Freshmen show no fear with game on the line

Watching freshmen Chase Reid and Russell Brewer thrive in the late innings of Friday night’s 3-2 victory over Kentucky reminded Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin of two of his formers players.

“It’s a lot like (Jensen) Lewis and (Matt) Buschmann my first year here,” Corbin said, “where we just threw them out there so much so that you forgot really that they’re freshmen.”

While that’s quite the compliment considering the fact Lewis is currently a middle reliever for the Cleveland Indians and Buschmann is pitching well for San Diego’s Double-A affiliate, the two have certainly proved worthy of the comparison.

Read the rest of my column about the fearless freshmen on vucommodores.com right here.

Vandy takes lead in restoring national pastime

They say baseball is America's pastime, but for today's inner-city youth, it's more like an afterthought.

With the help of his former star pitcher, David Price, Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin hopes to change that one child at a time. The two have teamed up to allow Nashville RBI to bring up to 100 kids to all five Sunday games at Hawkins Field this season.

You can read the rest of my feature from vucommodores.com here (it also got picked up by NCAA.com, but it's the same story so no need to read it twice).

A few other thoughts that didn't fit in the story:

-Whittemore agreed that MLB can improve its marketing in inner-cities by providing more opportunities and role models.

"I think baseball needs to do a better job of marketing the sport and if they can do that," Whittemore said, "it will keep more kids involved in baseball."

-David Price couldn't be more excited the opportunity to be part of this program.

"He's all about something like this," Corbin said. "He's all about little kids. After all, he still is (one), and I hope stays that way too. I told him that that's his biggest positive, that he treats things as if he's still playing a kids' game, and I hope he never loses that focus. They've got the right kid involved in a situation like this."

-The kids take away a great deal from Commodore baseball games.

"They get to watch real good baseball and they can take it back when they're playing their games," Whittemore said. "They've learned how to play defense, how to hit and how to react. They watch Vanderbilt's habits and routines and pick up all that stuff. They're learning."

Dores push through rough stretch

Vanderbilt (21-10, 5-6 Southeastern Conference) will not have as many victories or All-Americans as it did a year ago when it went 46-10 and won the SEC regular season and tournament titles, nor will it finish as high in the rankings.

But, in a sport that depends so much on being hot at the right time, it will still have a chance to accomplish the only goal that matters - getting to Omaha - as long as it continues to get better. Winning midweek games over Western Kentucky and Austin Peay was certainly a good start.

Make sure to check out my column on vucommodores.com about Vandy's ability to stay focused on the big picture, even during a losing streak.

"I told the kids, 'We didn't go through this last year,'" said coach Tim Corbin. "Maybe we should have. Maybe it would've helped us. Now we're going through some tougher times that I think if we can withstand them, will make us a much better ball club."

And if you haven't already, check out a couple of interesting Q & A's that I've done this week:

• Pitching coach Derek Johnson
• Head coach Tim Corbin
• Pitcher Nick Christiani
  

Foster, Gordon leave quite the legacy

When a sweet-shooting swingman from Kenner, La., and fiery point guard from Pensacola, Fla., first met, they never could have imagined that they would eventually make up the core of the most successful senior class in Vanderbilt history.

But, fast forward four years, and that's the reality for Shan Foster and Alex "Red" Gordon.

Even more impressive than their 85 victories, 2,999 combined points and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, however, is the way in which the friends have almost single-handedly changed this program's identity.

"I've told these seniors that they're going to go down as the group that's changed the program the most from the time they got here to the time they left," said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, "and I think that's a heck of a legacy."

To read my full story on Foster and Gordon from vucommodores.com, click here.

A couple of thoughts that I didn't have room for in the piece:

• Asked who changed their temperament more -- the players or coach -- following the 2006 season, Foster said it was was a combination of both, to which Stallings responded, "The players changed their temperament more. I’m not that much different." That drew a big laugh from the media in attendance.

• It was also fascinating to listen to Stallings talk about his relationship with Gordon."I get on Red’s butt hard," Stallings said, "but every day he walks into the gym, he says, 'What up, old man?' He and I must have a real strained relationship." Priceless stuff.