Commodore Banter (5/30)

No. 2 Vanderbilt takes on No. 3 Oklahoma this afternoon in the first game of the Arizona State Regional and you can watch the game live for free on vucommodores.com.

This could be the end of an era for the Commodores, as Maurice Patton notes.

Next year, Vanderbilt will be without seniors Alex Feinberg, Dominic de la Osa, Shea Robin and David Macias, as well as juniors Pedro Alvarez and Ryan Flaherty, who will be selected early in the 2008 MLB Draft. Redshirt junior Jonathan White, and junior pitchers Brett Jacobson, Nick Christiani and Steven Schwartz also could be gone. The same goes for redshirt sophomore Andrew Giobbi, who is draft eligible.

The good news for Commodore fans? "Now it's just all about reloading," said coach Tim Corbin. "It's not all about rebuilding."

One player that is definitely coming back is outfielder Steven Liddle, who was destined to be a baseball player.

Vanderbilt has an unreal recruiting class coming in and the star of it, Smyrna's Sonny Gray, followed in the footsteps of David Pricee, asking major league teams not to draft him.

As NYDore of The College Baseball Blog put it, the score is now Vanderbilt 1, MLB Draft 0. Within that story, NYDore reports that several future Commodores are receiving attention, including Connecticut SS Anthony Hewitt, New Jersey OF Matt Marquis, Rhode Island OF Ryan Westmoreland and Walters CC OF Adam Milligan.

Assuming most of these guys wind up in school, it looks Vandy is going to be a national powerhouse for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, Arizona State is taking a gamble by starting freshman Matt Newman against Stony Brook tonight. The former outfielder has made just four appearances all season, but coach Pat Murphy wants to save his top two pitchers, Mike Leake and Josh Satow, for games on Saturday and Sunday. Murphy better hope that the Sun Devils continue to rake so that this plan doesn't backfire...

Rivals' Kendall Rogers has a Tempe Regional Preview and likes the Sun Devils to advance, but lists the Dores as a dark-horse candidate.

The Orlando pre-draft camp is in full swing and Vanderbilt's Shan Foster is struggling to find his stroke.

We're only in May and people are already saying "Maybe Next Year" for the Vanderbilt football team.

Finally, Brandon Barca is an animal.