciate, will be a valuable piece for us down the stretch if Jaylen and Devin get into some fouling issues or they just need a break. I love what JQ did for us Wednesday and what he can do for us going forward. Last season, towards the end of the 2024 year, JQ was coming on for sure as a freshman. So I really believe that he can be a factor for us. He’s tough, physical, is a very good rebounder, and give us some offense.
A.J. Hoggard, Chris Manon and Grant Huffman weren’t major factors in the outcome, but did some good things, and we always need those guys to play well in order for us to be successful. They are all three highly valuable pieces to this team’s success. Definitely need them to give us their usual quality minutes going forward. Manon put together an awesome performance against No. 24 Ole Miss last Saturday in our 77-72 victory at Memorial. He finished with 16, 7 boards, 4 steals and 3 blocks against the Rebels. He’s such a superb athlete, and brings so much energy to the court. A.J. is always an important player for us distributing and leading our offense along with some scoring and solid D. Grant brings hustle and talent. We’ll need everybody.
So where do we stand? We are now 19-9, and 7-8 in the SEC, tied for 9th in the conference. Auburn has been excellent this year at 14-1 and 26-2 and are the clear No.1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and Heat Check’s Lukas Harkins, another accurate brackelogist. Auburn is projected No.1 in the South by both Lunardi and Harkins. Auburn’s only two losses are @ Duke, much earlier in the season and at home versus Florida a couple of Saturdays ago. We are seeded 9th by Joe in the South playing in Lexington versus 8th-seeded Illinois. Lukas has us 9th in the West playing No.8 BYU in Wichita. So riveting stuff going on with our team, and if we keep playing like this, we’ll get a higher seed going forward by both Joe and Lukas. I’ll keep you apprised on those developments as they transpire. Both Bracketologists release their projections each Tuesday and Friday, and these brackets are completely up to date as they both released their respective ones this morning.
We’ve got No.14 Missouri Saturday @ home @Memorial at 5 PM CT on the SEC Network. Need an electric crowd to help us knock off a very good team and enhance our resume even further. Missouri is 21-7 and 10-5 in the conference and is coming off a 101-71 home victory over South Carolina. They are presently tied for fourth with Tennessee in the conference standings and are a 5 seed by Joe in the East, and a 5 seed by Lukas in the Midwest. They are talented and can do damage in the NCAA Tournament, so we need to bring everything we’ve got. They defeated us in Columbia on Saturday, January 11th, 75-66. We can get this done, but it will take another stellar performance. We’ve got it in us though. Love the way we’re competing. Will give you a recap on Monday.
Vanderbilt Baseball
Our 13th/14th ranked Vanderbilt Baseball team is on a roll right now after sweeping Saint Mary’s last weekend at the Hawk and defeating Tennessee Tech handily this past Tuesday. We won 11-4 last Friday, 2/21, we won 13-7 on Saturday, 2/22, and 10-0 Sunday, 2/23, in 7 innings with the 10 run rule in effect after 7– top of the 7th at home, bottom of the 7th on the road. Then, for good measure, we defeated Tennessee Tech 16-3 at the Hawk in 7 on Tuesday.
RJ Austin is the heart and soul of this baseball team. Our junior from Atlanta is hitting .455 with 2 doubles, 3 triples, a homer and 9 Ribeyes. RJ is also 6-for-6 in stolen bases. Jacob Humphrey, who has found a home in the corners of our outfield, is hitting .440, and is 3-for-3 in stolen bases. Love what we’re getting from transfer Riley Nelson (Western Texas College/Yavapai College, Texas). Riley is hitting .406 with a double, a homer and 12 Ribbies. Freshman Rustan Rigdon is hitting .360, and I’m liking what I’m seeing out of freshman Brodie Johnston. He’s a slick fielding third baseman and was a highly ranked recruit in the class of 2024. Brodie hits and fields at a high level. He was 2-for-4 Sunday against Saint Mary’s with a pair of runs driven in. Like what we have there. Mike Macini, a transfer from James Madison, is going to be stellar at second base. With steady, reliable junior Jonathan Vastine leading the charges at short, we’ve got a good makeup in the infield with Nelson a nice fielding first baseman as well. The SEC is tough, but our 13th/14th-ranked team (Baseball America, D1 Baseball rankings, respectively) is shaping up well. We are now 8-1. Pitching has been pretty solid. Still some room for improvement. Really like what I’m seeing out of our present Sunday starter Cody Bowker. Cody is 1-0 with an 0.00 ERA. Can’t get any better than that. Cody, a Georgetown transfer, is a strike thrower. He’s walked four and struck out 12. JD Thompson and Ethan McElvain are still rounding into form on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Corbs will see how the guys develop before settling into an SEC weekend rotation. The bullpen has been very solid. Miller Green looks like a shutdown closer and we’ve got great arms in middle relief and for midweek starts.
