June 15, 2011
It wasn’t the first or the last time the Vanderbilt players grouped up for a celebratory huddle on Saturday night, but it may have been the most symbolic. Because this time, from out of the center of the tight circle of shouting and jumping and man-hugs emerged Coach Tim Corbin, lifted up on the shoulders of third baseman Jason Esposito and others to be recognized by the crowd that had just watched his baseball team clinch the first trip to the College World Series in program history.
The Commodores understand that if they intend to celebrate for the second time in three weeks – and they do, according to Esposito: “Your dream is to get to Omaha, but we want to dog-pile again” – they need to hold to the model for success that has brought them this far. That model relies on each player drawing from the strong internal network shared by his teammates and coaches, a structure briefly exposed to the outside world in the emotion of those celebratory huddles last weekend. And that network starts and ends with Corbin.
“Did you see us throw him up in the air?” catcher Curt Casali asked during the team’s time with the media on Monday. “He loved it. Nobody deserved it more than Coach Corbin. He’s our leader, and I can’t remember how many years ago he came here, but he put the team on his back. He’s carried us this whole way; he’s given us the tools we need to be successful. None of this would have been possible without Coach Corbin. He’s really set a high standard for all of us.”
Corbin’s influence on the success of Vanderbilt baseball is well documented, but all season long he has stressed his role in granting his players the accountability to run their own team more than anything else. His refrain: “It’s our program, but it’s their team.” The Commodores expect to see the returns on that philosophy in Omaha, when the lights get considerably brighter.
“If one player struggles, somebody’s going to pick us up like [Aaron Westlake],” Esposito said. “It’s awesome. Some of the guys weren’t hitting early on [on Saturday], and he just kept it going throughout the game and was our sparkplug, just like Tony Kemp was for us all year, just like Gomez has been, Riley Reynolds, Connor Harrell lately. Westy may not have the greatest day on Saturday, and maybe somebody else will. That’s just the way we play.”
“Everybody on this team, we’re all winners, and we expect to win,” said infielder Bryan Johns. “We’re going to take it one game at a time, just like we’ve been doing all year. The scenery’s going to be a little different, but we’re not going to get caught up in all that.”
Coach-speak mainstays such as “One game at a time” thrive within a strong circle of trust, and Corbin believes that’s exactly the situation that has his team buying in.
“You can feel it because they’re confident, they’re humble, they stay on task, they stay isolated and I think because of those factors right there they’ve been able to handle themselves very well,” Corbin said. “Because of that, they’ve had success. I think that consistency goes back to maturity and the fact that they have a plan and now we’re trying to execute it.”
That level of focus can withstand the pressure of Omaha, according to Corbin – this year’s team is too tight to be distracted by the national exposure that Vanderbilt teams so rarely enjoy.
“We’re going to deal with it the best way we can and I think the best way to deal with it is to enjoy it and stay immersed in one another.”
