This weekend's series will be a battle of opposites as the high-powered Ohio offense travels to Vanderbilt to face one of the best pitching staffs in the nation.
The Commodores, ranked No. 24 according to Baseball America, are another nationally recognized squad the Bobcats will visit during their non-conference schedule. Coach Joe Carbone said despite some schools hiding from tough competition, his team embraces it.
It is all part of the student-athlete experience
Carbone said. We don't remember the teams we go down and beat up on. We remember the great teams the David Prices we play.
You don't experience what it means to get to the top until you play squads that are already there, he added.
In 2007 Ohio traveled to Nashville and played a Commodore team filled with Major-League talent. In the third game of that series
Ohio and Vanderbilt were tied heading into the sixth inning before falling late. Price earned the victory for the Commodores
striking out 12 and allowing only three hits.
Price was the No. 1 pick in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays
and is still considered to be potentially one of the best pitchers in the game.
This year's Vanderbilt pitching staff is once again among the nation's best
with the squad's ERA being 2.11. Commodore pitchers are holding batters to a .246 batting average
and the group has allowed only two home runs the entire season.
We're not worried about just being competitive against their pitching staff, Carbone said. We're worried about beating them.
Facing the Vanderbilt pitching staff will be an Ohio offense that has put up its own share of impressive numbers.
The Bobcats are batting .318 and have scored 70 runs. Three players are batting higher than .400
including outfielder Gauntlett Eldemire.
Eldemire
a junior
is batting a .439. His slugging percentage