We have UCLA tonight in L.A. in the Southern California College Baseball Classic. First pitch is a 7 PM CT and it’ll be streamed on BIG Ten Network+.
Saturday, we play USC in Irvine, CA. at 4 PM CT on the BIG Ten+ Network.
And Sunday, we face UConn at 12 PM in L.A., again. Today’s game is at Jackie Robinson Stadium, Saturday’s game is at Great Park, and Sunday’s game is again at Jackie Robinson Stadium, all in Southern California. So, two true road games today and Saturday. UCLA is 7-2, USC is 7-1, and UConn is 1-5. So, some challenges this weekend that will be good for getting us mentally tough for the SEC, which starts in two weeks @ Auburn. We’ll open @ Auburn Friday, 3/14, and play there through Sunday, 3/16. Will have much more on that after we get through this non-conference schedule. Major challenges this weekend starting today versus the Bruins.
Women’s Basketball
Khamil Pierre filled it up last night in our victory over A&M. (Photo courtesy of ESPN).
Sophomore Khamil Pierre poured in 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the field and added 6 boards, and freshman standout Mikayla Blakes finished with 18 points and 5 assists as our women defeated Texas A&M, 91-58, at Memorial Thursday Night. Khamil is from Phoenix, and Mikayla is from Somerset, New Jersey, 40 miles from the Big Apple. Justine Pissott added 14, going 5-for-5 from the field and 4-of-4 from the stripe. Justine is a junior from Toms River, New Jersey. It’s 75 miles from Toms River to Manhattan. We moved to 20-9 and 7-8 in the SEC. We’re now 9th in the conference and are an 8 seed in the Spokane Bracket in the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme. Charlie is the expert in projecting the tournament bracket for the women’s game, and he’s pretty darn accurate as are Joe and Lukas in the men’s game. Mikayla is now averaging 23 points per game, and Khamil is at 20.9. Khamil also averages 9.5 boards per game. Iyana Moore is at 11.9 points per game. Coach Shea Ralph knows we have a lot of work left if we want to reach our goals of playing much deeper into March. We finish out the season this Sunday @ Missouri for a 2 PM CT tip on SEC Network+. The Tigers are 14-16 overall and 3-12 in the SEC. The SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament starts Wednesday, March 5th at Greenville, S.C. So, exciting stuff for the women’s team as well. Will have more on the SECT on Monday after we play Missouri, and, hopefully, get the job done.
Coach Mark Byington and Coach Ralph are doing absolutely tremendous jobs with the men’s and the women’s teams, respectively. Love our coaches. Of course, Corbs is doing his usual phenomenal job. He just keeps getting it done. Love what all three teams can do going forward with both the Men’s and Women’s bball teams heading into March and our baseball team setting its sights on the rest of the non-conference, and then homing in on the SEC in mid-March. Extremely exciting stuff going on for our programs.
Men’s and Women’s Golf; Women’s and Men’s Tennis
Will have a lot more for you on our three respective teams on Monday along with our Men’s and Women’s golf teams and our Men’s and Women’s tennis teams. All four teams are matriculating well.
