Final Game Notes for 2000 Season

Nonemaker Named First-Team All-SEC
Karl Nonemaker was named first-team All-SEC by a vote of the league's 12 head baseball coaches. It was the first time Nonemaker had received the honor.
The Flanders, N.J. native, led the Commodores with a .393 batting average, 88 hits and 56 runs batted in. He was ranked in the top 10 in the Southeastern Conference in overall and SEC batting average and hit .381 in conference games. Nonemaker also had a .985 fielding percentage to lead VU's starting outfielders.
In four SEC series, Nonemaker led the Commodores offensively. He also hit .300 or better in seven of VU's 10 conference series.

Seven Named to SEC Honor Roll
Vanderbilt baseball placed seven members on the 2000 Southeastern Conference Baseball Academic Honor Roll. It ties the most that Vanderbilt has had named to the list. Seven players were also named Academic All-SEC on the 1984 and 1993 squads.
Those Commodores named to the list were juniors Kevin Geshke, Mathematics and Stephen Prather, Interdisciplinary Communication and sophomores Kyle Flubacker, Undecided; Jeff Little, Mathematics; Sean Luellwitz, Human & Organizational Development; Karl Nonemaker, Human & Organizational Development; and Scott Vanderhoff, Human & Organizational Development.
It is the second straight time that Geshke and Prather were named to the honor roll.

Vanderbilt and Ranked Opponents
The Commodores upset a couple of ranked Southeastern Conference foes. Vanderbilt won its series with #19 Georgia, came close to defeating #2 South Carolina and picked up one win against #8 Auburn. Against ranked opponents, Vanderbilt was 3-14.
The Commodores started the season 0-7 in the conference, but broke the losing streak with wins over Florida, Ole Miss and two over Georgia. VU's first three series of the season came against SEC Western Division opponents, Mississippi State, LSU and Ole Miss.

Two-Baggers
Vanderbilt had three different double record that were being chased.
Individual Doubles in a Season - Ashley Freeman led Vanderbilt with 22 doubles. The school single-season record is 26 held by Josh Adeeb (1997). Freeman ended the year ranked third in that category.
Career Doubles - Senior Andy Kropf was challenging the career double record. Kropf had 50 in his career, ranking him fourth along with Alan Purdy (1990-93) and Josh Adeeb (1996-98). The record is 54 two-baggers held by both Boomer Whipple (1992-95) and Clinton Johnston (1996-98).
Team Doubles in a Season - As a team, the Commodores tallied a total of 126 doubles. The school record is 134 held by the 1999 team.

Just Soooo Close
Vanderbilt was so close to winning several SEC games durin the season. Eight of VU's losses in conference play have been within three runs or less.
Through seven innings in a majority of SEC games, Vanderbilt had had a chance to win. In 14 of Vanderbilt's 24 SEC losses, Vanderbilt was either winning, tied or trailing by just two runs or less after seven innings of play. Here are a list of those games that Vanderbilt had a chance at winning...
Opponent (date) Through 7 innings Result
Miss. State (3/11) VU winning, 5-3 lost
Miss. State (3/11) Tied, 7-7 lost
LSU (3/17) Tied, 0-0 lost
Ole Miss (3/25) VU trailing, 5-6 lost
Ole Miss (3/26) VU trailing, 0-2 lost
Florida (4/1) Tied, 2-2 lost
Florida (4/2) VU trailing, 5-7 lost
Georgia (4/7) VU trailing, 7-9 lost
S. Carolina (4/15) Tied, 0-0 lost
Auburn (4/21) VU trailing, 1-2 lost
Auburn (4/23) VU trailing, 2-3 lost
Alabama (4/29) VU trailing, 4-5 lost
Tennessee (5/7) VU trailing, 1-3 lost
Kentucky (5/12) Tied, 5-5 lost

The Big Inning
In 17 of Vanderbilt's 54 games, the Commodores fell victim to the ÒBig Inning.Ó They have allowed at least four runs in an inning in 15 of 19 losses. On the flip side, Vanderbilt has used the ÒBig InningÓ to propel them to 11 of their 14 victories. Here's a look at those Big Innings:

• Games that VU allowed four or more runs in an inning and lost:
Opponent (date) Runs Allowed in the Big Inning(s)
Samford (2/29) 5
UAB (3/8) 4
Miss. State (3/11) 4
Miss. State (3/11) 5
Miss. State (3/12) 4
LSU (3/17) 4
LSU (3/18) 5 and 8
Ole Miss (3/25) 6
Austin Peay (4/4) 4 and 6
Georgia (4/7) 4 and 6
Auburn (4/22) 4
Auburn (4/23) 4
Alabama (4/29) 6
Alabama (4/30) 8
Tennessee (5/6) 6
Kentucky (5/12) 4 (in two different innings)
Kentucky (5/14) 5

• Games that VU scored four or more runs in an inning and won:
Opponent (date) Runs Scored in the Big Inning(s)
Troy State (3/3) 5
Troy State (3/5) 4 and 5
Louisville (2/27) 4
Yale (3/4) 5 and 7
Belmont (3/28) 5 runs in three innings
Georgia (4/8) 4
Georgia (4/9) 5 and 7
Evansville (4/12) 4
W. Kentucky (4/25) 5 and 6
MTSU (5/2) 4

Single-Season Marks Chased
• Karl Nonemaker is fought to make it into the single-season batting average chart. Going into the last series he was hitting .387, but Nonemaker ended the year with a .393 batting average to rank him eighth. Nonemaker is also ranked fifth in single-season at bats (224). He also ended the year tied with himself for third in single-season hits (88) and tied for ninth in RBI (56).
• Both Ashley Freeman and Sean Luellwitz are ranked in single-seson doubles. Freeman is in third with 22 and Luellwitz ranks eighth (19).

Several Leaders
Vanderbilt's offensive output was a team effort. Four different Commodores hit between .313 and .393, while six different players have hit 10 or more doubles. Vanderbilt's runs scored have been courtesy of five different players with 30 or more RBI.
A different player seemed to lead Vanderbilt in each game. Seven players on the team had 13 or more multiple-hit games (Nonemaker, Geshke, Cabrera, Freeman, Kropf, Blue and Luellwitz).

Hitting Steak Summary
Third baseman Ashley Freeman had a 15- game hitting streak, the longest hitting streak for a Commodore during the season. During that stretch Freeman batted .359. The streak ended when he went hitless against Tennessee in Friday's game.
The next two longest streaks belonged to Ulises Cabrera. He had a hit in the first 13 games of the season and a 12-game streak just a few weeks ago. Kevin Geshke followed with an 11-game hitting streak.

Damon Yee Breaks Strikeout Record
RHP Damon Yee became Vanderbilt's career strikeout leader on April 16 when he struck out 11 batters against #2 South Carolina. Yee ended the year with 287 career strikeouts. He surpassed Kyle Balch (1985-88) who had held the old record of 266. Yee also climbed up the career innings pitched chart. He has thrown 286.0 innings which ranks him fifth on the list. The top mark is held by Jim Heins (1986-89) with 340.0 innings of work on the mound.
Yee leds the Commodores in strikeouts in 2000. The senior starter, who had been a reliever the past two years, struck out 106 batters in 105.1 total innings pitched.
Yee was just a walk-on who earned a spot on the Vanderbilt baseball team. His freshman season he earned freshman All-America honors from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. His 2.33 earned run average was the best in the SEC, the best of any college freshman in the NCAA and the 12th best overall nationally.
Yee was successful the entire 2000 season. In four straight appearances earlier this year (vs. Louisville, Troy State, Miss. State and Valparaiso), Yee fanned 38 batters in 25.0 innings pitched. It all started when Yee had a career-high 13 K's (8 innings) against Louisville. At Troy State, he was one shy of that mark with 12 strikeouts in the complete game, and against Miss. State, Yee had 11 K's (7 innings). Yee worked one inning of relief against Valparaiso and fanned two batters.

Here's a look at the career chart....
Vanderbilt Career Strikeout Chart
1. Damon Yee (1997-Present) 287
2. Kyle Balch (1985-88) 266
3. Doug Wessell (1970-73) 244
4. Mike Willis (1970-72) 240

Consistent Commodores
Three Commodores started every game during season. Mainstays in the field were center fielder Karl Nonemaker, third baseman Ashley Freeman and first baseman Sean Luellwitz.

