DIAMOND NOTES

2007 Danville Dan (Mississippi State, Ricky Bowen, has been promoted to the Dayton Dragons (Midwest League Class A) in the Reds organization.

From Baseball America - For the second straight day Thursday, the Tigers got encouraging signs that their pitching is on the mend—which seems to be helping the defending national champions rediscover their missing swagger. LSU continued its resurgence with a 7-5 win against Vanderbilt behind eight strong innings from starter Austin Ross,Danville Dan 2008.

Ross allowed four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven over eight-plus innings, and held Vandy hitless from the third through the eighth.
Head Coach Paul Mainieri: "The kid is a dominating pitcher except for that one inning when he seems to give up multiple runs, but you just never know when that inning's going to happen. Usually it happens in the fourth or the fifth, today it was the second. But I really didn't fault him all that much. They hit the ball. It wasn't like he was walking batters. I thought the kid showed a lot, he kept challenging hitters . . . He wasn't trying to nibble too much, and I think he really was very, very aggressive, and even his slider, he had good depth on his slider, he was keeping it down and he was throwing it for strikes too. I just think he was masterful tonight. I think he pitched as well as he possibly can tonight."

Mainieri: "Ross was really phenomenal. I mean, he was the story of the game. I was just saying how much fun it is to get good starting pitching. It allowed us to be very aggressive offensively—the hit-and-run, trying to take extra bases.

The SEC Tournament continues today.