Baseball – Pros Sports Etc News Blog

Vandy to College World Series after Sweeping Oregon State

sportsguy — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:45:15 +0000

Vanderbilt is headed to this years College World Series in Omaha for the first time in school history. Aaron Westlake hit 3 two run Home Runs in lifting Vanderbilt to a sweep of the Oregon State Beavers in this years Nashville NCAA Baseball Super Regional. Every year at this time the Commodores are done with their baseball season, but not this year, with a 52-10 record they are packing their bags for one of the most exciting events in all of college sports. Just last week Major League Baseball selected an SEC record 12 Vanderbilt players in this years MLB draft. Tim Corbin is recruiting some of the best High School talent from around the country to play at Vanderbilt’s Hawkin’s Field. Now Coach Tim Corbin and his players get to play in their first College World Series in Omaha Nebraska.

Oregon 3rd Baseman Carter Bell up close on Tony Kemp at bat in 1st Inning

Oregon 2nd Baseman Jake Rodriguez goes high but just misses a line drive hit

Oregon Pitcher Ben Wetzler starts for the Beavers

Grayson Garvin Pitching for a trip to the College World Series

Carter Bell catching some more air as the pitch goes home. I've never seen a player jump up before every pitch home

Oregon Coach Pat Casey talking to this infield early in the game

Oregon tries to pick off Conrad Gregor at 2nd Base

2nd Pick Off Try at 2nd Base on Conrad Gregor

Conrad Gregor digging for 3rd

Jason Esposito ready at 3rd

Oregon's Carter Bell celebrates a double against Grayson Garvin

Hawkins Field at night

Hawkins Field looking toward right field

Hawkins Field behind Home Plate

Aaron Westlake rounding 2nd after one of his three 2 run home runs

Aaron Westlake greeting by his teammates after Home Run Trip

Vandy doing their traditional 9th inning jump

Vandy Wins Nashville Super Regional and Advances to Omaha!!!

The beginning of a Vandy Dog Pile

Vandy Dog Pile shaping up

Ever wonder what a Vandy Dog Pile looks like? Now we know

Vandy Celebration

Vandy Baseball Team thanking Commodore Fans

Coach Tim Corbin says "Now on to Omaha!"

Florida Gators Win Baseball Series from Vanderbilt 2-1

sportsguy — Thu, 19 May 2011 14:10:18 +0000

The #5 ranked Florida Gators came from behind to beat #2 Vandy at Hawkins Field 6-5 after a rain delayed Friday night college baseball game had to be finished on Saturday. With both teams bullpens depleted Vandy crushed Florida in the 2nd game 14-1. In the 3rd and deciding game the SEC leading Commodores took the lead once again in the early innings only to have the Gators tie the game up at three and force extra innings. Vandy had opportunities to win the game with runners in scoring position with zero or 1 out twice in extra innings but could not get the winning run home. Finally in the top of the 12 inning Florida’s Mike Zunino hit a 3-2 fast ball over the right field wall scoring 3 runs to win the game and holding Vandy scoreless in the bottom half of the inning. It was a hard fought series giving a glimpse into what is shaping up to be one of the best SEC Baseball Tournaments in recent years with South Carolina, Florida and Vandy all ranked in the top 5 of all College Baseball Polls.

Florida's Hudson Randall throws to 1st base on a pick off try

Tony Kemp Stealing 2nd Base leading off the 1st inning

Tony Kemp's speed beats throw to 2nd base by a whisker!

Tony Kemp safe at 3rd

Gator 3rd Baseman Jeff Moyer signals Fly Ball

Vandy Head Baseball Coach Tim Corbin giving instruction to Aaron Westlake

Sonny Gray winds up for the pitch to home plate

Vanderbilt's Sonny Gray keeps an eye on the runner at 1st Base

Vanderbilt's Hawkins Field, Nashville TN

The Hawkins Family enjoying the Vanderbilt Baseball Team at Hawkins Field

Florida 3rd Baseman dives for Fly Ball

Vandy Bench greets Mike Yastremski after scoring

It was a cold May Day at Hawkins Field

#3 Vandy Baseball Sweeps LSU Tigers to Win Weekend Series

sportsguy — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:03:04 +0000

Vanderbilt Baseball took 3 games from the LSU Tigers here in Nashville, TN. We had nice weather with each game sold out. Vandy took game two 10 to 1 and game three 10 to 7. The Commodores rang up 45 hits during the weekend series. With Vanderbilt’s weekend sweep of LSU the Commodores are now in a 3 way tie with South Carolina and Florida for 1st place in the SEC College Baseball Standings.

Here are some pictures from game 2 on Saturday at Vanderbilt’s Hawkins Field.

