February 19, 2012
Vanderbilt Baseball 2012: Season Opener Blues
While last year’s visit to the College World Series was an amazing achievement for the Commodores, it has hurt the team to some extent. Friday was the season opener for Vanderbilt, playing an out of conference team, Stanford. Usually it’s more difficult to prep for nonconference games. Not a lot of film or reports available so the coach’s mentality is to play “our” game and adjust as needed. Being the first series of the season, both teams had ample time to research individual players, offensively and defensively.
The difference is Vandy lost 12 players to the MLB draft, so an opponent, like Stanford, can focus like a laser on Vandy’s small core of hitters. Kemp, Gomez, Reynolds, Gregor –the guys that can get on base every game, the veteran players. Last year’s trip to Omaha had many teams looking at Vandy closely and keeping track of key players.
Vanderbilt started this season away. That, in and of itself, is not a huge deal. Fifty percent of NCAA Division I teams start on the road. Coach Corbin choice to start Ziomek was the right one. Ziomek may or may not be Vandy’s number one pitcher. To start a road series with a freshman pitcher first game (yeah, I know there was a fall series) goes up against the Appel is not ideal. No matter the outcome of the game, starting a veteran makes sense. The debate will rage for some time between Ziomek and Beede camps. It’s a long standing debate with Vanderbilt. Every year the # 1 and #2 pitchers are equal in my opinion. It’s how they handle a different set of circumstances that allow each to step up.
- My score sheet notes say it all.
Game 1 Recap: Stanford 8, Vandy 3, Nuf said. (Note: I don’t regurgitate game stats. Odd, that.) Ziomek’s command was shot from the get go. The first inning saw Z launch26 pitches. Behind in the counts frequently, he was laying heat at the numbers for a Third On Third Situations. First two outs were textbook, but that third inning ending out was a struggle. Stanford is a smart club. Batters stayed off everything off speed and targeting corners. It turned out to be a short night for Z (3.1 innings, 66-ish pitches, 5R, 6H).The defense was jittery as well, miscommunication and errors is not the norm for this Vanderbilt club.
Offensively, it was an interesting game. The top of the line produced little offense, very odd, that. The bulk of offense was done by the freshmen. Chris Harvey was phenomenal for his first college game, a pair of doubles. He’s an interesting story –Early high school grad, entering Vandy as a truly true freshman. He’s a big boy 6-5/215lb – catcher. Preseason concentration was on hitting, so no big surprise Harv was DH. It’s a good introduction to NCAA baseball. The bottom 4-5 players all did very well offensively. The question of the year: are they that good or just not documented as well as the veterans. Remember there are a lot of reports on Vanderbilt veterans.
Was last year a fluke? I don’t think so. Vandy is an elite powerhouse. This year’s freshman class is extremely talented. It might even be said to be the “most” talented class. Vanderbilt has a tremendous team-rebuild to accomplish this year, but has great players, fantastic coaches, and the taste of Omaha.
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