NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Belmont University baseball team will play its fourth game over a top five ranked team in March, making the short trip to Hawkins Field to take on No. 2 Vanderbilt Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
This will be the 69th overall meeting between Belmont and Vanderbilt, with the Commodores winning 58 of those games. Belmont is looking for its first win over a natinoally ranked opponent since March 21, 2018, when the Bruins defeated No. 8 Vanderbilt.
Coming off a series win against baseball powerhouse Oklahoma State in Stillwater, No. 2 Vanderbilt is off to a 12-2 start. The 2019 National Champions are hitting .323 as a team, with 12 players hitting .314 or better. The Commodores have already hit 22 home runs in just 14 games, driving in 123 runs in the process. Their pitching staff has an earned run average of 2.52 and has tallied 172 strikeouts.
Dominic Keegan leads the offensive charge for Vanderbilt, holding a .548 batting average to go with four home runs, seven doubles and 15 RBIs. Carter Young holds a .382 average in addition to four home runs and a pair of stolen bases. Jayson Gonzalez has added 12 RBIs in 13 games, hitting .375 in the process.
Hawkins Field is where a program mileston was achieved on June 3-5, 2011. Making its first NCAA Regional appearance in program history, the Bruins collected its first NCAA Tournament wins in any sport when Belmont defeated Oklahoma State and Troy in the Nashville Regional. The Bruins eventually fell short in the Regional Finals to Vanderbilt.
In just 11 games, junior Logan Jarvis has already established himself as one of the best hitters in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Franklin, Tenn. native currently leads the league in batting average (.424), slugging percentage (.818), and on-base percentage (.543). Jarvis finished in the top 10 in the OVC in six statistical categories in 2020, including doubles, slugging percentage and RBIs.
Sophomore pitcher Joshua South earned Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season, the conference announced Monday. Earning the award on March 1 earlier in 2021, South becomes the first Belmont Baseball pitcher to receive OVC Pitcher of the Week honors multiple times in the same season. Collecting 10 strikeouts in eight innings pitched while contributing to Belmont's first shutout victory of the season on Friday at UT Martin, South's double-digit strikeout performance is the first time a Belmont pitcher has thrown at least 10 strikeouts in a game since March 2, 2019.
Freshman Jack Rando is all to familar with Vanderbilt. His father, Joe, is the Director of Managerial Studies program at Vanderbilt and an Associate Professor of the Practice of Managerial Studies program.
Head coach Dave Jarvis is eyeing the all-time wins record at Belmont, where he currently has compiled 653 wins in his 24 years as the Bruins' head coach. Jarvis needs just 11 more wins to pass Dave Whitten (1969-1997) to become the winningest head coach in program history. Jarvis and Whitten had a close relationship until Whitten's death in 2012, where Whitten served as an assistant and pitching coach under Jarvis from 1998-2000.
First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., with Bruin Sports Network scheduled to broadcast the game on the radio. The game will be broadcasted on SEC Network+ and live stats will be available courtesy of Vanderbilt.
