Giants' New #1 Pick Facing Stanford With College World Series On The Line
NASHVILLE (CBS SF) - The newest addition to the San Francisco Giants organization is also the biggest obstacle currently in the way of the Stanford Men's baseball program as they attempt to advance to the College World Series.
Vanderbilt's Tyler Beede, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound right-hander, was selected number 14 overall in the first round of Thursday night's Major League Baseball draft. He's scheduled to take the mound Friday in the first game of a series that will send one team to the College Baseball World Series.
Beede is 23-12 over three years at Vanderbilt, where he compiled a 3.17 ERA with 271 strikeouts in 47 appearances.
Stanford advanced to this best-of-three game series on a walk off two-run homer by freshman Tommy Edman against Indiana on Monday.
The Cardinal (34-24) are making their second trip to Nashville this year, and that three-game trip in late February and early March ended in a Vanderbilt sweep with the Commodores outscoring the Cardinal 13-4 over three games. Coach Mark Marquess started three freshmen in that early series and said the Cardinal weren't hitting either then.
Freshman pitcher Cal Quantrill said Stanford was a completely different team then.
"I'm sure that they've made some changes, too, but I think this will be a great opportunity to see how big of a difference a couple months has made," Quantrill told the Associated Press. "We've been really jelling as a group lately. We're getting runs from everywhere in the lineup. Our team's changed a lot, we've gotten a lot better and we're ready to go."
Beede, a junior, was the only first round pick three years ago not to sign. Prior to the draft he said he was excited, but it is "something that I'll have to set aside immediately."
Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin added, "The timing stinks."
"Obviously, right when the season starts in January and February, it's hard to look forward to Omaha," said Beede. "But that's certainly the reason why you play the game is to get to that last day of college baseball and be playing and to be two wins away, it's sort of like, `OK, we're here, but we need to finish business."'
The school did catch Beede's reaction to his selection on camera.
Stanford Coach Mark Marquess is holding Cal Quantrill for Saturday's game, giving him another day of rest. The freshman also has a physics final before taking the mound. So left-hander John Hochstatter (10-2) will start Friday against Beede.
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