Our draw

[cjdore]

Agree that the UT draw looks rougher than ours.

Nevertheless, there is a lot to be not so confident about. Hopefully, Kumar regains his location and control--he has seemed a bit off lately. Those old fashioned honest-to-goodness curve ball ball pitchers have given us fits over the last several weeks. We need to get our slow ball hitting shoes on.

Still in all, have to like our chances this weekend. I also find it alluring--and trying not to jinx anything--that the college World Series could have an all Tennessee final. As the late, great Mel Allen would have said "how about that".

You may not want to overlook ARK with Kopps in the bullpen.

[cjdore]

It makes no sense not to throw your best pitchers earliest. If you lose one game, you’ll have to play an extra game and burn another pitcher, to reach the finals. I don’t know why any team would take a chance with anyone less than your best every game. This tourney is different than the SEC tourney, in that our first game was on a Wednesday instead of Friday and our pitchers needed that extra day’s rest. Let’s hope Rocker and Leiter are more focused on every hitter as one bad inning could be devastating with a high pitch count.

Presbyterian should not be more than a speed bump. To waste one of our top 2 pitchers seems very wasteful. I would pitch Little or Reilly and hope to at least get 6 from either. And then hope and pray that our two aces are in top form!!

[Haptown]

Throw your best and if you win the 1st two games, then somebody else has to beat you twice with their #4 and #5 pitchers in your 3rd and 4th game.

[VUDU]

You have to pitch Rocker and Leiter the first two games. Imagine losing the first two games and being eliminated without having pitched one of your two aces.

No way Corbs is going to pitch anybody but Rocker and Leiter the first two games.

[fldore]

I get the argument of saving your best pitcher if your first opponent doesnt appear to be pretty good. In theory you should be able to beat Presbyterian without Rocker or Leiter. However baseball can be weird. And we aren't playing consistently well. In these double elimination tournaments, winning the first two games is such a huge advantage, I'm not sure the benefit of saving a pitcher for a game is worth giving up the better opportunity to win the first two games. And who knows if Presbyterian really is that bad, maybe we're up 10-0 after 4 innings and you decide to pull Rocker giving him some availability out of the pen if need be.

[baseball1234]

So if you wait to pitch either Rocker or Leiter and it rains and our games get pushed back, what do you do in the Super (assuming we get there)? Corbs is managing million dollar arms. Highly doubtful either of those two will pitch on short rest. Also, winning the first two games is a huge advantage - that team only needs three wins. A team that loses one of first two games needs four wins.

[Levon]

Throw your best and if you win the 1st two games, then somebody else has to beat you twice with their #4 and #5 pitchers in your 3rd and 4th game.

Hap is absolutely correct. Other posters have noted that Vanderbilt doesn't have the pitching depth to win from the loser's bracket. True, but that equally applies to 63 other teams playing this weekend; nobody has the pitching depth to realistically expect to win when forced to use the bottom half of their pitching staff in win-or-go-home games. Gotta be Rocker-Leiter in games 1 & 2 and hope they can overcome their issues from the last few weeks. Win the first two games and your chances of playing the following week are really good.

[dore74]

Agree that the UT draw looks rougher than ours.

Nevertheless, there is a lot to be not so confident about. Hopefully, Kumar regains his location and control--he has seemed a bit off lately. Those old fashioned honest-to-goodness curve ball ball pitchers have given us fits over the last several weeks. We need to get our slow ball hitting shoes on.

Still in all, have to like our chances this weekend. I also find it alluring--and trying not to jinx anything--that the college World Series could have an all Tennessee final. As the late, great Mel Allen would have said "how about that".

Oddly enough, Mel Allen's brother lives in Montgomery. Had dinner with them o ce. Nice guy. His niece actually went to Vanderbilt in the late 70s. Had several poly science classes with her. Her son and my daughter went to school together and had the same birthday. Small world.

The Mel Allen trivia way cool, thanks

[nyyankeeDore]

Agree that the UT draw looks rougher than ours.

Nevertheless, there is a lot to be not so confident about. Hopefully, Kumar regains his location and control--he has seemed a bit off lately. Those old fashioned honest-to-goodness curve ball ball pitchers have given us fits over the last several weeks. We need to get our slow ball hitting shoes on.

Still in all, have to like our chances this weekend. I also find it alluring--and trying not to jinx anything--that the college World Series could have an all Tennessee final. As the late, great Mel Allen would have said "how about that".

Oddly enough, Mel Allen's brother lives in Montgomery. Had dinner with them o ce. Nice guy. His niece actually went to Vanderbilt in the late 70s. Had several poly science classes with her. Her son and my daughter went to school together and had the same birthday. Small world.

The Mel Allen trivia way cool, thanks

Yes, a "Ballantine Blast”.

[charlestonalum]

Did everyone know that the Presbyterian Coach, Elton Pollock, was coached by Corbin at PC, and Pollock considers Corbin his chief mentor. Good story about their relationship in morning Charleston paper. Not unexpectedly, Pollock says Corbin worked harder than players and was head grounds keeper as well as Head coach.