Aria Gerson Nashville Tennessean
Vanderbilt baseball announced its starting pitchers for the first two games of the College Baseball Showdown on Thursday via its game notes. The season-opening tournament will be held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Sophomore left-hander Carter Holton will get the nod on Friday against TCU after being named a Freshman All-American in 2022 with a 3.14 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 80⅓ innings. He will face Kansas transfer Ryan Vanderhei, who had a 6.46 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 78 innings last season.
On Saturday, junior left-hander Hunter Owen will face Oklahoma State freshman lefty Brennan Phillips. Owen had a 4.05 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 26⅔ last season before suffering an injury in April. Phillips was ranked the 22nd-best left-handed pitcher in the country by Perfect Game.
Neither Vanderbilt nor Texas has announced a starter for Sunday’s game. Among possible candidates for the Commodores are sophomore left-hander Devin Futrell, redshirt junior right-hander Sam Hliboki, freshman right-hander Andrew Dutkanych and sophomore right-hander Bryce Cunningham.
Vanderbilt faces TCU at 3 p.m. CT on Friday, Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday and Texas at 10:30 a.m. CT on Sunday, streamed on FloSports.
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