Face of Nation : OMAHA, Neb. — Vanderbilt will head to its third national championship series after rallying to beat Louisville 3-2 in an emotional bracket final Friday night.
The Commodores looked dead in the water until a verbal confrontation in the eighth inning stirred up the Vanderbilt bats for a ninth-inning comeback.
It propelled Vanderbilt (57-11) to the best-of-three national championship series against Michigan (49-20), beginning Monday (6 p.m., ESPN).
Louisville starter Luke Smith, who had baffled Vanderbilt bats to that point, shouted at Julian Infante after striking him out to end the top of the eighth inning. Both teams gathered around the dugout steps in a spicy scene that ultimately was kept under control.”I knew at some point they would land a punch, and it was going to be a matter of how we responded,” coach Tim Corbin said. “You can’t play this game angry. You have to contain your emotions.”
The emotional outburst backfired on Smith and the Cardinals after Vanderbilt rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the ninth inning.
“That was the big turning point in the game,” Vanderbilt DH Philip Clarke said. “Things like that definitely fire us up.”
J.J. Bleday walked. Then Ethan Paul lined a double into the right-field corner to score Bleday, tie the game at 2-2, and end Smith’s outing. Clarke blooped a single to put runners on the corners, and Pat DeMarco hit a high-hopper over third base for an RBI double that put Vanderbilt ahead 3-2.
“We try not to give energy to the other team,” DeMarco said. “We know how that works. (We) focus the energy on us, and we came out on the right side.”
Suddenly, Vanderbilt’s dugout exploded in celebration after finding a spark it had needed all night.
“I love that part of baseball,” said Smith (6-1), who allowed three runs in 8⅓ innings in his first loss this season. “When they got their big hit in the ninth, they celebrate. That’s how it goes. When I strike somebody out, I celebrate, and that’s just the way it is.”
Hard-throwing right-hander Tyler Brown closed out the ninth, breaking the program-record with his 17th save of the season.
Vanderbilt earned a much-needed two days rest before facing Michigan, coached by former Commodores assistant Erik Backich.
Vanderbilt won the NCAA title in 2014 and finished runner-up in 2015. But this squad can make a case as the best in program history if it can beat the Wolverines for a national championship. It already has a program-record 57 victories, winning 33 of its last 36 games.
“I think right now I just want to enjoy this win tonight and focus on the kids and the ability just to decompress and take a breath,” Corbin said. “That was an emotional game in so many different ways.”
Vanderbilt manufactured a run in third inning. Harrison Ray drew a lead-off walk, reached third on Ty Duvall’s single and scored on Infante’s double-play groundout for a 1-0 lead. But the Commodores otherwise struggled against Smith until the ninth-inning rally.
Vanderbilt’s Mason Hickman, a sophomore right-hander, was not his most precise. He walked two batters, hit another and struck out only three, his lowest total among 12 starts this season.
But he battled through early control issues, strictly protected a 1-0 lead and got the job done. Hickman, a former Pope John Paul II standout, allowed two hits and no runs in six innings, tying his season high with 102 pitches.
In the seventh inning, Louisville made its move against reliever Jake Eder. The Cardinals scored twice. They scattered a double and two singles. And when Justin Lavey tried to steal third base, Duvall’s throw was slightly off line and went to left field to score a run.
Louisville led 2-1 through seven innings before Vanderbilt made its decisive charge and got a clinching defensive play for the final out. With the potential game-tying runner on second, Henry Davis tapped a short pop fly into the infield, where Ray made a diving catch.
“(Ray) has a burst,” Corbin said. “And that was an extremely tough play. It was the game-ender. But holy cow, what a play.”
