Anchor Drop, March 17, 2018: A 16 Beats a 1

Good morning. Drake Fellows issued five walks, but struck out seven over six scoreless innings as Vanderbilt took its SEC opener, 5-0 over Mississippi State on Friday night. The Commodores will come back today with Patrick Raby; first pitch will be at 1 PM CT and the game can be streamed on the WatchESPN app.

The men’s golf team shot a 14-under 274 in the first day of the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, Georgia, and currently lead by nine strokes. Theo Humphrey is the individual leader after shooting a 6-under 66. The Commodores will tee off their second round at 9:30 AM CT.

The women’s bowling team is in third place after the first day of the Music City Classic, and will resume action at 9:30 AM CT today.

Men’s tennis beat South Carolina 5-2 on Friday. Women’s tennis plays at Ole Miss today at 1 PM CT.

Off the West End

16-seed UMBC beat 1-seed Virginia. 16-seeds are now 1-135 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The bad news here is that both Kentucky and Tennessee are in the South regional, and both just saw their odds of making the Final Four increase significantly. Thanks for nothing, UMBC.

The Astros signed MVP Jose Altuve to a 5-year, $151 million extension. Tony Kemp will continue to be blocked as long as he is in the Astros organization.

The SEC went 2-2 in the NCAA Tournament yesterday. Arkansas spotted Butler a 21-2 lead, then came back, then ended up losing by 17. Missouri mailed it in in a loss to Florida State, which exactly no one was watching because of the UMBC-Virginia game at the same time. Texas A&M went scoreless for six minutes to open the game, but came back to beat Providence. And, Auburn narrowly prevailed over College of Charleston.

Four of the eight NCAA Tournament games today involve an SEC team. Alabama plays Villanova, Tennessee plays Loyola-Chicago, Kentucky plays Buffalo, and Florida plays Texas Tech. The remaining games: Duke-Rhode Island, Gonzaga-Ohio State, Kansas-Seton Hall, and Michigan-Houston.