Top Hitters - Above .300
The Commodores may only be hitting .297 as a team, but five Commodores are hitting above the .300 mark. Karl Nonemaker has led VU in batting average through most of the second-half of the season. He has the best mark on the team a .387. Ulises Cabrera is hitting .354, while Kevin Geshke (.320), Sean Luellwitz (.300) and Ashley Freeman (.310) follow him.

Hit Them In With Two Outs
Vanderbilt tallied 97 two-out RBIs as a team. Just three players accounted for 43 of them. Karl Nonemaker and Ashley Freeman had the most runs batted in with two outs. Nonemaker led with 16 and hit .455 with two down. Freeman followed wtih 14, while Sean Luellwitz had 13 two-out RBI.

Nonemaker Is RBI Leader
Nonemaker was the team's run-maker. He hit in 56 runs to lead the team. Ten of those RBI, came in just two total games. Against Belmont, Nonemaker hit in six runs on four hits to set a career-high. He totaled five runs batted in in VU's victory over Western Kentucky.
With a runner on third base and less than two outs, Nonemaker was hitting an amazing .833.

SEC Series Leaders
Here's a recap of who has led the team offensively in each SEC series....
• Miss. State - Ashley Freeman went 5-for-12 (.417)
• LSU - Ashley Freeman batted .500 and went a perfect 4-for-4 in Saturday's game.
• Ole Miss - Scott Vanderhoff batted .500 (3-for-6) with a home run
• Florida - Ashley Freeman went .471 against the Gators
• Georgia - Karl Nonemaker batted .687 (11-for-16)
• S. Carolina - Kevin Geshke (5-for-11) .455
• Auburn - Scott Vanderhoff went 4-for-9 to bat .444 with two doubles and two RBI
• Alabama - Ashley Freeman hit .385 (5-for-13)
• Tennessee - Karl Nonemaker hit .417 (5-for-12)
• Kentucky - Karl Nonemaker went 6-for-12 (.500)

Getting On Base
Shortstop Ulises Cabrera has been hit by a pitch 20 times. That number led the Commodores and ranked him second in the SEC. Cabrera had been hit twice in a game three times during the season (vs. UAB and APSU, twice). He led VU with a .477 on base percentage.

Mewbourne Gets 600 Wins at Vanderbilt
Against the Gators, VU picked up a 7-4 win on Mar. 31, as head coach Roy Mewbourne got his 600th career victory as Vanderbilt's head coach. Mewbourne has now amassed 607 wins. He already has the most wins of any Commodore baseball coach. Larry Schmittou (1968-78), Mewbourne's predecessor, is the closest with 306 wins.
Mewbourne is in his 22nd season as the Commodore skipper and his 28th overall. He earned his first career win at Vanderbilt in 1979 against Kentucky. His 100th was against Murray State (5-4, on April 20, 1982), 200th against Cumberland (4-1, on March 13, 1986), 300th against Alabama (8-7, on April 15, 1989), 400th against Central Florida (1-0, on March 3, 1993) and his 500th against South Carolina (16-10, on April 20, 1996).

Nonemaker Earns SEC Player of the Week Honors - April 3-9
Sophomore center fielder Karl Nonemaker was named the Southeastern Conference Baseball Player of the Week, for the week of April 3-9. Nonemaker is the first Commodore baseball player to earn the honor since Josh Adeeb was named Player of the Week on April 28, 1997.
The Flanders, N.J. native, led Vanderbilt to a series win over the 19th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs April 7-9. He batted .687 (11-for-16) in the three-game meeting and his 11 hits in the series were a career-high. Nonemaker hit the game-winning double in the last at bat in the ninth inning in Vanderbilt's come from behind 14-13 win over Georgia in the last game of the series.
In Nonemaker's career against the Bulldogs, he is an amazing 20-for-31 (.645) in six games. For the week, Nonemaker batted .600 (15-for-25) with eight runs batted in, three doubles, a home run and two stolen bases.