The Men’s Golf team, which is ranked 14th in the Clippd rankings, the premier rankings in men’s and women’s golf, opens play at the Cabo Collegiate in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico this coming Monday with a loaded field competing. Should be a great measure on Coach Scott Limbaugh’s team Monday through Wednesday on the Twin Dolphin Course. Will have more as the team competes next week.
Coach Greg Allen and his 12th ranked Women’s Golf team (Clippd rankings as well) play in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Monday through Wednesday versus a talented field as well. More on the Women as well next week.
Our 19th ranked women’s tennis team (ITA Rankings), 8-1 on the season after opening SEC play with a 7-0 victory @ Missouri last Sunday, plays Mississippi State today @ the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville at 2 PM, and hosts No.17 Alabama Sunday at 1 PM. So huge weekend for the women’s tennis team.
The Men’s team is ranked 32nd by the ITA Rankings, and is 8-3 overall. After defeating LSU on the road this past Monday, 4-3, we play @Auburn today at 2 PM CT, and we are @ No.25 Alabama Sunday at 1 PM.
I love what Women’s Tennis Coach Aleke Tsoubanos is doing for our team, and what Coach Scott Brown is doing for our men. We have another Scott Brown, who is our pitching coach. So we two have Coach Browns on our respective staffs.
I’ll check back in Monday with a lot more on where all of our teams stand heading into the week. God Bless, have an awesome weekend, and Anchor Down!
Mikayla Blakes goes off…again; Men’s bball in major tilt up north; Baseball cookin; Men’s Golf nice showing in Florida
February 19, 2025
Our terrific McDonald’s All American freshman Mikayla Blakes made history again on the basketball court as
she set a freshman record this time for any freshman, true or redshirt, as she poured in 55 points and led her
Vanderbilt Commodores teammates to an amazing 15 point comeback in the fourth quarter at Neville Arena in Auburn as the Commodores defeated Auburn 98-88 in overtime to move to 19-7 overall and 6-6 in the SEC. Coach Shea Ralph was not only happy for Mikayla, she was ecstatic for her team as we had lost three in a row. But what a performance by our young freshman out of Somerset, New Jersey and Rutgers Prep. Mikayla was 15-of-28 from the field, 2-of-7 from trifecta and 23-of-24 from the stripe. She is now averaging 23 points per game and is second in the SEC and sixth in the country in scoring. She was voted SEC Player of the week and SEC Freshman of the week. There was no doubt that was going to happen. The team is now tied for 8th in the conference, and Charlie Creme, the Bracketologist for ESPN, has us as a No. 7 seed and playing 10th seeded Richmond in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Los Angeles. Our next game is Thursday at 6 PM @ No.16 Oklahoma. OU is 19-6 and 7-5 in the SEC, so they’ll be a tough out. Mikayla and the women will have to step up once again. I like them to do just that.
Men take on the Cats in Rupp
Our men’s team is in a huge contest today at 6 PM today on the SEC Network at Rupp Arena versus Kentucky. We fought so hard against Tennessee and almost pulled off the upset, but are looking ahead to today in a massive game at Rupp. We are 17-8 overall and 5-7 in the conference, and Joey Brackets has us as an 11 seed and in the West Regional playing in Cleveland in the first round and facing No.6 seeded Clemson. Gotta excel here in our last six games. We’re getting very good play from Jalen Carey, Devin McGlockton and Jason Edwards, among others. Need everybody to step up tonight, Tyler Nickel, AJ Hoggard, Chris Manon, MJ Collins (so athletic) and Grant Huffman will HAVE to do their part as well for us to emerge with the victory. Coach Byington knows it’ll take a total team effort to come away victorious. I don’t gamble, but I do predict against the spread, and we were a 6 1/2 point underdog yesterday, and now we’re 5 1/2. So trending in the right direction. It was 4 1/2 earlier today. Just gotta lock in.
