NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The entire season had been a confluence of factors combining to afford Vanderbilt the opportunity to never leave home in order to clinch a trip to the College World Series. By earning the No. 2 national seed for the NCAA Tournament, the Commodores would not only play host to a NCAA Regional, but also a Super Regional should they advance out of the regional, which they did last weekend. Indeed, the Commodores got the set-up they were seeking, but they aren’t leaving home now, but for a very different reason. Instead, it was Louisville that turned Hawkins Field into their home away from home this weekend, getting a 2-1 win here Sunday to sweep the best-of-three Super Regional and earn its second CWS berth and first since 2007. “(Louisville) did what no other team has done to Vanderbilt all year, which was come in and beat them twice,” said Commodores coach Tim Corbin, whose team batted .176 over two games that also included Saturday’s 5-3 loss. “That’s a tall task for a team, especially with the gang we’ve assembled,” he added. “I thought they pitched very well. I think they just held us down.” Bouncing between the No. 1 and No. 2 national ranking for most of the season while matching its overall season wins total at 54 and winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season title, Vanderbilt (54-12) seemed destined to return to Omaha the second time in three years. Meanwhile, Louisville (51-12) has now posted the program’s single-season wins record after sweeping through both the regional it hosted last weekend and the Super Regional this weekend. The Cardinals entered the weekend ranked fifth in the nation in ERA (2.53) and first in strikeouts (9.6 per game). “I think this is three times in the last five years we’ve had to battle (in the postseason),” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said of his team playing Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament in recent years. The Cardinals beat Vanderbilt to win a 2009 regional, while the Commodores returned the favor a year later. “Hopefully, the NCAA will split us up one day where we both can go to Omaha,” he added. “They had an unbelievable year, and it’s a shame that only one of us can advance.” In a matchup Sunday of two of the nation’s premier pitchers, it was Louisville junior Jeff Thompson (11-1), the Big East Conference Pitcher of the Year, who held up his end of the bargain. The 6-foot-6 right-hander pitched seven strong innings, yielding only three hits and one run while striking out nine.
“I felt good the whole time,” Thompson said. “… I was really all around the zone the whole game, but later in the game they started swinging at some pitches to help me out.” Conversely, Vanderbilt was hoping that previously undefeated Tyler Beede (14-1), a Golden Spikes Award finalist, could help the Commodores force a third and deciding game Monday night. But the sophomore right-hander wouldn’t last through the third inning before being touched for both Louisville runs. The Commodores would get their leadoff hitter on base in only one inning, and they were never able to get their “small ball” going because of it. Their lone run came in the top of the sixth when freshman designated hitter Zander Wiel hit a towering home run over the 35-foot tall left field wall. It was the only extra-base hit by either team in the two games. Down 2-1, the Commodores threatened in the final three innings by getting two runners on base in each frame. But like it had done in both games, Vanderbilt failed to come up with a clutch hit to drive runners home. Vanderbilt senior Mike Yastrzemski made the final out of the game by striking out against Cardinals reliever Cody Ege with the tying run at third base. “They shut us down,” said Vanderbilt junior second baseman Tony Kemp, the SEC player of the year. “We were just one click away, one hit away, finding one hole, one little dribbler through the hole, and we just didn’t get it. We’ve been getting those big hits all year.” Louisville broke through first by scoring two runs in the bottom of the second inning. After designated hitter Jeff Gardner walked, three of the next four batters — Kyle Gibson, Zac Wasserman and Sutton Whiting — singled to account for two runs. The Commodores got out of the inning when center fielder Connor Harrell threw out Wasserman trying to go from first to third on Whiting’s single that scored Gibson. The Cardinals chased Beede in the third inning by loading the bases with two outs and just one hit, but Vanderbilt freshman reliever Carson Fulmer got Gibson to ground out to second base to get the Commodores out of the inning unscathed. Fulmer dug a hole the following inning, though, when the Cardinals loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batter. But Fulmer got Cole Sturgeon to ground into a double play to keep the deficit at 2-0. Fulmer would be solid in relief for Vanderbilt, going the final distance of 5 1/3 innings while allowing only two hits and no runs.
The Commodores loaded the bases in the second inning and got two runners on board in the fifth inning, but couldn’t get the timely hit off Thompson in either frame. In the second inning, three Commodores — Conrad Gregor hit by pitch, Wiel a walk and Vince Conde a single to left — reached base consecutively. But Thompson struck out Spencer Navin looking with a slow curve and then got Jack Lupo to fly out to second to halt the potential rally. In the fifth, Kemp got only the team’s second hit at the time with a single to left. After Xavier Turner walked, Thompson struck out Yastrzemski to end the inning. “To stop our hitters, you have to do something special,” Corbin said, “Because our hitters are very good. But they did. “We played some great defense, had some clutch double plays that kept us in the game. We just couldn’t get the hit when we needed it ... so congratulations.” In the bottom of the second inning, Johnson was hit in the head by a pitch from Beede. But the junior left fielder, who was drafted Saturday in the 11th round of the MLB First Year Draft by the Detroit Tigers, remained in the game. “Going into the game, I was like, ‘We’re one win away from going to Omaha,'" Johnson said afterwards. “I’m excited, but later tonight when I’m sleeping in bed, it will hit me. I’ll be 10 times happier than I am right now, but it’s huge for the team.”
