For the second year in a row, Duke worked its postseason magic into a super regional appearance, with a trip to its first College World Series since 1961 on the line.
By Evan Kolin | 06/06/2019
Duke entered the NCAA tournament selection show a bubble team, head over heels to even have a spot in regionals.
Less than two weeks later, the Blue Devils are now two wins away from Omaha.
For the second year in a row, Duke worked its postseason magic into a super regional appearance, with a trip to its first College World Series since 1961 on the line. This time around, the Blue Devils will head to Nashville, Tenn., as heavy underdogs against No. 2 overall seed Vanderbilt, the three-game series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. and continuing Saturday at 9 p.m. and—if necessary—Sunday at 3 p.m.
“I don’t think anybody’s given us credit for being [in the super regional] except ourselves,” head coach Chris Pollard said of his team’s underdog image. “And that’s fine with us. We believed in ourselves and believed in this team from the beginning. And I told them today ‘There’s a bunch of other programs that could’ve been in this position. But you were the ones that were tough enough when things got rocky there in the middle of the year, when we lost guys to injury.
“You were the team that was tough enough to not flinch in that situation because you stayed together and stayed committed to one another. Stayed in the fight—that’s an expression we use a lot.’”
If Duke (34-25) wants to keep playing past this weekend, it’ll have to get past a very tough opponent in the Commodores.
After missing the NCAA tournament every season from 1981 until 2003, the Vanderbilt baseball program has been revitalized under Tim Corbin. Since taking over as head coach in 2003, Corbin has led Vanderbilt to 15 NCAA tournaments, three College World Series appearances and one national championship.
While the Commodores (52-10) are typically a team defined by pitching and defense, this year’s squad finished the regular season fifth in the country in scoring, led by SEC Player of the Year JJ Bleday and All-SEC first team third baseman Austin Martin. Bleday led the nation in home runs with 26, a mark that also set Vanderbilt’s single-season record, while Martin finished sixth in the country with a .410 batting average.
The Commodores’ offense, however, is far from a two-man wrecking crew. Shortstop Ethan Paul and catcher Philip Clarke finished first and third in the SEC in runs batted in—with Bleday sandwiched between them at second—while first baseman Julio Infante smashed three home runs last weekend en route to regional Most Outstanding Player honors.
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Source: https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/06/duke-baseball-college-world-series-vanderbilt