Baseball
We’ve gotten some pretty solid pitching so far in our first five games as our No.15 Commodores (D1 Baseball Rankings) are 4-1 with victories over Grand Canyon, UC Irvine and two over Air Force. Our only loss is to No.23 Nebraska on Saturday Night, and that seemed like a road game in the MLB Desert Invitational. Really like what we got from JD, who pitched 4.2 against Grand Canyon, and allowed just 3 hits, 0 runs, with a walk and 6 K’s. JD is our Friday Night guy for now, but that’s still being determined. Sure like our chances with him on the mound. Cody Bowker, a transfer from Georgetown, was super Sunday against Cal-Irvine. Cody went 4, gave up 0 runs, 2 hits, with a walk and, also like JD, six K’s. Nice efforts from a lot of our pitchers. Like the way our pitching is rounding into shape. We play Saint Mary’s in a weekend set this Friday-Sunday. Hitting is coming along. New addition Rusty Rigdon, kind of a utility player for us in the infield and outfield, is leading us at .467. Jacob Humphrey, whom I’ve always been bullish on since he arrived on the West End from Duke in 2024, is hitting .455. And our electric center fielder RJ Austin, who can do everything, kind of an Enrique Bradfield with a little more power, is hitting .391. We’re fielding at a .989 clip with just a couple of errors, so pretty solid. I’m sure Corbs is pretty pleased with the start. Gotta keep improving every practice, every game as Corbs always preaches. Our goal is Omaha and getting it done there. That never changes.
Nice showing by Men’s Golf
Our 11th-ranked Men’s Golf team (CLIPPD Rankings, premier college men’s golf ranking service) finished in 5th place at the Watersound Invitational in Panama City Beach, FL. on the Shark’s Tooth Golf Course. We had a rough day in day one shooting 9 over as a team. Then we came back and shot 6 under, and, in round 3, we finished 14 under to post an 11 under score for the tournament. Florida State won it at 26 under par. We did get a terrific effort from senior Jackson Van Paris who finished tied fourth individually shooting 6 under par. Luke Clanton of FSU won it at -10. Nice comeback by the squad. Need some more guys to step up if we want to reach our goals this year in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. Next is the Cabo Collegiate Sunday, March 2nd through Tuesday, March 4th. It’ll be 3 rounds with a loaded field. I will let you know more about it when it’s time to get to work in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at the Twin Dolphin Club.
I’ll have more coming up next week. I will be out of pocket the rest of this week working on another project here in town, so will check back in the middle of next week or so with intel on Men’s basketball, baseball, Men’s golf and women’s basketball and anything else that transpires in the VU sporting arena. Thanks a lot.
CWS Championship Series, Florida vs. LSU
June 26, 2017
No.3 seed Florida (50-19) vs. No.4 seed LSU (52-18)
Best 2 out of 3 series
TD Ameritrade Park, Omaha, Nebraska, 24,000
Game times: Tonight, 6 CT, Tuesday, 7 PM CT, Wednesday, (if necessary) 7 PM CT
Network: ESPN
Pitchers for tonight’s game: Florida, RHP Brady Singer, 8-5, 3.18 ERA, LSU, RHP Russell Reynolds 1-1, 8.59. LSU has to start Reynolds because regular starter Eric Walker, 8-2, 3.49, was lost for the season with an arm injury last week.
Tuesday’s starters: Florida, RHP Tyler Dyson 3-0, 3.55 or RHP Michael Byrne, 4-5, 1.74, LSU LHP Jared Poche, 12-3, 3.39.
Wednesday, Florida, TBD vs. LSU RHP Alex Lange, 10-5, 2.97.
Note: Florida may not be able to use No.1 starter, right hander Alex Faedo, 9-2, 2.26, a first round pick of the Detroit Tigers, on Wednesday because Faedo just beat TCU 3-0 on Saturday and he may not have sufficient rest between starts. That would be tough for coach Kevin O’Sullivan and the Gators to try and figure that out. LSU coach Paul Mainiera is in better shape with his pitching though tonight is questionable.
LSU has won 6 national titles, 5 under Skip Bertman from 1991 to 2000; ’91, ’93, ’96, ’97, 2000, and 1 under Mainieri, 2009. Florida has won a national championship, but made it to the championship series in 2005, where they lost to Texas, and in 2011 where they lost to South Carolina. Both times under O’Sullivan.
