No. 15 Vanderbilt Baseball Utilizes Ace JD Thompson To Open Weekend With St. Mary's
The Vanderbilt baseball (4-1) program opens the weekend at Hawkins Field against the St. Mary's Gaels (4-1) with a Friday afternoon contest. The Commodores are still in the infancy of the 2025 season, but have started well, dropping just one game thus far and showing plenty for the Vanderbilt faithful to get excited about.
The Commodores turn to junior JD Thompson to take the mound to open the series. Thompson makes his second appearance in his second start of the season after he served as the starting pitcher in the season opening victory against Grand Canyon last Friday. Thompson pitched 4.2 innings and struck out six batters, only allowing three hits and one walk in his first outing.
Thompson, McElvain, Bowker. 💪 pic.twitter.com/F7bDj7bv35
— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) February 20, 2025
Vanderbilt looks to sophomore Ethan McElvain on Saturday for his second start of the season. McElvain only pitched 2.2 innnings last Saturday against Nebraska in the lone loss of the season. He allowed four runs on six hits, but also struck out seven batters against the Cornhuskers.
Sunday's start goes to junior Cody Bowker, also making his second start of the season. Bowker pitched four innings in a win over UC Irvine last Sunday, holding the Anteaters scoreless with six strikeouts and only allowing two hits and a walk.
Saint Mary's enters the weekend with confidence as they've scored 50 runs across the five games, despite three games called short. The Gaels knocked off No. 21 UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday 5-1, showing they're not to be taken lightly.
The Gaels utilized graduate left-handed pitcher Derik Eaquinto in its season opener last Friday against Saint Louis. Eaquinto pitched 5.1 innings and allowed three runs on five hits with two walks but did strike out six batters in his only outing of the season.
The programs last met in 2017 in a weekend series that saw the Commodores take two of the three games.
Weekend Schedule
- Friday, Feb. 21 - vs. Saint Mary's - 2 p.m., SEC Network+
- Saturday, Feb. 22 - vs. Saint Mary's - 1 p.m., SEC Network+
- Sunday, Feb. 23 - vs. Saint Mary's - 12 p.m., SEC Network+
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Joe Gaither oversees videos and podcasts for Alabama Crimson Tide On SI/BamaCentral. He began his sports media career in radio in 2019, working for three years in Tuscaloosa covering the University of Alabama and other local high school sports. In 2023 he joined BamaCentral to cover a variety of Crimson Tide sports and recruiting, in addition to hosting the “Joe Gaither Show” podcast. His work has also appeared on the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt web sites.
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