Vanderbilt Commodores (32-13, 11-10 SEC) at Georgia Bulldogs (32-12, 10-11 SEC)
Game 1: Friday, May 3 @ 5 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 2: Saturday, May 4 @ 1 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 3: Sunday, May 5 @ Noon CT • SECN+
Athens, Ga. • Foley Field
Series Preview: Vanderbilt heads to Georgia for a three-game series at Foley Field beginning Friday.
- Vanderbilt enters the series in seventh place in the SEC standings while Georgia is one game back in eighth.
- Georgia leads the all-time series 124-123 since 1897. Vandy swept the series in Nashville last season and won the series in Athens back in 2022.
- In SEC games, Vanderbilt is hitting .264 while Georgia is hitting .269. The Dores have a 5.06 ERA compared to Georgia’s 7.38.
Last Time Out: Three of Vanderbilt’s past five games have been decided by one run with Vandy winning two of those contests.
- Vanderbilt beat Tennessee Tech, 8-7, in 11 innings Tuesday night at Hawkins Field. RJ Austin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home the winning run.
- In each of the last two games vs. Tennessee Tech on Tuesday and Mississippi State on Sunday, Vanderbilt rallied from a five-run and six-run deficit, respectively. The Dores trailed the Bulldogs by six runs Sunday before taking a one-run lead, eventually falling 8-7. On Tuesday, Vandy trailed the Golden Eagles by five runs and rallied to win in extra innings.
- The Commodores have homered in five consecutive games. Each of Vanderbilt’s last three home runs have been three-run homers (Espinal, 4/27 vs. Mississippi State; LaNeve, 4/28 vs. Mississippi State; Austin, 4/30 vs. Tennessee Tech).
Cunningham in Control: Junior Bryce Cunningham was named SEC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season on Monday.
- Cunningham threw a two-hit, complete-game shutout Friday vs. Mississippi State as Vandy defeated the Bulldogs, 4-0.
- Cunningham totaled four strikeouts and tossed 122 pitches in Vanderbilt’s second complete-game shutout on the season. Devin Futrell blanked Illinois State over nine innings on March 10.
Scoring Early: Vanderbilt has scored 89 runs in the first two innings this season, averaging nearly two runs per game in the opening frames.
- Vandy is outscoring its opponents 47-29 in first innings and 42-13 in second innings.
- The Dores are 15-1 when they score in the first frame and 21-4 when scoring first.
Golden Spikes Award: RJ Austin was one of 45 players named to the 2024 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List.
- Austin…