Final decision
I like LSU’s team better than Florida’s. They hit it better, field better, and their pitching is set up much better than the Gators. I like the Gators to win tonight, but for the Bengal Tigers to take games 2 and 3 with, Poche, a 9th round pick by the Oakland A’s, and their ace, Lange, a first round pick by the Cubs.
LSU in 3
The spectacular Tim Corbin and his amazing team, MLB guys
June 7, 2017
Corbs’ decision to start Matt Ruppenthal proved to be a highly prophetic one (Photo courtesy of D1Baseball.com).
Jackson Gillis closed the door on Clemson (Photo courtesy of Twitter).
The greatness of Tim Corbin was no more evident than Monday Night in our regional championship game versus Clemson at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C.
Corbs went with Junior Matt Ruppenthal as our starter. Some people questioned the decision. I questioned it slightly. I was wrong as were the others. Corbs and Pitching Coach Scott “Brownie” Brown believed in Rupe 100% and “trusted” him, as Corbs said during the game to the ESPN3 commentators. And did Matt ever deliver.
Corbs and Brownie also trusted “freshman,” Jackson Gillis, and I put that in quotation marks because this young gun pitched like Mariano Rivera. Did he ever.
All in all, it was a sensational performance not only by our team, but also by our coaches. Corbs has had so many special seasons in his 15 years as head coach at Vanderbilt University, and this one ranks up there as one of his best, however it ends up. I’m optimistic that it’ll be in Omaha, but whatever transpires the rest of the way, it’s the way Coach Corbin has developed this group of players from a group that didn’t look very good in the fall, according to Tim, to one that has developed into one of the best teams in the country.
We’ll absolutely be tested in Corvallis this weekend versus Oregon State, but I really like where this team is at right now. They’re not playing distraught over Donny Everett’s passing, though I know there is still sadness, but they’ve now got the passion to play “with” number 41, as Corbs said to me three weeks ago. It’s greatness. It’s really phenomenal. It’s strength through belief, strength through passion, strength through dedication to their late teammate, his amazing parents, Teddy and Susan, an amazingly focused discipline to be the best, and a passion for each other. It all starts with head coach Tim Corbin. It’s been an amazing transformation of a college baseball team.
And it really didn’t totally click until last Friday. There were signs during the season that this team was very talented. But over the weekend in Clemson, they showed what type of team they can be. And it culminated with an absolutely terrific performance from Matt Ruppenthal, Will Toffey, and Jackson Gillis. But our other players were hugely clutch throughout the weekend. Here’s what happened in the penultimate game on Monday Night.
Matt was called upon by Corbs and Brownie to give us 6 good innings or so, and that’s exactly what he did. Matt didn’t rely on his 12-6 curve as much, though he did use it, but he was also throwing it 88-90 MPH with his fastball and throwing strikes and getting outs. Matt went 6, gave up only 6 hits, 0 runs, with a walk and 5 K’s. He threw 80 pitches with 51 for strikes against 29 balls. He was electric and dominant against a terrific hitting team in a very hitters friendly ballpark. It’s almost like Coors Field in Colorado where the Colorado Rockies launch long ball after long ball. With the short porches in Clemson, guys like DH Seth Beer (16 homers), catcher Chris Williams, who hit but didn’t catch due to a shoulder problem (14 homers), and shortstop Logan Davidson (12 homers) launched many balls into the seats this season. But Matt held them in check throughout his six innings of stellar work. He was phenomenal. Reed Hayes, our usual closer, came on in the 7th, as Corbs made a prescient decision to go with a guy who throws it 93-95 to mix it up from Matt’s slower stuff. Reed got’em out 1-2-3 in the top of the 7th, but then had some struggles in the 8th. The Tigers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th with one out , and the powerhouse hitting Beer coming to the plate. Corbs went to Gillis out of the pen. Jackson not only has the demeanor of a veteran pitcher, he has the look. He just looks tough. Jackson struck out Beer on a 93 MPH heater. Then he got Chase Pinder, another .305 hitter with 7 homers, to ground out to third for the final out. Jackson got them out 1-2-3 in the 9th to clinch the 8-0 victory and a trip to Corvallis to face No.1 Oregon State.
