Vanderbilt baseball expects College World Series trip

Sonny Gray made the drive from Smyrna to Hawkins Field every chance he got in 2007 to see Vanderbilt's best collection of baseball talent.

Future first-round draft picks David Price, Pedro Alvarez and Casey Weathers headlined a 54-win season for a squad that spent 13 weeks ranked No. 1 and earned the overall top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"I know a lot about that team," said Gray, Vanderbilt's staff ace entering his junior season. "It's when I was getting recruited here, so I saw them a lot. They had depth on the mound. They had offensive explosion. They had a great defense."

Sound familiar?

The 2011 version of Vandy has all those things, including expectations for becoming the school's first team to reach the College World Series — something the 2007 team failed to do. The Commodores open their season today at San Diego.

"I like the comparison because that was a great team," Gray said. "I don't like it because they didn't get to Omaha. If we fall short at the end of the year like that, it's not going to be an expectation we've met for ourselves."

Vandy came within one win of getting there last season, losing 7-6 to Florida State in the decisive game of the Tallahassee Super Regional.

Baseball America and USA TODAY/ESPN have Vandy ranked No. 4 in the preseason polls. Gray is a big reason.

The right-hander who has thrown two summers for the USA National Team is the Friday starter. Left-hander Grayson Garvin and right-hander Taylor Hill are likely to follow Gray in the rotation. Jack Armstrong, who is working through back soreness, and freshman Kevin Ziomek, a 13th-round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks out of high school, could start as well. Mark Lamm of Loretto and Navery Moore of BGA will get a look at closing games.

"We have so many guys that could get in the rotation, and it's not at all a bad problem to have," said Garvin, whose 2010 season was slowed by an elbow stress fracture.

The heart of the batting order remains intact with Anthony Gomez (2010 Freshman All-American), Jason Esposito, Aaron Westlake, Curt Casali and Joe Loftus back.

Gray and Esposito, a third baseman, are projected to be first-round picks in June.

Casali moved from first base to catcher. Gomez could play a lot of shortstop, opening second base for Bryan Johns and Riley Reynolds. Esposito can also play shortstop and allow Johns to play third.

Connor Harrell, Mike Yastrzemski and Loftus will have competition in the outfield from Tony Kemp, a freshman from Centennial, and Air Force transfer Jack Lupo. Central Arizona transfer Sam Lind and freshman Conrad Gregor are strong candidates at designated hitter.

"We're talented from a physical standpoint," Coach Tim Corbin said. "I think we're even talented from a mental standpoint.

"The polls are nice, but those really aren't lofty expectations. If you consider yourself the No. 4 or No. 5 team in the country, you are basically succumbing to second place."