That’s the Vanderbilt baseball team we’ve been expecting to see all season. We’ve had the talent all year, now our talent is starting to hit their stride after last night’s 9-1 thrashing of Lipscomb before a sellout of 3,626 fans at the Hawk. Our team moved to 43-19 and will now face No.3 seed Indiana (35-22) which defeated Radford, 7-1 yesterday afternoon in the first game. Lefty Phil Pfeifer (4-4, 4.06 ERA) will be on the hill for us against Christian Morris of Indiana. Morris, a right hander, was 5-1 this year with a 5.18 ERA. Game time is 7 PM CT/8 PM ET on ESPN 3 and the SEC Network may show most of the game, too.
Ro Coleman reached base all five times going three for three with a walk and a hit by pitch. Ro was awesome. Will Toffey was two for five and had a clutch single to drive in a pair in the bottom of the fifth. Bryan Reynolds looks like he has that prolific bat back as he went three for five with an RBI and Jeren Kendall was two for four including his sixth homer of the season. We now have 9 home runs in the postseason as we hit eight last week in Hoover at the SEC tourney. We have 58 homers this season compared to 22 all last season.
Carson was phenomenal. He went seven, gave up only four hits, walked three and rang up 11. His fastball was hitting 95-96 and his curve ball was just filthy good. Carson is totally back. So proud for him. He threw 106, 66 for strikes and 40 balls. He was awesome. Collin Snider came in and gave us two excellent innings in relief. Collin gave up one hit, but that was it. He pitched very well which is a good sign going forward. Collin can certainly help us out of the pen with the other guys we have Bowden, Sheffield, Wright, Kilichowski, and others. Of course, those latter three may be starting for us some.
Excellent work by the team.
Sonny was exceptional once again leading his Oakland A’s over the Yankees for the second straight night, 6-2. A’s playing a lot better. This is more like the team I expected to see at the beginning of the year after they had the best record in baseball in spring training. They’re getting some guys back healthy, and starting to play A’s baseball with excellent pitching, outstanding defense and timely hitting. Sonny pitched eight, gave up only four hits, two earned, with two walks and five K’s. He gave up a homer to Brian McCann a solo shot, but battled like he always does. Sonny threw 101 pitches, 67 for strikes and 34 balls. His fastball was hitting 94-95 and sometimes 96. His curve ball was Sonny-like which is almost impossible to hit. It’s an incredible weapon. As go as far to say as Sonny has the best curve in baseball. Sonny moved to 6-2 with a 1.82 ERA. He’s becoming a legend in the Majors this season. The A’s moved to 19-32 and are 12 back of the Astros. The Stros lost to the White Sox last night 6-3. The A’s have won five of their last seven, so it’s trending in the right direction. The A’s first baseman Steven Vogt is a 31 year old veteran who makes $500,000 a year and loves the game of baseball. He truly plays for the love of the game and his passion to win. He made some amazing plays scooping balls at first, and was two for three with two Ribeyes. and is now hitting .324 on the season. He’s an awesome guy. A’s have that kind of player throughout their group. They remind me of the Rays when DP was there. Just a lot of passion to play the game for not the high priced money that a lot of players on big market teams make. It’s pretty awesome.
DP pitches tomorrow night at the LA Angels at 7 PM CT/8PM ET on the Deuce-ESPN2. David 4-1 with a 2.97 ERA, 14 walks, 57 K’s and a 1.17 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) which is an excellent number. David faces Matt Shoemaker (3-4, 5.44). The Tigers lost to the Angels, 2-0, last night and dropped to 28-22 on the season, 2.5 back of the KC Royals. The Twins are one back.
Pedro and the Bucs lost last night to the Padres in San Diego, 6-2, but El Toro was two for four with two steaks. Dro is now hitting .247 with nine deep ones and 25 steaks. He’s been hitting very well lately. Bucs saw their seven game winning streak snapped, but they’re still 25-23 and seven back of the Cards, who are 32-16. Cards playing exceptionally well. Pirates a 1/2 game back of the Cubs who are 25-22.
Ryan Flaherty came off the DL this week and is back at second for the O’s. Ryan was 0 for two last night but had a walk and the Birds beat the Rays, 2-1 on a walk off single by J.J. Hardy. Ryan now hitting .244, and it’s good to see him back in the lineup. Orioles now 23-24, one game back of the 25-24 Yankees. Like to see Ryan get that bat really going.
Jon Curran tied for the lead heading into today’s AT&T Byron Nelson. JC at -9. They have really been battered by the rain in Dallas, Houston and throughout Texas. Hopefully it’ll let up and the people in Texas can get back to some normalcy. Golf is delayed right now, but the outlook for the rest of the day looks better and tomorrow is sunny, so they should be able to get it in. Brandt at -2, after shooting a 3 under 66 yesterday. They’re playing the short par 4 14th as a par 3 after all the rain, so the course is playing Par 69.
Our men’s golf team is making some noise at the NCAA tournament. We are +10 and -3 for the day on holes 13-15. We are presently tied for 12th. Will need to get in the top eight after three rounds to qualify for the match play I think. I’m going to check on that and get back to you on it. Playing well today, so we’ve got some momentum going.
Finally, I’m going to really miss my Dai-Jon. Loved him at VU. It’s so hard to see a vibrant, happy young man lose his life. The Lord called him home Thursday and he’s safe and happy and in a better place than anyone can imagine. Will miss you DJP. We’ll win multiple national titles for you. Love you man.
