NASHVILLE: Vandy clinches series

By Chris Lee - April 07, 2007

Vanderbilt's Casey Weathers closed out a 4-2 win in the ninth, giving the Commodores a series-clinching win over Alabama on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Mike Minor went 5 1/2 innings, giving up three hits and two unearned runs to improve to 5-0 and lowering his ERA to 1.88.

Pedro Alvarez and Dominic de la Osa added solo homers for Vandy, and Matt Meingasner came through with three hits, two of which were huge, two-out RBI knocks.

The Commodores, ranked No. 1 in most major polls as well as the RPI rankings, figure to stay there another week. They improve to 29-4 overall and 7-4 in the SEC, a game behind Florida, who trailed South Carolina 8-2 but rallied for a 9-8 win, in the SEC East.

The Commodores have already played Ole Miss, Arkansas and South Carolina, arguably the three-toughest teams in the league besides themselves, so things look good for Vandy's title chances with a tough Alabama team nearly out of the way as well.