Hawkins Field Entrance

Vandy 3rd Baseman Jason Esposito

LSU 3rd Baseman Tyler Hanover

Vandy PItcher Grayson Garvin

Vandy Runner Rounding 3rd Base

LSU Pitching Conference

Another Vandy Hit

LSU Frustration Mounts

Vandy Runner Slides into 3rd

Coach Tim Corbin watches to see what LSU does next

Vandy First Baseman Ready for Play

Keeping Track of Vandy K's

Great Day at Hawkins Field

Vandy Runner Ducks at 3rd Base

Future Vandy Baseball Player Catches Foul Balls Outside Hawkins Field

Vanderbilt 11, LSU 3, Commodores Blow Past Tigers

sportsguy — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:38:27 +0000

The LSU Tigers Baseball team visited Vanderbilt’s Hawkins Field here in Nashville, TN this weekend in hopes of turning their season around in time for the SEC Baseball Tournament. LSU jumped out to a one run lead in the first inning off Vanderbilt’s Ace Pitcher Sonny Gray. Vandy answered quickly scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Commodores hammered out 12 hits against 4 LSU pitchers to win the first game.

Tim Corbin greets Paul Mainieri

Vanderbilt's Hawkins Field in Nashville

LSU Scores 1st run of game

Vandy scores 5 runs to answer

LSU Catcher tries to calm LSU Pitcher in 1st inning

LSU's 3rd Baseman Tyler Hanover ready at 3rd

Night time at Hawkins Field

Vandy Scoreboard tells the story

Vandy runner scores another run

Another visit to the mound for LSU Pitching

San Francisco Giants beat Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3

sportsguy — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:41:07 +0000

San Francisco Giants reliever Brian Wilson picked up his second save of the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 Wednesday night at AT&T Baseball Park. Pablo Sandoval and Mike Fontenot hit solo home runs in the six inning to put the Giants ahead of the Dodgers for good.

It was this writers 2nd visit to the Giants baseball stadium and I now feel is one of the best baseball stadiums in all of Major League baseball to enjoy baseball at it’s best! AT&T Park has to be one of the smallest foot prints for a MLB stadium. The Giants make the most of the small ballpark to bring all baseball fans close to the action. San Francisco has some of the most supportive and knowledgable fans around which adds to the overall overall baseball experience. Combine the Los Angeles Dodgers visiting the San Francisco Giants on a cool breezy night with Brian Wilson coming in to retire the final three batters and you have pure baseball euphoria.

I made my rounds with my camera in tow for some nice images I hope you enjoy. How many baseball parks can a fan visit with access to the entire stadium, baseball sports memorabilia with great food and fans!

Giants Fans enter AT&T Park before LA Dodgers game

Giants LF Stands

Giants AT&T Park Outfield Walkway

View of AT&T Park from Right Field

SF Giants Fans in Outfield Stands

View of Giants Field from press box

2 Fans waiting for Brian Wilson to enter game

Brian Wilson Runs in from Bullpen

Brian Wilson strikes out 3 to win game

Giants World Series Flag

New 2011 Topps Baseball Cards are Great this year.

Randy Bailey — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:05:17 +0000

Baseball fans are grabbing the 2011 Topps Baseball Cards Hobby Box and 2011 Topps Baseball Cards Jumbo Hobby box as quick as they hit the shelfs. I have collected Topps Baseball cards since a kid and even though there are many different brands in todays market, Topps remains to be a staple in sports card collecting. Topps Cards are great for building sets and getting a variety of your favorite players and hot new prospects. Every year they add a little more to their product and this year they did it again. This year while celebrating their 60th year anniversary, Topps has added many different Diamond Anniversary cards to their packs. Each hobby box has on average 1 autograph and 2 relic cards and many different parallel cards. We got our shipment of Topps Cards in and have enjoyed opening packs and pulling some great players such as Steven Strasburg, Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter and many more. I pulled several glove leather relics and 1964 Mickey Mantle reprint relics. I am a fan as well as a collector and opening baseball cards makes the game experience so much more fun. Encourage your kids to start collecting. Its an investment as well as entertainment.

#1 Vanderbilt Sweeps #24 Alabama Crimson Tide with 11-6 College Baseball Win

rbeagle — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:10:27 +0000

The Vanderbilt Commodores beat a determined Alabama Baseball team trying to win Sunday’s final game of the series in Nashville, TN at Vandy’s Hawkins Field 11-6. The Crimson Tide put on 2 strong hitting rallies in the final game tying the score at 3 in the middle innings and then scoring 3 runs in the eighth to pull within 4 runs at 10-6. The Dores 6 run 7th was too much for the Crimson Tide to overcome and sealed the win and sweep of the Vanderbilt Alabama college baseball weekend series in Nashville.

The Commodores won game one 11-3 and game two on Saturday 7-0. Vanderbilt Baseball Coach Tim Corbin has his baseball team ranked #1 at this point in the NCAA college baseball season. Vandy Fans are starting to think about the possibility of hosting a Super Regional for the NCAA Baseball Tournament. Here are some pictures we took at Friday and Saturday’s games. The weather was nice for the entire weekend baseball series.

These pictures are from Friday and Saturday’s Games at Vandy’s Hawkins Field in Nashville, TN

Friday Night Game Bama 3rd Baseman tries to make a play

Vandy Freshman Tony Kemp rounds 3rd to score

Alabama 3rd Baseman Brett Booth ready for play

Vandy's Corey Williams of Huntsville, AL Pitches

Alabama's Hunter Gregory gets his bat on the ball

Crimson Tide Baseball Bench watches game

Bama's Brett Booth makes play to first base

Pick Off Play Attempt to First Base

Vandy gets final out for Sweep of Series

Vandy Celebrates Win and Sweep