Alright baseball fans, this is what we have all been waiting for. SEC play kicks off this weekend, and the Tigers face their first true test of the 2014 season. LSU (16-2) is riding a 7 game winning streak, including a sweep of Purdue and a pair of midweek victories over in-state competition. LSU packs their bags for its first weekend away from home as the Tigers head up to Nashville to open conference play. Vanderbilt (16-2) enters this weekend’s series with a 9 game winning streak on the line. The Commodores have not lost a weekend game yet this season in 4 weeks and 12 games, with sweeps at Long Beach State and at home vs Stanford. These two teams did not meet in a weekend series last season, but were matched up in a highly touted SEC Championship game in Hoover, where the Tigers came away with the tournament title in a 5-4 victory in 11 innings. Vanderbilt, however, has won the last six series between these team dating back to 2006, including a Commodore sweep in LSU’s last visit to Hawkins Field by a combined score of 31-11.

Vanderbilt Commodores
Record: 16-2
Conference: 0-0 SEC
Non-Conf: 16-2
Home: 12-2
Away: 4-0
Neutral: 0-0

Team Overview:
Vanderbilt is lead by two-time SEC Coach of the Year, Tim Corbin. Under Corbin, the Dores have 8 straight regional appearances, 4 super regional appearances, and 1 college world series appearance. In 2013, Vanderbilt set an SEC record with a ridiculous 26-3 record in conference play and 54-12 overall record, earning themselves the #2 national seed before falling to the Louisville Cardinals in Nashville in disappointing fashion. Vandy returns All-American ace Tyler Beede, but suffered many big offensive losses, none bigger than SEC Player of the Year and 1st team All-American Tony Kemp. Pitching is the backbone of the Commodore team this season, and the numbers this year have been more than impressive to back it up. Vanderbilt was selected to finish 2nd in the east behind South Carolina by a narrow margin. I personally selected Vanderbilt to win the SEC once again.

Team Stat Comparison (LSU in parentheses)
Runs/game scored: 5.8 (7.2)
Runs/game allowed: 1.6 (1.7)

Team ERA: 1.33 (1.53)
Opponent ERA: 5.10 (6.21)

Team BA: .289 (.312)
Opponent BA: .169 (.206)

Team Fielding %: .984 (.981)
Opponent Fielding %: .962 (.961)

Starting Pitching:
Friday night will feature the best pitching matchup in the country on the regular season college baseball schedule. LSU sends out All-American ace Aaron Nola once again, who has been nothing short of dominant in all 4 starts this season allowing no runs in 27 innings of work and just 11 hits. As usual Nola’s command is unmatched walking just 2 while striking out 36. Nola does not get rattled easily and that composure will be needed as the Tigers will count on him to lead the team into this hostile environment against a top 5 opponent. Corbin’s Commodores will counter with an All-American ace of his own, Tyler Beede. The school record holder with 14 wins last season, Beede is on pace for another record season with 4 wins in as many starts this season, just as Nola has done. Beede was a first round draft pick back in 2011 and projects as the same once again this summer. The junior’s fastball sits in the mid-90’s and has touched as high as 97mph. He also features a 12-6 curve in the low 80’s as a secondary pitch. Beede must be in command of his curveball for it to be effective, otherwise he may put it in his pocket for a later inning out pitch. Beede’s best pitch is probably his changeup. The change has a good sinking movement and provides the most consistency for Tyler over his career.

On Saturday, the Tigers will once again send out junior lefty Kyle Bouman. Kyle has been a terrific addition to this LSU rotation and makes the biggest start of his brief LSU career on Saturday afternoon. Jared Miller will get the start for Vanderbilt to make this a lefty-lefty matchup on Fox Sports. Miller is a big physical presence on the mound standing at 6’7 and 240 pounds. He has been sensational so far this season allowing just 1 earned run in over 24 innings of work and earned the win in all 4 starts. Miller has developed his velocity the last couple of years at Vanderbilt and now has a fastball that comes in from the left side at 90-92mph. He has a changeup as well as a curveball that sit in the mid 70’s and upper 70’s to 80 respectively, but Miller’s real out pitch is his slider. When that slider is working, Miller is as effective as anyone in the SEC.

On Sunday, LSU will send out freshman Jared Poché to make his first weekend start since February 22nd in a win over Texas Southern. Poché has earned the win in all 4 games that he has started this season, including his first career road start at Northwestern State last Thursday. Toeing the rubber for the Dores on Sunday will be sophomore Tyler Ferguson. Used as a midweek starter and reliever last season, Ferguson earned a rotation job and has made his first 4 weekend starts this season and has not disappointed so far. His distance into the game has set career highs in each start this season, ending with a 7 inning outing last Sunday against Winthrop. A 6’3 right handed pitcher, Ferguson’s main pitches are the fastball and a curve. The fastball comes in at the low 90’s, while the curve is a great out pitch. He will also throw a changeup as a secondary pitch that he continues to develop.

Friday's Pitching Matchup:
Jr. RHP Aaron Nola (4-0, 0.00 ERA, 27.0 IP, 11 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 36 K, .121 OBA)
Jr. RHP Tyler Beede (4-0, 1.08 ERA, 25.0 IP, 11 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 33 K, .129 OBA)

Saturday's Pitching Matchup:
Jr. LHP Kyle Bouman (3-0, 1.46 ERA, 24.2 IP, 18 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, .209 OBA)
Jr. LHP Jared Miller (4-0, 0.36 ERA, 24.2 IP, 13 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 22 K, .153 OBA)

Sunday's Pitching Matchup:
Fr. LHP Jared Poché (4-0, 0.90 ERA, 20.0 IP, 16 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 15 K, .219 OBA)
So. RHP Tyler Ferguson (3-0, 1.50 ERA, 24.0 IP, 13 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 22 K, .160 OBA)

Relief Pitching:
The Vanderbilt bullpen has been absolutely amazing this season. The relief pitching on the season has thrown 62 innings, allowed just 28 hits for a .137 batting average against, and recorded a ridiculous 0.44 ERA. This bullpen has not allowed an earned run in the last 28.1 innings. RHP Brian Miller set a school record with 16 saves in 2013 and has been dominant so far in his junior season with a 0.00 ERA in 9 innings. The sidearmer has allowed just 3 hits for a .091 OBA while walking 1 and striking out 10. Surprisingly however, Miller has just 1 save this season and has served primarily as the setup man for sophomore Carson Fulmer. A 15th round draft pick by the Red Sox, Fulmer has a mid-90’s fastball that can get up to 97mph. He has already recorded 5 saves in 7 appearances for a 1.32 ERA.

Miller and Fulmer are Corbin’s go-to guys in the pen, but there are several other quality arms at his disposal. Hayden Stone has come in and made a huge splash in his freshman season. Stone has made 7 appearances, pitching 12.1 innings and striking out 20 and walking just 2. Opponents are hitting just .053 against Stone and he has recorded a save. Stone has a nasty, nasty slider to go along with his plus fastball. Adam Ravenelle has been solid so far (8.2 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 10 K) as well as the top lefty out of the bullpen John Kilichowski (9.1 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 4 BB, 9 K).

continued in next post...

This post was edited on 3/14/14 at 12:13 am