Vanderbilt, Florida Keep Sunday Starting Pitcher Plans Hidden
No. 23 Vanderbilt is already in the Sunshine State for Friday night’s series-opening game against Florida, but the games may have already begun.
The Commodores announced their starting pitchers for the three-game series like they’ve done all season. But the announcement didn’t have a Sunday starting pitcher named. The same can be said for Florida (no starting pitcher listed for Sunday’s game).
It’s not known at this time why Vanderbilt broke with its season-long tradition of announcing all three starting weekend pitchers. What we do know is who the starting pitchers Friday and Saturday. Here are those matchups:
Weekend Rotation in Gainesville👇 pic.twitter.com/dOB2qAYbgL
— Vanderbilt Baseball (@VandyBoys) April 4, 2025
Game 1
LHP JD Thompson (2-2, 4.62 ERA, 48 SO, 9 BB, .219 b/avg)) vs. RHP Liam Peterson (4-1, 3.38 ERA, 48 SO, 10 BB, .225 b/avg)
Game 2
RHP Cody Bowker (2-1, 2.78 ERA, 43 SO, 12 BB, .191 b/avg) vs. RHP Aidan King (3-1, 3.03 ERA, 32 SO, 9 BB, .213 b/avg))
Based on previous weekend series, Connor Fennell would be the starting pitcher in Sunday’s game for Vanderbilt. But could Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin be withholding his Sunday starter because Florida hasn’t announced its Sunday starter? Or are the Commodores planning to start someone other than Fennell?
Most likely, this is a gamesmanship-type of thing with Vanderbilt only releasing the same information Florida releases. The Gators only announced its first two starting pitchers, so Vanderbilt does the same thing.
Also, who else could the Commodores start in Sunday’s game other than Fennell? Austin Nye is the obvious choice, but he just pitched five innings Tuesday and has been Vanderbilt’s midweek game starter all season. Nye could be fully rested by Sunday’s game and perhaps he starts Sunday and Fennell starts the next midweek game against Dayton.
Could Vanderbilt move one of its bullpen arms into a starting role? Sawyer Hawks is third on the team in strikeouts (32) and has a 1.57 ERA in 23 innings. Brennan Seiber’s posted a 1.72 ERA in 11 appearances and struck out 22 batters. Maybe one of them gets the start Sunday?
Again, this is pure speculation. It’s most likely a game being played between coaches. But we’ll find out soon enough.
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