ESPN College Sports

Originally Published: June 1, 2009

Vandy keeps momentum in Louisville

Pitching, improving offense has Commodores one win from super regionals

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By Brian Bennett
ESPN.com
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Vanderbilt went into the SEC tournament on the NCAA bubble. The Commodores had a 12-17 conference record after a season of several up-and-down streaks.

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AP Photo/Timothy D. EasleyNick Christiani got a win in only his second start since March.

They solidified their spot in the NCAA regionals by making the SEC tournament championship game, and now here they are just one win away from advancing to the super regionals. After an opening-game loss to Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt has been the hottest team in the Louisville Regional, and beat host and top seed Louisville 8-4 on Sunday night.

"This has kind of been our trail," coach Tim Corbin said. "We've been one of those teams that has had to battle a lot of different emotional swings because of youth and inexperience. But you know what? It made us a little bit tougher. I can feel that for sure."

For a team that found itself having to win four straight games in three days and needing to beat the home team twice, the Commodores are in better shape than they could have reasonably hoped for.

The pitching has been superb. Sonny Gray threw eight shutout innings against Indiana on Saturday, and Caleb Cotham followed that up with a complete-game four-hitter in Sunday's 6-0 elimination game win over Middle Tennessee. That saved the bullpen for Sunday night's game, when Nick Christiani got the call.

Christiani had started only one game since March 22, and that was in the SEC title game against LSU, when he took the loss. But he wasn't going to be the one to break the string of strong pitching performances.

"You just want to keep it going," he said. "You want to be the guy who steps up and gets a big win when it counts the most."

Christiani didn't look like that guy early. He gave up a run in the first inning and wiggled out of a worse spot when Chris Dominguez's bid for a three-run homer fell just short. In the second inning, Christiani caught a break when a hard line drive was gloved by first baseman Curt Casali for a double play.

"I probably felt as out of sync as I have all year those first two innings," Christiani said. "After that, I tried to settle down and keep the ball down. And I tried to quicken my pace because I felt a little slow and sluggish."

Christiani ended up working into the seventh, allowing just three earned runs. The fresh Vanderbilt bullpen did the rest, with Drew Hayes and Chase Reid closing the door.

"That was big, to have fresh guys behind Nick," Corbin said. ""Rarely do you get to the third game of a tournament and see a shutout. Usually you see big scores."

Vandy's offense heated up during the weekend, too, scoring 24 runs in its past three games. If that nebulous creature known as momentum really exists in baseball, there's little doubt which team in this regional has it.

"We just want to carry the momentum we have going," said shortstop Brian Harris, who homered Sunday night.

Louisville, meanwhile, played like a team that knew it had a game to lose. The Cardinals committed three costly errors and made several mental mistakes in the field. Their pitchers repeatedly got to two-strike counts but couldn't put Vanderbilt hitters away.

"I thought we got beat in every facet of the game: pitching, defense, hitting and especially coaching," Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. "The best thing about it is we get a chance to come back tomorrow and play, so we need to get all of the bad stuff out of our system now."

McDonnell will hand the ball tomorrow to a freshman, right-hander Tony Zych. Corbin said he isn't sure yet who will start for him. But the way things are going for Vanderbilt, he'll have confidence in whoever takes the mound.

Brian Bennett covers college sports for ESPN.com. Check out his Big East football blog.