#18 Vanderbilt Commodores (10-3, 0-0 SEC) vs. Xavier Musketeers (7-6, 0-0 Big East)
Game 1: Friday, March 7 @ 4:30 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 2: Saturday, March 8 @ 2 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 3: Sunday, March 9 @ 1 p.m. CT • SECN+
Weekend Preview: Vanderbilt hosts Xavier for a three-game series at Hawkins Field. All three games will stream on SECN+.
- The Commodores are 8-4 all-time vs. the Musketeers but dropped the last meeting in 2023, 2-1.
- Vandy is coming off a midweek, run-rule win over St. Bonaventure on Tuesday, beating the Bonnies 14-1 in seven innings. Xavier dropped its midweek contest at Tennessee after splitting a four-game series last weekend at Stanford.
- Vanderbilt will look to extend its home win streak to eight games, dating back to last season.
Last Time Out: The Commodores went 1-2 over the weekend at the Southern California College Baseball Classic before run-ruling St. Bonaventure at Hawkins Field on Tuesday night.
- Vandy jumped on UCLA early with a four-run first inning en route to an 8-3 win over the Bruins last Friday in Los Angeles. The Commodores fell 3-1 at USC on Saturday and dropped a Sunday morning game to UConn, 6-2.
- Over the last four games, Brodie Johnston is 9-for-17 (.529) with a home run, triple, three doubles and seven RBI.
- Jacob Humphrey carries an 11-game hit streak into the weekend matchup with Xavier. His .417 average for the season leads the Vandy offense.
RJ Doing RJ Things: Junior RJ Austin is second on the team in average (.400), first in hits (20), first in triples (3), second in RBI (12), first in runs scored (15), second in walks (10) and first in steals (10).
- Austin leads all SEC players in stolen bases, ranking 15th nationally. He’s 10 in the conference in hits.
- Austin hit two triples in a the win over Saint Mary’s on Feb. 21, the first Commodore since Tony Kemp in 2012 to do so.
Immediate Impact: Newcomers on offense as well as on the mound have been major contributors for the Commodores early in the season.
- From the transfer ranks, Riley Nelson is leading the Dores in RBI (15) while Mike Mancini and Mac Rose are hitting .313 and .304, respectively.
- Freshmen Brodie Johnston and Rustan Rigdon are off to hot starts as well. Johnston is hitting .387 and slugging a team-high .677. Rigdon leads the team in walks with 11 and is hitting .286 with a .480 OBP.
- On the mound, transfer Cody Bowker has made three starts, posting a 2.77 ERA with 18 strikeouts over 13.0 innings. He’s holding opposing…