2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 18, 2021

Tim Corbin

Vanderbilt Commodores

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin.

Coach, could you please give us an opening statement.

TIM CORBIN: Well, like everyone else, we're very excited to be here, very grateful to be here. It feels similar to 2011, at least for me, when we were part of opening up the stadium. But I feel like in a lot of different ways we're rejuvenating the tournament, opening up the stadium again. That's a great feeling for college baseball in general.

But played some good baseball at the end, particularly at the end once we got out of the SEC. We played well during the course of the year, pretty consistent for the most part. Had a difficult regional against Georgia Tech, and certainly a very difficult super regional against East Carolina, two very good teams.

We got through it and are here. Just, as I said, grateful to be here.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions.

Q. The theme for this series, this game between you and Arizona, is Arizona bats versus Vanderbilt pitching. Vanderbilt has been a good hitting team this year. What do you think you need to do offensively to counteract Arizona's offense?

TIM CORBIN: Score more runs than them.

I just think everything's different. On paper, statistically, whether it's offense or pitching, things look a certain way. But they always seem to play out a little bit differently when you're here. Or maybe in a tournament in general.

But we just have to be able to slow them down enough. We have to get comfortable in the batter's box in order to get some base runners and move runners. I think it's as simple as that, yeah.

Q. Do you know if those two relievers for Arizona are available?

TIM CORBIN: I don't know that, no.

Q. With Arizona's offense, what stands out to you especially about the versatility, the many ways they can score, a one-trick pony, seems like they have a lot of ways to be productive?

TIM CORBIN: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of run production throughout the lineup. If you look at all nine guys, you have to be inclusive of all nine guys, because there may be one, two guys that might be different than the rest, but they're part of the rest.

If you start at the top and work down, I mean, it's very potent. The guy at the top is very good. Berry is not a freshman, he's not typically not a two-hole hitter. When you hit 17 home runs and drive 70-plus RBIs, that's not usually statistically what a two-hole hitter looks like.

I think Jay's in a situation where someone has to hit two. They all produce. You pile them up together. The combination of left-handed hitting, some quality right-handed bats with strength, with average, with pretty good plus-minus in terms of walk to strike-out. These guys are very difficult to X out.

It's just a potent offense that you see in these tournaments every so often where a lot of .350 and above hitters.

Q. What do you see from Kumar Rocker in terms of his demeanor, his ability to handle the spotlight? A lot of people know his name and probably his game because of how much success he's had, yet he's able to produce at a high level with a target on his back. What has allowed him to do that?

TIM CORBIN: I think he keeps things simple. I think he gets lost in competition. I think when you're competitive and you love the competitive arena, there's very little that's on your mind outside of that.

I think it's one thing to talk about things away from the white lines, but there are certain guys that once they get in between the white lines, it really doesn't matter what they've even talked about prior to that moment, it's just a matter of competition. And he competes very well.

Q. What has really stood out to you the most about Jack, his development? He was a good prospect in high school, but he's kind of exploded this year.

TIM CORBIN: Consistency to what he's doing. He's the same every day. Whether it's academically, socially or athletically, he's low maintenance, mature, gets to the facility, and it's full-on go. He's wired to compete, too, every single day.

Just works at what he's doing. He's got a strong passion for what he's doing. High care level kid. I think regardless of how he was spoken about, he's just thrown himself into the group. He loves competing for the team. He's very protective of the team.

So much like Kumar in a lot of different ways, when you talk about the fanfare that each one of them get, they get lost in their team and they get lost in competition.

The other piece of that is sometimes when kids are talked about more or celebrated more, it might in a lot of different ways have a negative effect on your team unless those kids are inclusive. They're not exclusive. They're very inclusive. They include the other people on the team in every event of their lives. I think that's why it's easy to hang on to both of them.

Q. Obviously he's got the famous father who obviously had a great career. How much do you think that's factored into who Jack is, how he's developed?

TIM CORBIN: I mean, it's his father. Whether his father played baseball or not, his father's had an influence on him.

The thing about it is, there's a lot of Major League Baseball players out there, there's a lot of Major League Baseball players that have kids. I would tell you that 90% of them never follow in their father's footsteps because either they've had enough of it, they've seen it, they might not have the same passion that their dad or mom do about it, so they move away from it.

Jack is good at what he does because he's passionate about what he does. He loves it. He may love it because of what his dad did or how Laurie and Al handled the baseball situation. But you have to really enjoy it and be engrossed in it, and he is. Whether that's a reflection of his dad and mom, Jack can answer that question better than I can. But you can see that he's the best reflection of both of his parents.

Q. With the Major League draft in July this year, how different has your experience been, and the players' experience been, when they're not worrying about being drafted or things of that nature, they can focus entirely on this post-season run? Has that been a positive? How different has the experience been?

TIM CORBIN: Yeah, it's very much a positive for the kids. You just don't want kids conflicted or split. That's not fair. That's not fair to kids in general. No fault to anyone, it's just what it was.