It was a masterful pitching performance by Matt and Jackson. Jackson could have earned Corbs’ and Brownie’s trust as our closer. He sure looked spectacular against a very good hitting team in a major pressure cooker situation.
Meanwhile, Will Toffey continued his masterful hitting in the postseason with a 2 run shot and a 3 run shot. Wow, Toff is hitting on another level. Those were home runs 10 and 11 for Will, and with the 5 RBIs, he now has 62 on the season. He is hitting .350.
Will was selected as Regional MVP. He was 9-for-19 over the weekend, a .474 average. He scored 8 runs and drove in 10. Ro Coleman was 3 for 5 in the game and freshman right fielder J.J. Bleday had a super game going 3-for-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. J.J. had 3 singles. Ro and Jeren Kendall were named to the All Tournament team. Jeren drove in 8 runs for the weekend, and Ro was spectacular, going 7-for-14 over the weekend. Ro played phenomenal left field as well, making highlight reel catch after highlight reel catch. He and Jeren were very instrumental in helping us win the Clemson regional. But the other guys, catcher Jason Delay, Reed Hayes as DH, second baseman Ethan Paul, and first baseman Julian Infante were also major reasons we advanced to the Super Regional. You can’t forget the superb starting pitching performances of Patrick Raby on Friday, and Kyle on Saturday. Just an awesome team Regional victory.
Now we head out to the great Northwest to play the No.1 seed in the entire tournament and the top ranked team in the country, the Oregon State Beavers. They are 52-4. The Beavers also went 27-3 in the PAC-12. We are now 36-23-1. We’ve got our hands full. Game 1 is Friday Night at 8 CT on ESPN 2. Rabes gets the ball for us. Saturday Night’s game is also at 8 CT, and that will be televised by ESPN. Sunday’s game, if there is one, hope there’s not, is to be determined for time and network if we split the first two games with the Beavers.
Will have more on this ultra talented Oregon State team, and more on our ultra talented team coming up on Friday as I preview this blockbuster matchup.
David Price, Mike Minor, Sonny Gray, Pedro Alvarez
David
I watched David Price’s performance from Saturday this morning and was very impressed. David had total command of the game leading his Boston Red Sox team to a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. David went 7, gave up 3 hits, 1 run, with 1 walk and 7 K’s. David threw 92 pitches, 55 for strikes against 37 balls. Craig Kimbrel came in and closed it out for Dave and the Bosox for his 16th save.
David hit 94-95 some with his heater, but was using his cut fastball quite a bit, throwing it 88-90, and hitting his spots perfectly. He also used his change up quite a bit and it was a very effective pitch as well. He gave up a homer to Manny Machado, but giving up a homer to the star third baseman for the O’s is something a lot of pitchers have to live with sometimes. But David was terrific overall.
The Red Sox also defeated the Yankees last night in the Bronx, 5-4, to move to 32-25 on the season, 1 game back of the Yanks in the American League East. So the Bosox are heating up. David pitches again tomorrow against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium @ 6 PM CT on ESPN. David will square off against Michael Pineda, who is 6-3 with a 3.76 ERA. In Pineda’s last outing, he went 5 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays and gave up 5 runs on 10 hits, so he’s hittable. The Yankees have some lumber though, so DP will have to be really on his game. David is now 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA, he has walked 3 and K’d 11. His WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is 0.67 which is fantastic. Like where the man is right now.
Mike Minor
Mike Minor has been unbelievably stellar for the Kansas City Royals (Photo courtesy of Beyond the Box Score).
