NASHVILLE, Tenn. — If the Vanderbilt Commodores are going to reach Omaha, Nebraska, and have a chance to defend their national championship at the College World Series, they must do something this program has never managed.
Win a Super Regional on the road.
Not that coach Tim Corbin and the Commodores sound the least bit daunted by the pressure of trying to follow up their feat of a year ago when they won Vanderbilt’s first national title in a men’s sport.
“It’s 2015, and we won a championship in 2014 and that was cool and that was fun,” junior pitcher Walker Buehler said Thursday. “But this year, it’s about trying to get to 2015, and that means trying to play good baseball again this weekend.”
The Commodores (45-19) traveled to Illinois for a Super Regional that starts Saturday night. Luckily, they have the Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year in junior right-hander Carson Fulmer and junior shortstop Dansby Swanson who could be the top pick Monday in the Major League Baseball draft. Both are finalists for the Golden Spikes Award.
They insist they feel no pressure at all, and that’s because so many of the Commodores are back from last season. Fulmer said they will help the younger players experiencing this stage for the first time.
“I feel like we can lead them in a way to make them feel comfortable with everything,” Fulmer said. “I feel like that’s the biggest thing for us to get into an environment like that and feel comfortable right from the beginning. We’ve done it before, and we know what to expect definitely.”
Vanderbilt starts only two freshmen with Will Toffey at third base and Jeren Kendall in left field. Both were voted both to the SEC’s All-Freshman team and the SEC’s All-Tournament team.
Even with the experience, Corbin hasn’t changed his approach. He wants his Commodores to stay calm, have fun and enjoy each day. He sticks to the cliche of playing one game at a time.
“I just want them to stay very moment-driven,” Corbin said. “That’s the only way I think you can operate in life. If you’re thinking about a lot of other things, you’re not in the now. You’re not loaded right now, and that’s really all I care about. I don’t care about the things that come along with that.”
It certainly worked as the Commodores didn’t drop a game in their regional on their own field. They even tied an NCAA record for biggest margin of victory in a shutout in NCAA tournament history, beating Radford 21-0 to advance.
Corbin has a pitching staff that led the nation with 12 shutouts with the Commodores notching 39 strikeouts in the regional. Fulmer has shutouts this season as part of his 12-2 record and 1.92 ERA, and his 147 strikeouts ranks third in school history behind only Detroit Tigers pitcher David Price.
Offensively, Vandy ranks 14th nationally with a .462 slugging percentage and 10th with 62 home runs. That’s a big jump from a year ago when the Commodores managed only 22. Now Swanson, first baseman Zander Wiel and outfielder Rhett Wiseman combined to hit 41 homers by themselves.
This is the third consecutive Super Regional for Vanderbilt and the fifth in six years. But this is the third Super Regional away from Nashville for the Commodores who lost in two games at Texas in 2004 and lost in three games at Florida State in 2010.
Corbin said his only worry was making sure the bus arrived at the hotel later Thursday night and not being two wins away from another trip to Omaha.
“We just got to play good baseball,” Corbin said. “We have to play better baseball than the opponent. It’s as simple as that.”
This article was written by Teresa M. Walker from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