But it's not fair to a kid. It's not fair to the team that he's on because that is a big day for a lot of kids. The fact that they have to share mental interests with what they're going to do on the field versus what my future looks like, that's not what we should be doing to an 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-old kid. They should be able to compartmentalize what they're doing, pay attention to what they're doing.

This is a team event, one of the greatest things they'll ever do. That is even if they get to the big leagues. Every single big leaguer that's ever been to Vanderbilt that's played in College World Series has always come back to these moments, this tournament, as being the most important moment of their baseball life.

To have those interests split doesn't serve the kid or team very well. So it's a lot different just because you don't have to contend with it.

Q. Can you share an example or two over the years where a guy gets drafted, a situation where someone was put in a tough spot like you're talking about?

TIM CORBIN: Super regional 2015 at Illinois. We get done playing and five minutes later we're on the third baseline celebrating Dansby Swanson getting picked first on a phone. That's different.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk a little about Troy LaNeve, what he did to earn some more playing time towards the end of the year, what he's brought to your team so far?

TIM CORBIN: Troy LaNeve?

Q. Yes.

TIM CORBIN: What did he do to earn more playing time?

Q. Yes. Seemed like he got some more starts, at-bats in the month of May.

TIM CORBIN: He just played better. When you play better, you get an opportunity to play. You don't play better, then someone else can play better and they'll play in front of you. He just played better. That's really what it comes down to. It's kind of a simple thing.

But the reason he did play better is because he stayed consistent with his investment habits. He never went in a different direction. He never allowed not traveling on a couple initial trips move him in a direction of negativism. He just always stayed positive, stayed very consistent. He's a mature kid.

It took him a little bit of time, but I'm happy for him. I'm happy for him because that's a good example of what happens when you really pay attention to what you're doing and you don't look to the left, don't look to the right, you just stay in your lane and do the best you can, and understand that at some point in time things will work out.

But it's not on your watch, it doesn't happen at the speed or rate that you want it to happen. It never does. It happens completely different.

He bought into that. He's earned that right to be on the field.

Q. A few years ago you wore the red, white, and blue uniforms every Sunday to honor our heroes. When did you switch to the green? Your players respond to that. It's important to honor our heroes. What does that mean to you?

TIM CORBIN: Well, it means a great deal. I didn't want to produce a uniform that was just gimmicky or different. I wanted it to have meaning. Every single color on that uniform, that green uniform, has meaning. It has meaning for the country, it's representative of the country, it's representative of service in general, not just soldiers but service in general. It's got the school colors on there. It's got the state colors on there.

It's a celebratory uniform because before they're Vanderbilt University student-athletes they're American citizens from different parts of the country, from different ethnic backgrounds.

It's their ability to jump into a group and blend those backgrounds into one another to formulate a stronger group. I just think that the uniform is very representative of that. We take a lot of time to explain it to them because I don't want them to think it is a gimmick. It's not camouflage. We're not soldiers. I do think we're a good representation of the country. We enjoy being able to do that.

Q. On the red, white, and blues that you used to wear, how long did that go? You've been doing this forever.

TIM CORBIN: Yeah.

Q. Do you remember when you stopped the red, white, and blue ones?

TIM CORBIN: When did we stop them?

Q. The red, white, and blue. You did that forever before you went to the green.

TIM CORBIN: Right. This is the second year. It would have been the third year, but we didn't wear them in '20 because of the season. But this would be the third year that we've had the green.

Q. How long did you do the red, white, and blue? That's what I should have asked.

TIM CORBIN: It was actually eight years.

Q. Is there a development on Tate Kolwyck's status going into tomorrow night? Anything happening lately that's led you to believe he might be a factor tomorrow?

TIM CORBIN: He's getting better. He took BP on the field today. He took his groundballs. It's kind of day-to-day. We'll see how he feels tomorrow. But he's on the roster. He's ready to jump in.

But I would only do it if it felt like he's not going to be hindered by it and he can help the team.

Q. Do you have any left-handed pitchers on the roster?

TIM CORBIN: Yeah, I think we brought some. We got Fisher, Owen, Berkwich. I think that's it. If I forgot one, some parent is going to be upset. Won't be for the first time, huh (laughter)?

Q. Have you noticed a change? Is there a change in demeanor with the team when you actually get to Omaha or the same old focus?

TIM CORBIN: Yeah, I think they're not giddy, they're not weird, they're not posturing or acting coming out of their personality. We talk a lot about that anyway just in general.

But, no, I think there's a celebratory piece of this, of coming to Omaha. There's an awe factor to it like I said the other day. You have to allow them to have that awe factor. It's like going to Disney World for the first time as a little kid. You go there and your eyes are wide open to what you see. After a few days, you start to settle in, and really enjoy the amusement park. Same case here.

Any special human event that any of us have, you want to go there and be able to take it in first. At a point in time you have to transition into that player piece, which we will. We'll do that. Did it today. We'll try to do it moving forward.

Doesn't guarantee anything. But I think there's a comfort level of getting here and indulging in the emotion of it before you can start playing. We do that.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you again for your time today and for joining us.

TIM CORBIN: My pleasure. Thank you all. I appreciate the questions.