Mike came in last night in the 9th for the KC Royals and pitched a really solid inning, giving up 1 run and striking out 1 with no walks, getting the victory to move to 3-1 on the season with a 2.12 ERA. Mike was hitting 95 with his fastball. He was throwing his slider 88 to 89, and pitched spectacularly well. Mike looks like he’s back to being the pitcher he was when he was really cookin as a starter for the Braves in 2013. Mike has an 0.91 WHIP, so he’s been terrific as well. Would love to see Mikey get another shot as a starter for KC. The Royals actually won it on a walk off homer by designated hitter Mike Moustakas in the bottom of the 9th to defeat the Houston Astros, which are 42-17 and uber hot, 9-7. The Royals moved to 25-32. They’re in last place in the AL Central but only 5.5 games out of first place. The Minnesota Twins lead the Central at 29-25, so that division is up for grabs. The Astros are 13 games up on the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners in the AL West, so they are really dominating right now. Tony Kemp plays for the Fresno Grizzlies, the Astros triple A team, and he’s been up to the big club this year like he was last year. Would really like to see Tony get a shot somewhere. He’s just an injury away. He’s hitting .288 for the Grizzlies, and playing outfield and second. Tony’s such a super player.
Mike is really hitting his stride right now for the Royals.
Sonny Gray
I thought Sonny pitched really well for the A’s last Sunday in Oakland against the powerful Washington Nationals. He went 7, gave up 4 hits, 3 runs, with 3 walks and 6 K’s. He threw 104 pitches with 63 for strikes against 41 balls. Sonny’s fastball was hitting 93-95 and he hit 96 a couple of times. He located his fastball well, and his curve was outstanding. The Nationals are a tough group to pitch against, the best team in the NL at this point and a hitting machine, so I was impressed with Sonny’s performance. There has been a lot of talk of Sonny being on the trade market. If that’s the case, I hope he can land with a contender. The Cubs are interested from what I’ve heard. There are some other contenders he could go to. Would like to see Sonny on a team that is seriously in the playoff hunt. Sonny will pitch again Saturday at Tampa Bay against Erasmo Ramirez, who is in his first start for the Rays and has a 4.09 ERA. Sonny is now 2-2 with a 4.57 ERA and has a 1.21 WHIP, but I was very encouraged by his performance last Sunday against the best hitting team in baseball.
Pedro Alvarez
Pedro is still playing for the Norfolk Tides, the triple A club for the Orioles, and last night he went 1-for-2 with an RBI double to deep central field. That was his 41st RBI of the season, to go along with 13 home runs and a .235 average. That average doesn’t look that great, but it’s come up so much the last couple of weeks. Pedro has been tearing it up with the bat recently. He needs to get a shot with Baltimore. He’s too valuable of a hitter and he can play first or in right field if the O’s need him to. He’s just an injury away, or if Chris Davis keeps striking out 44 percent of the time he’s at the plate (88 strikeouts in 198 at bats), maybe he can take Davis’s spot at first. Pedro’s a better player in my opinion, and has a ton more heart than Davis does. It should happen soon. I don’t know what I’m seeing differently than the Orioles brass is seeing, but I see a much better first baseman at Norfolk than I do in Baltimore.
Tomorrow
Feature on one of our VU baseball superstars, who has an incredibly moving, powerful story.
Friday
Vanderbilt@ Oregon State
A preview of our Super Regional series at Corvallis, Oregon which promises to be a classic college baseball playoff series.
Vanderbilt basketball has tremendous postseason opportunity, baseball, football, men’s golf, women’s tennis
March 13, 2017
Bryce and the team ready for March
Our Vanderbilt basketball team finished the season 19-15 after beating A&M and Florida in the SEC tournament, both teams for the third time. With those key victories, and a key victory on the road over Arkansas, and a strength of schedule that was No.1 in the country overall, the committee awarded us with a well deserved 9th seed in the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
We will play 8th seeded Northwestern in Salt Lake City, Thursday at 3:30 PM CT/4:30 PM ET on WTBS, which is channel 247 on DirecTV and channel 780 on Charter Spectrum.
This is a classic matchup of two very elite academic schools that have done pretty darn well at sports. Interestingly though, this is Northwestern’s first tournament appearance in its history. Northwestern has been playing basketball since 1904, 111 years. The NCAA tournament is in its 79th year. So, it’s a huge deal for the Wildcats. But it’s just as big of a deal for us.
