Vanderbilt baseball taking trip to Washington, DC – The Tennessean
The Vanderbilt baseball team will travel to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to start a six-day fall break team trip.
The Commodores will tour the capital and practice three days at the U.S. Naval Academy in nearby Annapolis, Md.
“That’s a huge plus for our kids just to be on the Naval Academy’s campus,” coach Tim Corbin said. “… It’s an opportunity to educate your kids in another way besides baseball. I’ve always wanted to take them to the capital.
“I just want to ingrain our country as much as possible because I think sometimes that can get lost.”
Ring ceremony: Vanderbilt’s 2015 NCAA runner-up team will receive its rings at the Commodores’ basketball game versus Auburn on Jan. 12 (8 p.m./ESPNU). The Commodores lost to Virginia in a three-game national championship series in June, following up a 2014 NCAA title run.
No. 1 recruiting class: Vanderbilt’s 2015 recruiting class was ranked No. 1 nationally by Baseball America on Tuesday for the fourth time (2005, 2011, 2012, 2015) after 13 freshmen made it to campus.
Freshman pitcher Donny Everett, a former Clarksville standout, is the nation’s highest rated player to go to college, according to Baseball America’s rankings. Overall, eight Vanderbilt freshmen were among Baseball America’s top 400 recruits.
The Commodores’ 2011 class, which also ranked No. 1, included three first-round draft picks in pitchers Carson Fulmer and Walker Buehler as well as shortstop Dansby Swanson, the No. 1 overall selection.
Price in relief? Former Vanderbilt standout David Price, the Toronto Blue Jays’ ace, was strangely used in relief for Nashville native R.A. Dickey with two outs in the fifth inning and a 7-1 lead over the Rangers in Game 4 of the ALDS Monday.
Right-hander Marcus Stroman will start Game 5 on Wednesday rather than Price, who threw 50 pitches in relief. Corbin said he understood the move.
“It kind of reminded me of our 2007 season when we brought in (Price in relief) against Michigan (in an NCAA Regional elimination game),” Corbin said. “… Knowing David, he would tell the manager, ‘I’m good whenever.’ And you throw the rules out the window (in the postseason) as we do in Omaha at that time of year. You tell the kids, ‘Now, there are no more roles.’”
Corbin on Spurrier: About South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier’s resignation, Corbin said, “I am a big fan of his, how he communicates in public and how he communicates with his players. I love that he’s right out there with everything. You feel emotional for a guy like that, too, when it comes to an end because you can understand how much time he has invested in the sport and people. But how clear-cut he was in his mind on the finalization of it, that’s sad in some ways.”
Reach Adam Sparks at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @AdamSparks.