Tenn Tech comes to town Tuesday for a really, really big midweek game for the Dores. Fresh off a series win at South Carolina the Dores need to keep rolling in preparation for Florida coming to town for games Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. By this time next week the Dores could not only move into the Top 25 in the country but also position themselves well for earning an NCAAT regional host spot. These next 4 games can't get much bigger than that.
Before we get to Tech, I had the chance to talk to Tim Corbin for a moment and here's what was said:
ME: Tim, what's your views on Coca-Cola?
TIM: If I ever hear that word again I'll likely scream.
ME: Have you talked to Kevin O'Sullivan lately?
TIM: Yes, he called me Friday night.
ME: What did you guys talk about?
TIM: Suspending players.
ME: Did you ask him about the Stetson game?
TIM: No comment.
ME: Did Sully have anything to say about the UT series?
TIM: Nothing that's repeatable in public.
Tech is having a really good season. They are 25-9 and lead the OVC. They are tearing the cover off the ball hitting .321 as a team with 54 HOME RUNS! Jeez, that's 1.6 HR's per game. Maybe they have a small ball park?
Tech has 7 guys hitting .316 or better and 5 guys with 10, 9, 8, 8, and 7 home runs, respectively. A lot of these guys were freshmen a couple of years ago when Tech gave us a tough game, although we did win. Vandy, on the other hand, has a team BA of .274 with 31 home runs (that's almost 1 HR per game.) Tech averages scoring 9 runs/game compared to Vandy's 6.6.
Tech doesn't really have any "big" wins. The only top 50 RPI team they've played was UT and they lost 6-0. (I still find it hard to believe UT's RPI is #38; I think there are least 100 teams in the country better than them.) In terms of common opponents, they've split with Lipscomb, swept a series with UT-Martin, and swept a series with Austin Peay. They did lost their series this past weekend to Jax State who is also pretty good.
Both teams field well, .979 for Tech and .972 for Vandy (Vandy's mark went down a good bit after giving up 6 unearned runs this past weekend.)
Pitching is where things look a bit different. Tech's team ERA is 4.91, they give up 5.6 runs/game, and opponents hit .255 off them. They've also given up 39 home runs (1.2 per game) and walk about 4 batters a game. Those are not good stats.
We expect Tech to start Ty King. He threw last midweek's 10-1 win over Lipscomb. He is 1-0 with a ERA of 2.84 but has only thrown 13 innings total. Ty, whose great-great-grandfather is rumored to be Sky King, famous TV star of the 50's, is excited to see what he can do. Sky doesn't fly anymore due to being unable to see, hear, walk, talk, or taste well or even sit up straight without drooling but he will likely be glued to his radio to cheer for Ty provided his oxygen tank and hearing aids work. Now that I think about it, I'm a lot like Sky.
Vandy throws out Chandler Day, a guy who's been quite magnificent the last 2 weeks -- 1 hit complete game shutout over Lipscomb, 6 inning 2 hit shutout over UT-Martin. He's won his last 4 starts. This week promises to be a bigger test for him and we're hoping he runs his record to 6-0. He is currently working on a 16 consecutive inning scoreless streak.
Of note, Will Toffey will not play as he has had a death in the family and our sincere condolences go out to him. Alex Brewer will start in his stead. Also, Ro Coleman, who's left hand had been hurt, is now well so we'll likely see more of him in the coming days. Ethan Paul is mending well and should be available soon. Alex Jones took a lot of extra batting practice and was personally tutored by Corbin in some extra fielding practice on Monday. Drake Fellows has no lasting psychological injuries inflicted upon him by Scott Brown on Saturday. I doubt Scott used any words Drake hadn't heard before.
Without knowing how the wind will be blowing my guess is there won't be many home runs in the game. In fact, I'm thinking Tech won't even score that many runs. Good pitching still trumps good hitting.
Best guess? Vandy 8, Tech 2
Go Dores
Before we get to Tech, I had the chance to talk to Tim Corbin for a moment and here's what was said:
ME: Tim, what's your views on Coca-Cola?
TIM: If I ever hear that word again I'll likely scream.
ME: Have you talked to Kevin O'Sullivan lately?
TIM: Yes, he called me Friday night.
ME: What did you guys talk about?
TIM: Suspending players.
ME: Did you ask him about the Stetson game?
TIM: No comment.
ME: Did Sully have anything to say about the UT series?
TIM: Nothing that's repeatable in public.
Tech is having a really good season. They are 25-9 and lead the OVC. They are tearing the cover off the ball hitting .321 as a team with 54 HOME RUNS! Jeez, that's 1.6 HR's per game. Maybe they have a small ball park?
Tech has 7 guys hitting .316 or better and 5 guys with 10, 9, 8, 8, and 7 home runs, respectively. A lot of these guys were freshmen a couple of years ago when Tech gave us a tough game, although we did win. Vandy, on the other hand, has a team BA of .274 with 31 home runs (that's almost 1 HR per game.) Tech averages scoring 9 runs/game compared to Vandy's 6.6.
Tech doesn't really have any "big" wins. The only top 50 RPI team they've played was UT and they lost 6-0. (I still find it hard to believe UT's RPI is #38; I think there are least 100 teams in the country better than them.) In terms of common opponents, they've split with Lipscomb, swept a series with UT-Martin, and swept a series with Austin Peay. They did lost their series this past weekend to Jax State who is also pretty good.
Both teams field well, .979 for Tech and .972 for Vandy (Vandy's mark went down a good bit after giving up 6 unearned runs this past weekend.)
Pitching is where things look a bit different. Tech's team ERA is 4.91, they give up 5.6 runs/game, and opponents hit .255 off them. They've also given up 39 home runs (1.2 per game) and walk about 4 batters a game. Those are not good stats.
We expect Tech to start Ty King. He threw last midweek's 10-1 win over Lipscomb. He is 1-0 with a ERA of 2.84 but has only thrown 13 innings total. Ty, whose great-great-grandfather is rumored to be Sky King, famous TV star of the 50's, is excited to see what he can do. Sky doesn't fly anymore due to being unable to see, hear, walk, talk, or taste well or even sit up straight without drooling but he will likely be glued to his radio to cheer for Ty provided his oxygen tank and hearing aids work. Now that I think about it, I'm a lot like Sky.
Vandy throws out Chandler Day, a guy who's been quite magnificent the last 2 weeks -- 1 hit complete game shutout over Lipscomb, 6 inning 2 hit shutout over UT-Martin. He's won his last 4 starts. This week promises to be a bigger test for him and we're hoping he runs his record to 6-0. He is currently working on a 16 consecutive inning scoreless streak.
Of note, Will Toffey will not play as he has had a death in the family and our sincere condolences go out to him. Alex Brewer will start in his stead. Also, Ro Coleman, who's left hand had been hurt, is now well so we'll likely see more of him in the coming days. Ethan Paul is mending well and should be available soon. Alex Jones took a lot of extra batting practice and was personally tutored by Corbin in some extra fielding practice on Monday. Drake Fellows has no lasting psychological injuries inflicted upon him by Scott Brown on Saturday. I doubt Scott used any words Drake hadn't heard before.
Without knowing how the wind will be blowing my guess is there won't be many home runs in the game. In fact, I'm thinking Tech won't even score that many runs. Good pitching still trumps good hitting.
Best guess? Vandy 8, Tech 2
Go Dores
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