Northwestern finished their season at 23-11 overall and 10-8 in the BIg Ten. They lost to highly seeded NCAA tournament teams Butler and Notre Dame in their pre-conference season. But both games were close. They lost to Butler, the No.4 seed in the South, 70-68 in Indianapolis. They lost to Notre Dame in Brooklyn at a preseason tournament, 70-66. Notre Dame is the 5th seed in the West Regional. They have a road win over Wisconsin, then ranked 7th in the country at the time and an 8 seed in the tournament in the East, 66-59. They also defeated Michigan at home on March 1st, 67-65, on an electric full court heave and score at the buzzer. Michigan just won the Big Ten tournament and is a 7 seed, which seems a little low, but the committee seems to value the regular season and the early tournament games more than the final games.
The Wildcats reached the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament in D. C. with victories over Rutgers, and a 72-64 upset victory over No.25 Maryland in the quarters. Maryland is a 6 seed in the West. The Wildcats lost to Wisconsin in the semis, 76-48, but I suspect, much like us, they were out of gas by that point.
The Wildcats are led in scoring by 6’3″, 185 junior guard Bryant McIntosh, who averaged 14.4 ppg. and 6’5″, small forward Scottie Lindsey, a junior, who averaged 14.2 per game. Their other double figure scorer is 6’7″, 205 redshirt sophomore forward Vic Law, who averaged 12.4 ppg. Six-foot-8, 235 pound sophomore center Dererk Pardon averaged 8.5 points and 8 rebounds.
They averaged 71 points a game and held opponents to 65 ppg. They out-rebounded opponents 36.2-35.4. They averaged 15 assists on the season against 10.5 turnovers. They shot 44% from the field, 34% from 3, and 75% from the line.
They have a good mix of veterans and younger players and their players are all experienced. We have our work cut out for us to win this ballgame. But we can absolutely win it.
We averaged 71 points and gave up 68. We shot 43% from the field and 38% from 3. We also shot 78% from the stripe, which is outstanding. We averaged roughly 35 rebounds per game. MFD led us in scoring at 13.6 ppg. Luke was next at 13.2, Jeff was at 11 ppg, and Riley averaged 10.5. Riley was so good at the end of the season, and really all year. He shot 49 percent from 3 for the year, 68-for-138, that’s outrageously good. He also led us at the stripe at 87%. Luke shot 85%, MFD shot 82% and JRobe shot 79%. We’re outstanding from the stripe and from deep.
Nolan Cressler, Joe Toye and Payton Willis were very valuable players for us too. Djerry Baptiste and Clevon Brown will be very valuable pieces for us underneath in the postseason as well. They’re both going to be very good players for us, and they need to step up for us now. Djerry can really help Luke out and Clevon can help Jeff out with some valuable minutes off the bench.
The keys to victory against Northwestern are, first, sinking several 3’s. I don’t want to put an absolute number on it, but 8 or better would help a lot. We have to hold our own on the glass with Luke, Jeff, Joe and our guards boarding well. We need to take care of the ball like we’ve done such a better job at the end of this season. We need to get some turnovers ourselves. We need to drive and score, which Nolan, Riley and Joe have been so good at and MFD can do. We need to pass it well to set up shooters and get some more backdoor scores, and we of course need to defend well. Keep them at 40% or less from the field and 34% or less from trifecta.
If we do all or most of these things well, particularly shooting, defense and the glass, we’ll move on and face the Gonzaga- South Dakota State winner on Saturday. Gonzaga is a prohibitive favorite in that game which tips off at 1 PM CT/2 PM ET in Salt Lake City on TBS.
So gigantic opportunity for our talented team that has improved so much throughout the season and is playing their best basketball right now, which is what you want. So can’t wait.
Here is the video of the team’s reaction to the NCAA announcement yesterday on CBS. It’s pretty electric.
***NOTE, This is from an email I sent out last night after the Northwestern game, Olivier Sarr is our 4 star 6’11’, 225 recruit who we are pursuing intensely. I spelled Olivier’s name Oliver. Apologize for the error.
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