Anchor Drop, March 8, 2023: Midweek Baseball... Again?

Good morning!

Optional Musical Accompaniment

Yep, I’m still here, and we got a lot going on today including, for some reason, a second midweek game? We just played (and thrashed) Tennessee Tech and now we’re right back at the Hawk to face Evansville. Seems a little silly, but I’m sure we can handle it.

Basketball is getting even more recognition this week: Liam Robbins has been selected to the AP All-SEC Second Team while Coach Stackhouse has been named a finalist for three separate national awards: the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award, the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, and the Ben Jobe Award. Each of those finalist lists is mighty long, but it’s still a great achievement for a coach that some (many?) people wanted gone early in the season. I confess, I myself have not been a believer in the House of Stack until recently. Now? I worship at the Altar of Jerry every night, always in a different suit each more dapper than the last, and I will continue to do so every day this postseason until we have either won the national championship or lost at the last minute in frustrating fashion.

Down in Cabo, you guessed it, Vanderbilt walloped the competition led by freshman Wells “Triple-Double-U” Williams who claimed his first ever collegiate win by a full five strokes. This team proved they can beat any team, anytime, anywhere this weekend up against the second, third, and fourth best teams in the country. And don’t worry, individual national champion Gordon Sargent is still kicking around: he won February SwingU College Player of the Month and placed seventh in Cabo. Next up is the Linger Longer Invitational in a few weeks. I haven’t been able to find the field, but it’s almost impossible it’s as strong as the one in Cabo. Another trophy may be coming soon.

Lacrosse hosts Penn State today at 1:00PM, then Penn State will play Rutgers at the Plex on Saturday, and then we will play Rutgers on Monday at noon. Congrats to the Rutgers and Penn State teams on their trip to Nashville. As for the home team, we haven’t won since our early-season triumph over a ranked Colorado, often in grueling, close games against ranked opponents. Penn State and No. 17 Rutgers will continue to challenge Vandy this week and next as we round out the non-conference schedule.

That’s it for the Vandy stuff yesterday and today, but can I interest you in even more midweek baseball? That’s right, the World Baseball Classic started yesterday with the Netherlands upsetting Cuba 4-2 and it was beautiful. The action really gets going today and picks up throughout the week as more and more teams take the field including the United States on Saturday against our oldest rival, Great Britain. At a time like this, how can the world not get romantic about baseball? I’m watching the Panama-Chinese Taipei game while I’m typing this and it’s something else altogether. Here’s the full schedule and the pre-tournament odds of each team to win if you want to follow along. I hope you have Fox Sports, because that’s how you’ll be watching games if you’re interested. And you should be interested, the announcers are calling it “The Festival of Baseball” for a reason. Just watch a Japan or Chinese Taipei game and see how massive the game is out here. It will all wrap up around a week before the MLB starts, so it’s something to think about on days where the Vandy Boys aren’t playing.

Oh and if you’re looking for a team other than the good ol’ USA, the Netherlands is off to a strong start and Zander Wiel, the only former Vanderbilt player in the WBC this go-around, plays for ‘em. Me? I’ll mostly be rooting for the USA to beat Japan in the semifinal so I can brag to my coworkers, but otherwise I wouldn’t mind seeing the Samurai win.

Sports on TV

All times Central. College basketball schedule here.

• 6:30PM: NBA: Dallas Mavericks @ New Orleans Pelicans (ESPN)
• 6:30PM: NHL: Chicago Blackhawks @ Detroit Redwings (TNT)
• 9:00PM: NBA: Toronto Raptors @ LA Clippers (ESPN)
• 9:00PM: NHL: Anaheim Ducks @ Vancouver Canucks (TNT)
• 9:00PM: WBC: Australia v. South Korea, Tokyo Pool (FS1)
• 10:00PM: WBC: Panama v. Netherlands, Taichung Pool (FS2)
• 4:00AM Thursday: WBC: China v. Japan, Tokyo Pool (FS1)

Scoreboard

SEC Baseball: Western Illinois 0, Missouri 6 ... Murray State 2, Kentucky 6 ... Army 5, Arkansas 7 ... FAU 11, Florida 18 ... Georgia Southern 11, Georgia 17 ... Boston College 7, Tennessee 6 ... Alabama 11, Samford 6 ... Valparaiso 2, Mississippi State 12 ... UAB 1, Auburn 4 ... Incarnate Word 5, Texas A&M 13 ... The Citadel 1, South Carolina 8 ... Southern Miss 5, Ole Miss 11.

NBA: Grizzlies 103, Lakers 112 ... Bucks 134, Magic 123 ... Wizards 119, Pistons 117 ... Hornets 112, Knicks 105 ... 76ers 117, Timberwolves 94 ... Nets 118, Rockets 96 ... Warriors 128, Thunder 137 ... Jazz 116, Mavericks 120.

NHL: Golden Knights 1, Panthers 2 ... Hurricanes 4, Canadiens 3 ... Maple Leafs 4, Devils 3 ... Blue Jackets 4, Penguins 5 ... Flyers 2, Lightning 5 ... Sabres 3, Islanders 2 ... Flames 1, Wild 0 ... Blues 2, Coyotes 6 ... Sharks 0, Avalanche 6 ... Ducks 2, Kraken 5.