Vanderbilt Selected for NCAA Tournament

The Commodores were selected as one of 64 teams to play in the NCAA Tournament after their strong showing in the SEC Tournament this past weekend. VU will be the number three seed and will play MTSU, the number two seed at 2:00 ct on Friday in Louisville. The two teams split their games with home and home wins during the season.

We have two local kids playing with the Dores-Mike Minor and Jonathan White. Minor is a Forrest graduate and we know about J. White here in Shelbyville. Both players were instrumental in the Commodores second place finish in Hoover.

Minor threw a complete game six-hitter on opening night against LSU, the number two ranked team in the country by most polls, and allowed only one earned run in a dominant performance. He is pitching as well as anyone in the country in his last five outings. He will in all likelyhood be a top 15 draft pick in the major league draft in June as a junior.

Here is a link to a very nicely written piece on Mikie by Ryan Schulz on the VU web site. http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/m-ba...

White hit .438 (7-for-16) in the tournament and contributed stellar defense in centerfield. It should be an exciting tournament with such a local flavor to it.

Speaking of locals: I am sure that my good friend Shane Shoemake, a former star infielder for the Blue Raiders and currently the head coach of the Liberty Patriots will be watching with great interest! Ditto Josh Horn, a great guy and an outstanding third baseman for coach Steve Peterson as well.

I am very fortunate to be able to attend again this weekend and am very grateful to my loving and very understanding wife, Shawna.

Special thanks to my boss Wally Taylor, who just may love baseball as much as I do!

I will keep you updated as events develop during the weekend.