National college notes: March 3

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Draft Watch

Here is how the players currently ranked among the top 50 of Perfect Game's top 250 draft-eligible prospects have fared so far this season.

Hitters

Richie Martin (Photo: Tim Casey)

Scouting Report: Richie Martin, SS, Florida

National Notes

• It wasn't that long ago (2010) that Vanderbilt wore the label of "best program never to advance to Omaha." Now the Commodores are the defending national champions and they were the consensus preseason No. 1 team in the country. The city of Nashville gave this program a hero's welcome last summer and it seems that the pressures have changed considerably for Vandy baseball.

The beginning of the season has been choppy to say the least and the 'Dores haven't been able to sustain any type of positive momentum. It will be interesting to see if that can change this week based on two significant developments.

First, Sunday's 16-10 over Illinois State was huge. That may sound overstated but remember, the 'Dores have already lost to Indiana State and Santa Clara at home this year with several other close calls. The story behind the victory was the big deal here. Vandy went down 10-0 in the fourth inning, and then scored 16 unanswered runs to blow out the Redbirds. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat often can change the flow of a season in a positive way.

Sophomore lefthander Ben Bowden was in full attack mode out of the Vanderbilt bullpen in the win. Taking the ball after Ryan Johnson threw 4 2/3 shutout innings, Bowden went on to throw three shutout innings of his own en route to picking up his second victory of the year. As expected, Bowden shows increased velocity from his prep days, working in the 93-94 mph range Sunday with an upper-70s curveball. He used that combination to record eight of his nine outs via strikeouts, walking two and allowing just one hit.

Johnson was just as effective out of the bullpen and was a key piece to the come from behind victory. Illinois State put up all 10 of their runs in the first two innings, but their offensive outburst was thwarted as soon as Johnson entered the game. Though he may not overpower hitters, he does know how to pitch and pounded the strike zone with a three-pitch mix over his four-plus innings of work. His performance on the mound was just what the doctor ordered and allowed the offense to mount their comeback, scoring 10 runs while Johnson was on the mound posting zeroes on the scoreboard. Overall, Johnson was near perfect, surrendering no hits or runs while striking out three with impressive command of his fastball-curveball-changeup mix.

More importantly, Walker Buehler will make his first start in this mid-week. Buehler provides a much needed boost to a wobbly pitching staff. He is both a strike thrower and a first round talent and he is critical to their ability to defend their national title.