This is the end of June on college baseball’s biggest possible stage, the very last stop at the very end of the Road to Omaha.
What do you need to know about the #VandyBoys and #OmaDawgs as they step onto the field at TD Ameritrade Monday night ? Read ahead, take notes and feel free to spout any and all facts aloud to your family, friends and neighbors to impress them with your sudden CWS knowledge …
Back in the day, USC made winning bunches of championships look easy, winning five straight from 1970 to 1974, but in the 47 seasons since the CWS double has been accomplished only four times.
What you need to know about their pitching: All due respect to everyone else in black and gold, the story of 2021 Vanderbilt baseball was always going to be the story of Jack Leiter, SEC Pitcher of the Year, and Kumar Rocker, the 2019 CWS Most Outstanding Player.
See: sophomore infielder Carter Young, who started 2021 with a 14-game hitting streak, hit the homer that essentially clinched the Super Regional win over East Carolina, opened the CWS with a huge late-inning game-tying homer against Arizona, but has zero hits since.
What you need to know that has nothing to do with pitching or hitting: One year ago, Vandy head coach Tim Corbin stopped in Omaha as he and his wife were driving from Nashville to Mount Rushmore, visiting TD Ameritrade Park during what should have been the very week of his team’s CWS title defense.
MLB draft spotlight: According to ESPN MLB draft analyst Kiley McDaniel, Leiter and Rocker are currently projected as the No.
7 national seed; won Starkville Regional and Super Regional, defeating Samford, VCU, Campbell and No.
State, the team that has brought us the likes of Hunter Renfroe, Jonathan Papelbon and the duo of Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro — aka “Thunder & Lighting” — is making its third straight trip to Omaha.
What you need to know about their pitching: The Dogs’ staff even managed to outgun the much-ballyhooed arms of Texas, which was lauded , set the NCAA single-season record for strikeouts by a single pitching staff and also lock down the NCAA record for most strikeouts per nine innings.
The Big Arm: The second half of that record-setting duo in Game 2 was closer Landon Sims, who relieved Will Bednar after the starter had piled up 15 K’s and then added six of his own.
From the dramatic Game 8 comeback win over Virginia to Saturday night’s walk-off hit from shortstop/super-sub Tanner Leggett, the Bulldogs seem to always get the big hit when they need it.
The Big Bat: Pick a Tanner, any Tanner, from Tanner Leggett to catcher Logan Tanner.
It’s because he was an infielder for one of the most beloved teams in CWS history, the 1990 Citadel Bulldogs who upset Miami in the NCAA tourney to reach Omaha and then upset Cal State-Fullerton via a 12th-inning home-plate slide that is still one of the most replayed College World Series moments.