2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 23, 2021

Tim Corbin

Vanderbilt Commodores

Postgame Press Conference

Vanderbilt - 6, Stanford - 5

COACH CORBIN: It was a tough, emotional baseball game. It was probably a tale of two games for us in terms of the first four innings were sloppy. I thought we were tentative. Didn't really handle the situation very well. And they were putting on us quick.

We had to have some type of response. Dominic's home run certainly was a response to that. And then later on in the sixth inning when they scored a run I thought that was a good job of responding, counter punching with two runs -- Tate had a big hit, Parker Noland had a big hit.

And certainly to keep the game where it was, it was the pitching. Again, Maldonado, McElvain, Fish got one hitter. He didn't give up any damage. He had to pitch that guy very tough, obviously, because Brock Jones had a good night up to that point. And then Murphy getting out of a huge bases-loaded jam.

I realize it's tough to lose a game that way, no doubt about it. Been on that side. It's just tough. But I thought we had some very good at-bats at the end. Javi's at-bat was so good just to stay off a pitch, not leave the zone, just get to first base.

Spencer Jones, pinch hitting, just putting the ball in the other side of the field, just putting it in play and getting to base. And certainly Bradfield leaning on a breaking ball and such a big hit, three quality at-bats in a row. And then the wild pitch.

But we had to get to that point. We just had to tie it up. So good for the kids. They didn't back down. They've been tough. They've showed a lot of resiliency and played a lot of one-run games -- Regional, Super Regional to tonight. So, nothing's been easy for the group.

Q. Looking back when you first came into the game, as a coach and you watch a guy just with that electric of stuff and you go into the ninth with your season on the line, what was your thinking going into the ninth and what was your message to the offense going into the ninth? What did you feel that the offense needed to do differently approach-wise to capitalize against a guy that's red hot like that?

COACH CORBIN: I just knew he was going to throw the breaking ball and we had to -- Bax was talking to the hitters about watching the ball pop, and if it popped low it wasn't going to be a strike. But we had to manage that pitch.

I thought the breaking ball is kind of like -- it's Kopps like, from Arkansas. To me, it had a similar feel to it. Now I didn't hit, but I knew we were having a hard time picking it up. And he's got a good enough fastball that you have to be ready for that too.

But I thought when he got himself in situations where he needed a pitch, he was going to always roll to that. We kind of knew it. But we just had to do a good job managing the zone.

And Javi did that. That was the at-bat. That was the at-bat that turned the inning. It was just getting to first base. He could have left the zone on that breaking ball down but he stayed off of it. That was a very good at-bat by a kid that's got a good heartbeat for the game.

Q. This is the first time you guys faced elimination this season. Did it take some time to settle in, do you think? Or how do you think everyone handled just the added pressure of an elimination game?

COACH CORBIN: In retrospect, not very good, Teddy. I thought we were pressing a little bit. I thought we were pressing. We were anxious in some respects offensively. We were on our heels defensively. And it cost us.

The first inning was indicative of how we were playing the first four innings. Ball's not taken care of. Fly balls not being caught. I just thought we were very tentative inside of the game.

And, I mean, you look at the lineup, absolutely zero excuses, but you look at the lineup and none of those guys have been on the field before. So I'm sure for them, when you think about it and you're human and the elimination games are just different because you know that if things don't go your way, the season's over. And there's some emotional feelings that way. And I'm sure it can pull you down. And it's tough to get inside this environment and play with freedom.

But towards the middle part of the game I thought we did. I thought we kind of settled in. The verbiage was different in the dugout. And the actions on the field, there was more communication. I thought we were very quiet at the beginning and just very tentative.

Q. Could you share a little bit of what the cameras picked up of what you said to the guys in the dugout after falling behind early? And then also subsequently what your team may have learned about itself from tonight's comeback win?

COACH CORBIN: It was just a moment. I don't typically talk to them during the course of the game. But I thought that there were some moments. I went out to the mound to change pitchers, and I didn't think the eyes looked good. And when I came back in, Browny said the same thing.

So just didn't want to go down -- if we were going to lose, we're going to lose playing aggressively and I just didn't think we were. It was more of a challenge than anything else. Rare moment because, first of all, I don't like doing that. And, second, of all it's their game. It's theirs to win or lose, and you don't ever want to interfere.

But at the same time I didn't feel like they were playing like themselves and we needed to snap out of it. And I'm not saying that discussion had anything to do with what happened. But at that point we just needed to snap out of whatever fog we were in because we were not playing like ourselves.

Q. Talk about the decision to pinch-hit Spencer in that spot, what went into it. What you thought you could get from him to make him the guy in the right spot. It had been a while; he hadn't hit much in the postseason.

COACH CORBIN: No, he hadn't, but at the same time he got a pinch-hit the other day. And he swung the bat early. Didn't get what he wanted, but he was ready to hit. I think that's the most important thing.

The other thing, his swings away from the game have been good. He stayed very present even though he hasn't been playing. I credit him with that. But I think the difference was the fact that we felt like his barrel could potentially run into that breaking ball. We felt like if he was going to throw the breaking ball, and he did; the first two pitches he threw to Spence were fastballs -- but we felt if he was going to throw the breaking ball Spencer had a chance to run into it because of his barrel angle.

So, we thought that was a better matchup than what Jayson was. You never know. Rolling dice sometimes, flipping coins. The one thing about Spencer, you're going to get a good heartbeat because he contains himself very well. He's very present in what's going on.

Q. Wanted to follow up on that, on Spencer and Vaz, those were two guys that had to practice a lot of patience before they got their opportunity. Anything about their character that helped them out in being prepared despite their limited experience this year?

COACH CORBIN: Well, you mentioned both of them. But Javi, on the front end of it, is very engaged in every game. And that was game one to game 50. There was only one time he stepped on the field as a starter and that was when we played Georgia.

In the postseason we got to a point where we felt like he was going to give us good at-bats, he was going to take his walks, he wasn't going to swing out of the zone, he could bunt. There were a lot of things we felt he could do to move offense. And he gives you a pretty good defensive piece in the outfield.

You don't get to that point and play well unless you stay present for the entire season. And he did.

Jonesy, the same thing. Jonesy had to go through some tough stuff now. He's had two big injuries that have kept him out. It's tough to come back from the arm. So defensively just haven't had much options for Jonesy. It's either DH or nothing.

And he recognizes that, but wants to play. But he, too, is -- he's a very calm kid. He keeps the harmony of the team does what he has to do and he understands the team role. But understanding a team role here at Vanderbilt is the most important thing these guys can do before they get a playing role. And that starts day one. And that has to happen. If you don't know what a team role is then you'll never get on the field as a player.

Q. What does it mean for your team that they were able to win a game like this without Rocker or Leiter down to the bottom of the lineup and after having played so badly at the beginning of the game?

COACH CORBIN: There's a lot of positives from that because you lean on two guys in a lot of different ways. And the fact that we could start Christian -- and he didn't pitch that bad. We play a little bit of defense behind him, he probably goes deeper into that game and certainly doesn't get frustrated.

And then after that we were leaning on the bullpen. But I think the fact that they could just withstand that, and playing in another one-run game, we've just played a lot of one-run games. We have. And, really, losing the other night in that one-run game is one of the few one-run games we lost all year.

But they get to those moments they do a good job of competing staying in it. We might not be the most talented team, but the thing that you can't deny the kids is they are tough. They're tough. And every time you challenge them, they come back. And I appreciate that. I appreciate they're fighters.