Penn Murfee was not going to let his team lose last night against Evansville. Down 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth, Penn got a hold of a pitch and crushed it over the left center field lights to tie the game at eight and send it into extras. The No.1 ranked Dores scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th on a wild pitch to secure the 9-8 victory and move to 10-2 on the season as the guys head out to the West coast this weekend on a roll.
Right fielder Rhett Wiseman reached base all seven times he stepped to the plate and finished with four hits, his second four hit game in the last four games. Penn also had two singles to go three-for-five for the game. Dansby Swanson crushed a three-run shot to center in the third inning, his first long one of the season. Jordan Sheffield earned the victory on the mound for the Dores, pitching five innings, giving up one hit, three runs, all earned, with four walks and seven K’s. Walker Buehler made his initial start for Corbs and the Dores and pitched two innings,of no hit, no run ball issuing two walks and striking out two. Walker threw 31 pitches with 19 for strikes and 12 balls. Sheffield threw 86, with 48 for strikes and 38 balls. Collin Snider, Mark Ruppenthal and Philip Pfeifer also pitched in relief for the Commodores. Snider gave up three hits and three runs in two innings of work, Ruppenthal pitched an inning giving up no runs but issuing three walks, and Pfeifer was pretty effective in two innings giving up two unearned runs with three walks and three K’s. I didn’t watch the game, but it sounds like the home plate umpire Michael Thomas had a tight strike zone. We issued 12 walks and struck out 12.
Wiseman is now hitting .408 on the season with 20 hits in 49 at bats. Penn is hitting .364 with 12 hits in 33 at bats, and Dans is hitting .346 with 18 hits in 52 at bats. The bats are definitely cookin’. We’re now hitting .325 as a team. College baseball has gone to a new ball this year, similar to the minor league ball, with the seam being lower on the ball, or a “flat seam” ball. It has really been a boon for hitting; it sure has with out team. They call it a ‘flat seam” ball as opposed to a “raised seam” ball that college baseball has been using for the last several years. The ball has been measured to travel 20 feet father than the higher seam ball used before. It has sure helped our team and it’s helped hitting in college baseball. Want some pitching and defense too, but it’s a more fun game when there’s hitting. I’m sure our guys like it. There have been some good pitching performance also by our guys, Carson and company. Hopefully, Walker can get another start soon, maybe Sunday against TCU at Chavez Ravine, Dodger Stadium.
We’ll play No.4 UCLA Friday night in LA (at UCLA) with a 9 PM ET/8 PM CT first pitch. Carson most likely will be on the hill. I will have pitching match ups later in the week. I’m pretty sure Kilichowski will get the start Saturday against USC (5 PM ET/4 PM CT @ USC), and it’s to be determined who’ll get the ball on Sunday against No.6 TCU at Dodger Stadium (2:45 PM ET/1:45 PM CT). Freshman Kyle Wright is a possibility as he has pitched a couple of Sunday contests for us already. Or maybe Walker gets a shot to go against high level competition. It’ll be interesting to see what Corbs does there. Should be an electric weekend for our team as we play top national competition in advance of the conference season opening a week from Friday, March 13th, vs Arkansas at home. Arkansas will be in town next weekend for a weekend set. We also play Quinnipiac for a two game set next Tuesday and Wednesday prior to Arkansas coming to town. Quinnipiac University is in Hamden, Connecticut. No live video scheduled as of yet this weekend, but hopefully I can find some and will let you know.
The No.9 golf team (nationally) fired an 11 under par round yesterday as the team captured second place behind No.2 ranked FSU at the Querencia Cabo Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico. The 273 was a tournament low for teams in the field. We finished with a -5 score for the tournament. FSU finished at -13. Senior Hunter Stewart shot a 67, freshman Theo Humphrey shot a 68, and junior Carson Jacobs also shot a 68. The Querencia was one of the most competitive tournaments in college golf thus far. Excellent performance by the team, particularly yesterday in coming back from fifth place where we were at the start of yesterday’s final round. Our next competition is Sunday, March 15th, at the Talis Park Challenge in Naples, Fl. Will have more on that closer to time.
Bball in action tonight against Mississippi State at 9 PM ET/8 PM CT on the Network (SEC Network). It will be Senior Night so James Siakam, Shelby Moats and maybe Josh Henderson will be honored before the game. I say maybe Josh because there is chance he’s coming back for a sixth year next year with a medical redshirt. I would love for Hendo to come back for another year. He missed most of two years with severe knee injuries. He has hung tough though and he can help us the rest of this season. And I would love to see him back next year. It will be great to applaud James and Shelby. They are the true definition of the college student-athletes. Shelby has a job on Wall Street waiting for him after he graduates. He has been hurt most of the year, but he’s an awesome guy. James has been spectacular this season. He’s been the heart and soul of our team. He’s still pumped to help us make some noise here in March. James Siakam wants to play a lot more basketball for the Vanderbilt Commodores. There is a good chance of ice tonight, so not sure what kind of crowd we’ll get. Hopefully, the students can get to the game and support James, Shelby and Josh and pull our team through in a key game against a team that beat us in Starkville about a month or so ago. Craig Sword is a scorer for them. They’re dangerous. We need to bring our hard hats tonight against a hard-nosed, athletic team.
No commits as of yet in football. Will keep you posted if anybody pops. We have a lot of offers out there and we’re close to landing two or three guys. Spring practice starts back up next Monday when the guys get back from Spring break and there will be a lot to get done prior to the Black and Gold Spring game March 21st, a Saturday at 1 PM CT.