Vanderbilt Baseball took two out of three from Florida last weekend. We got some stellar pitching from Bryce Cunningham Thursday and Carter Holton on Friday. We smacked four home runs Thursday, and lost a tough one Saturday when Florida Coach Kevin O'Sullivan protested that our pitcher, JD Thompson, was using a foreign substance on his arm. JD was ejected, unbelievably, and we lost in shocking fashion. Hope to see Florida and O'Sullivan again in the SEC Tournament. JD disposed of them in the semifinals last season on our way to the SEC Championship.
We've got UT Martin today at 6 PM at the Hawk and Mississippi State Friday through Sunday at home. Friday Night's game versus State is at 6 CT, Saturday is 2 PM CT., and Sunday is 1 PM CT. All games will be broadcast by SEC Network+.
Need a good week. Playing pretty solid baseball. Just need to keep progressing forward. We're now 29-11 overall and 10-8 in the SEC. We're third in the eastern division behind Kentucky (15-3, 32-7) and Tennessee (12-6, 33-7). Georgia is 9-9 and 29-10 overall. In the west, Arkansas leads at 14-4, 34-6 overall. A&M is 13-5 and 35-5 and State is 10-8 and 26-14. We are ranked No.11 in the D-1 Baseball.com Rankings. A&M is still No.1, Arkansas is No.2, UT is No.3, and Kentucky is No.4. Wow, what a conference. Clemson is No.5, and Duke is No.6. Alabama is No.23 and South Carolina is No.24. Our remaining SEC series after State are @Georgia Friday, 5/3-Sunday, 5/5, vs. Tennessee, Friday, 5/10-Sunday, 5/12, and @Kentucky, Thursday, 5/16-Saturday, 5/18. We'll play Louisville in our rivalry game with them on Tuesday, 5/7, at the Hawk. Will have those times and TV coming up in a later column.
The SEC Tournament commences Tuesday, May 21st with the top 12 teams competing for the SEC Tournament Championship, which will transpire on Sunday, May 26th at 2 PM CT at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama on ESPN2. The top 12 out of 14 teams compete in the SEC Tournament as always.
Vanderbilt Men's Golf plays in the SEC Championships in Sea Island starting Wednesday with the Championship Match set for Sunday, April 28th. Gordon Sargent is coming back for his senior season, which shows an amazing amount of maturity and integrity. Love what GS can do in this postseason along with fellow junior Jackson Van Paris, senior Cole Sherwood, graduate Matthew Riedel and graduate William Moll. Gordon wrote a column in Golf Digest where he explained he wanted to compete with his teammates this season and next season and try to win championships, improve as a player for the next level and get a degree. I hear ya, Gordo. I know he gets some NIL funds, but just a really mature decision.
Wednesday through Friday are three days of stroke play with 18 hole rounds each day. The top eight scoring teams from the 14 team field will qualify for the Match Play beginning Saturday.
The quarterfinals will commence on Saturday morning and the semis will take place Saturday afternoon at 2 with SEC Network+ broadcasting. The SEC Network will televise the Championship match on Sunday starting at 7 AM CT.
So, huge week for the team as "Championship Season" begins. Will keep you informed on our guys' progress. Auburn is ranked No.1 in the Scoreboard Men's National Golf Rankings and we're No.2.
Football concluded spring drills and had a really nice scrimmage on Saturday. The offense did well as quarterback Nate Johnson did a nice job leading the offense. Nate, Diego Pavia, who's coming in June, Drew Dickey and Blaze Berlowitz will be competing for the QB 1 job in August. Johnson transferred from Utah and Pavia and Berlowitz have come from New Mexico State. Dickey has been on the team since his freshman year. The defense has looked stellar. The secondary could be superb, and I like our linebackers and our guys up front.
The O line has played through some injuries this spring, but there will be key guys coming back and we just added a couple of 300+ pounders in the transfer portal last Friday. Will try to get maybe a couple of more linemen, and a few more wide receivers in the portal from the intel I'm gathering.
Quincy Skinner has looked spectacular at wide receiver and Cole Spence, back from injury, and Kam Johnson are looking stellar at tight end. Like what Sed Alexander, AJ Newberry and Diego Benson can do for us running the ball. One player that has stood out, particularly on defense, is inside linebacker Prince Kollie. Listened to interviews with Prince, Nate and fellow inside linebacker Langston Patterson and they all sounded super and pumped. Those will be three key players for us this season. I'm not counting out Pavia, Dickey or Berlowitz at QB though.
Also, love what CJ Taylor can do on the edge rushing the passer and wreaking havoc. CJ forces and recovers fumbles. He's a game changer. Really looking forward to seeing what sophomore corner Martel Hight can do this season. He's aiming for a terrific year. And our high four star freshman, Dontae Carter, is turning heads at safety. Our secondary is stacked with game changers.
Love what Clark can do with the defense and the team, and what offensive coordinator Tim Beck, who came over from New Mexico State where he had major success, can do with that side of the ball.
VA Tech game 1 Saturday, August 31st @ FirstBank Stadium in Vegas. That's Nashvegas, the real Veg