June 23, 2015
By Jerome Boettcher
OMAHA, Neb. — As the fastballs zipped, the curveballs dipped and the changeups fooled Virginia’s lineup, Karl Ellison just smiled underneath that catcher’s mask.
He’d seen this dominant and masterful pitching time and time again over the last two years, so, not shockingly to Ellison, Carson Fulmer’s last collegiate start mirrored many of his 28 others in a Vanderbilt uniform.
“I saw Carson Fulmer,” Ellison said with a big grin after Monday’s game. “I think that was the best way to describe it — it was him. The chance of that being his last outing… I mean we’re in Omaha. It is a big stage and he is a big-time arm. He does his thing in these situations. I had a good feeling he was going to do something special tonight.”
Fulmer saved one of his best performances for last, pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory over Virginia in the first game of the College World Series championship series. The hard-throwing right-hander has the Commodores on the brink of their second straight national championship heading into game two of the best-of-three series on Tuesday night.
The junior put Vanderbilt (51-19) in prime position by striking out eight and allowing just two hits before handing the ball over to roommate Ben Bowden in the eighth inning with two outs. The 6-foot, 195-pound flame-thrower from Lakeland, Fla., walked off the mound and to the Vanderbilt dugout one last time to a raucous standing ovation from the Commodore faithful.
“What made it big for me was not only did I have Coach (Tim Corbin) there (on the mound) but I had the whole infield,” Fulmer said. “And I consider those guys my best friends, along with the other guys on my team. For me being able to spend that moment with them and just look back on the brotherhood that we created — on top of it with a win at the end of the game. So it’s definitely a moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and I couldn’t have asked for it to happen any better.”
But just 30 minutes before he threw the first of 119 pitches, Fulmer was sick to his stomach in a bathroom near the Vanderbilt dugout.
The night before he began to get the chills — he had a fever. His hotel roommate, Dansby Swanson, picked up some Advil and water, and then spent the night in Kyle Wright’s room, hoping to avoid getting sick as well.
Fulmer sweat it out overnight in a heavy jacket and under the sheets and was still shaking most of Monday morning. Only Swanson and athletic trainer Tracy Campbell knew Fulmer was feeling ill. Reporters broke the news to Corbin after the game.
But by the time 7:05 p.m. rolled around, any thought of Fulmer not making the start had evaporated.
“There was no doubt,” Swanson said. “No doubt.”
Fulmer took some medication right before the game and was his vintage self when he stepped on the mound.
He showed a national stage why he was drafted eighth overall by the Chicago White Sox just two weeks ago. He retired the first seven batters he saw and wiggled out of jams in the third and fifth innings after putting two runners on with one out in both instances.
“Regardless of how I felt, I wanted to give our team a chance,” Fulmer told reporters afterwards. “No way I was going to miss this start. … Once the adrenaline steps in it kind of holds you up. Once I stepped out there I was good to go.”
And he was nearly unhittable.
Of his 119 pitches, he threw 76 strikes. While Fulmer’s fastball was on point, his offspeed pitches did just as much damage if not more. Going from 95 miles per hour to an 82 mile per hour changeup kept Virginia off balance. Six of his eight strikeouts ended with the Cavaliers going down swinging, often whiffing at a pitch low in the zone.
“He makes it easy back there,” Ellison said. “He does a great job and I’m very thankful I got the opportunity to play with him.”
Through the first seven innings, the only hit he allowed was a hard-hit infield single that deflected off Will Toffey’s glove in the top of the third. He hit the next batter to put two runners on with one out. He then got behind 2-0 in the count to Virginia leadoff hitter Adam Haseley.
But then Fulmer regrouped, threw a strike and got Haseley to pop up to shallow center. He induced a groundout to end the inning and get out of the jam. He was in a similar situation in the fifth after surrendering a one-out walk and hitting another batter. But he followed by throwing six straight strikes, ending the threat with another harmless fly ball to the outfield and striking out Haseley with three pitches. From there he retired the next 10 batters before giving up a two-out double and walk in the eighth to end his night.
“As the game progresses he just gets stronger,” Corbin said. “I’ve used Joe Frazier, the fighter, as an analogy because he keeps coming and he keeps throwing punches and he’s just looking for your jaw — he’s not trying to maneuver around you.”
Fulmer will go down in the record books as one of the greatest Vanderbilt pitchers.
On Monday, the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year closed the season with a 14-2 record, tying former teammate Tyler Beede for the most wins in a single season. His 167 strikeouts this season trails only Cy Young Award winner David Price, who had 194 in 2007. And Fulmer’s 1.83 ERA is just a tad better than his 1.98 ERA mark last year, for fifth-best in a single season by a Vanderbilt pitcher.
For his career, his 24 wins are tied for the fourth-most in program history. That mark is even more impressive considering Fulmer only started for two seasons after coming out of the bullpen as a freshman in 2013. His 313 strikeouts are the fourth-most for a Commodore, ahead of Mike Minor and just behind Sonny Gray.
But for all of his accomplishments on the mound, Fulmer will be known just as much for his demeanor off of it. Called an old soul by his coach, Fulmer is one of the politest guys on the team, almost always answering with `Yes, sir and No, sir.’
A good teammate and friend, his leadership and presence in the clubhouse will be remembered just as much as his fitting nickname — Filthy Fulmer.
“As a kid, we just haven’t had many like him,” Corbin said. “He’s one of the most special kids that we’ve ever had on our campus. I mean, this kid’s, like, a 4.0 student. His last term here, when everything — the focus — could be anywhere but on academics, he just does such a good job, like Dansby, on centering themselves in the moment and containing whatever they have to do. But he’s a special, special competitor, and he’ll go down as one of the greatest pitchers to ever pitch at Vanderbilt. I don’t want to say the (greatest), because we’ve had some good ones, but I’ll tell you what, he’s a special guy.”
