May 25, 2009
Head coach Tim Corbin talked with the media Monday afternoon about the Commodores receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA’s Louisville Regional.
How were you before the announcement was made that your team got in
I knew before hand so not really. I was kind of anxious before we got in the tournament because I didn’t know what would happen. Trying to put that aside really to get into the tournament and just play for the tournament championship rather than play to get into a regional. I thought if we got a couple wins down at the SEC Tournament and got into that third game than we would have a pretty good chance. We went 16-12 against the field of 64 and 3-2 against the top-eight national seeds. It also helped that we won some big games on the road. We played better on the road this year than we did at home and frankly we enjoyed playing on the road because we were having success.
On Lousville’s Ballpark
I like the way that park plays. You have to really strike a ball to get it out of there and the field turf plays slow. The field plays true all the way around because of the turf so you won’t get a bad hop. I am glad we played on that field before because not a lot of school has that surface. The only time we have played on that surface is when we practice on the football field turf practice facilty.
How big was the team’s confidence after a solid performance at the SEC Tournament
I thought it was real big for our confidence. I thought we went down there and played really well. We pitched extremely well and I thought we played great defense, making only two errors in 34 innings. We played loose and played with confidence. I told the team after the championship game that LSU was the best team we have played this year and that they would probably end up in Omaha, so to beat them and than play them again in the championship game showed our guys where they stand and what they can accomplish when they play well. To go into Hoover and win our first three games and than fall to an excellent LSU team in the finals is quite an accomplishment for our guys.
On the draw
I like the fact that we have played two of the three teams already this year and that we have played on that surface in that stadium.
Looking at the other teams in the regional, you are familiar with them so as far as chances go could it have worked out any better?
You never know. The main thing is we were glad that we were in a regional and secondly I like the fact that we are playing close to home and on a surface that we are comfortable playing on. I really don’t think it matters where you go. You could go to any tournament right now and it’s all about who is playing hot right now. I mean look at last year, Fresno State was the 64th team in and fourth seed in their regional and once they got in they caught a fire storm and next thing you know they winning the College World Series.
On Middle Tennessee State
I have said this before, in my seven years at Vanderbilt, this is the best Middle Tennessee State that I have seen. It’s the most balanced team that they have had. They have certainly two of the better players that we have seen this year, in Bryce Brentz and Rawley Bishop. Not taking anything away from the rest of their players but, those two individuals could play on any team in the country. Brentz hit everything we threw at him. What separates him from a lot of hitters is his tremendous bat speed and he his a bad ball hitter. He reads pitches well and he can drive the ball to all fields.
Reaction to facing MTSU
We have seen them twice this year already so we are familiar with them. I guess that’s a good thing in some ways. They’re a good team and they have played well as of late, like the most of the other 64-teams that were selected.