2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 30, 2021

Tim Corbin

Vanderbilt Commodores

Postgame Press Conference

Mississippi State - 9, Vanderbilt - 0

COACH CORBIN: Well, I think it's a time right now to thank the NCAA and the people of Omaha for hosting the tournament. None of us took this for granted. None of us knew that we could potentially get people in here to watch these kids.

It was such a celebration of baseball here in June, something we really needed. It's something that the city needed. And I commend the NCAA and Omaha for being able to pull this off in the manner that they did and keeping everyone healthy and safe.

The other thing is congratulations to Chris, Jake, Cheese, Scotty, John Cohen, their athletic director, Mississippi State, their players, their fan base, for winning this thing. They're very good. And very deserving. That's a very tough team in so many different ways.

We knew that when they came to Nashville. But you could see who they were once the tournament started to finish. Great comeback for them in so many ways.

I think they realized that they were never out of this thing even after we beat them in the first game. They pitched so well. Bednar was outstanding. Sims is next level reliever. Their players are tough. They're really tough. They do such a nice job playing offense and playing defense.

It's a very good team. And we send our congratulations over to them and everyone from Mississippi State.

Q. What are you going to remember the most from coaching Kumar?

COACH CORBIN: I can't say right now. He's just a one-in-a-million kid. His fibers are so real and so pure. He just loves team. He he's connected to competition. He's connected to his teammates in such a way that just the ultimate college pitcher, ultimate college teammate. Ultimate college baseball player. He'll go down as one of the very best we've had at Vanderbilt.

I don't like to categorize the kids because I don't want to slight anyone, but, my gosh, this kid -- he's meant so much to our program. He's meant a lot to college baseball. He's meant a lot to the SEC.

He's the best reflection of his parents. That's high praise. He's just done everything right. I love that young man.

Q. This was always going to be a tough season. You broke in a new lineup. You didn't have last year. You had stops and starts. I'm sure they were trying. You had COVID things. Is this a team that just maybe got tired at the end? A longer season than they're used to playing and all the things coming in, with inexperience? I don't want to make excuses for you, but that had to be tough on a team not being used to this grind that they faced having never done it before?

COACH CORBIN: I would say you're right. Yeah, you don't ever want to be say something that would take away from Mississippi State, because they were the better team.

But that being said, I think that we lost a lot of emotional energy and physical and mental energy toward the end. You could feel it. Our bats didn't have the same speed in them, same strength.

We played hard. We were gritty, but that's probably what got us to this point, to be honest with you. And there's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to be perfect in this thing to win it. We did that in 2014.

But you have to have the timely hits. You have to have big hits. You have to have pitching, when it counts. And you have to make plays. And we just didn't do that. I mean, that's no slight on the kids. We just didn't play our best baseball towards the end.

They're trying. But I would say this was a real difficult -- getting through the Regional was emotional. Getting through the Super Regional was emotional. And then as we got through this, we had to navigate certain situations. And I think it caught up with us.

And then the groundswell of momentum over on the other side, you could feel it. And that's real. It is real especially at this level. But it caught up with us.

Q. You talked about the season, about the lack of experience that they have, but how do you think that such a young team, making it this far, could, you know, be a vital experience going forward into the future?

COACH CORBIN: Yeah, it certainly helps everyone. I mean, to come here, number one, it helps you. It helps your confidence. To come here and get in a game helps you.

And certainly playing as long as we did. We played a lot of baseball games out here. We played a lot of tough baseball games out here. Didn't always play well, but we played tough baseball. And that certainly is going to help the kids moving forward.

I think the thing that you identify with once you get out at this level is, if you're a younger kid, the execution of really good pitching, the execution of really good hitting.

And you can take Mississippi State's numbers and you can look at their batting average, but that tells nothing. And sometimes numbers don't tell the story, and they certainly don't with that team, because that team challenges you on every single pitch.

And really with some of them -- and my mind moves to Hancock right away -- it's almost like the at-bat starts when he gets to two strikes and he's tough to put away. His plus-minus numbers are incredible, 44 walks and 16 strikeouts, that's insane. And Rowdey and Tanner and Tanner behind the plate. I mean, it's a lot of tough outs. I don't want to leave anyone out. Kellum is going to be a good player, he's a freshman. They're just really tough, really tough.

Q. Every year is a different team with different players and sometimes you have the same players coming back. But what did you learn from this team this season that's different?

COACH CORBIN: Well, I think the fact that it was a team. I mean, I think when you start putting teams together, you look at teams that get to this point, and you start -- you start analyzing pitching and fielding and hitting.

But the reality is, it's a lot of small things done well along the way. And it starts all the way back to August.

But the reality is, it's a lot of small things done well along the way. And it starts all the way back to August. It was navigating the year, as someone mentioned. It's socially keeping it together.

It's so many other conversations that take place away from the field. And then creating harmony inside the locker room. And it's just simple things that matter to get your team there.

And kids have to step away. I mean, for lack of a better way, they have to share their toys. They really do. If you want to be good at something, you have to share what you do with other people. And you have to completely remove the individual or the individual needs, understanding that the individual needs will be taken care of if you throw yourself into the group effort.

And then it's something as small as taking out the trash, not looking for credit for it, and just doing it because you know it needs to be done. That's a small example. But that's really the interworkings of a team.

And when you can do those things, and do those things on a daily level, then you've got a chance to tap into your skill sets on the baseball field. But the reality is you can't tap into your skill sets on the baseball field if those things aren't brought together.

Q. Specifically with Will and Riley, what do you think you have in those two pitchers moving forward, and what do you think this experience will do for them?

COACH CORBIN: Will, I'm sorry --

Q. Little and Riley.

COACH CORBIN: I think there's a number of them. Christian and Riles are young kids. They got it on the mound. I think they probably learned a lot, learned a lot about pitching. Pitching. And calming yourself in order to do so. Execution.

They're certainly going to learn a lot about endurance, too, because it has a lot to do with being able to execute. But there's so much that goes into it. There's physical and mental training.

And it's a unique young man that can come into this situation as a first-year guy and have any type of success. What Kumar did his freshman year, you don't do that. People don't do that.

He's the .5 percent. That doesn't happen. So those kids have a lot of learning to do. But we've got a bunch of kids on that team that do. And we'll be better with time.

Q. As you mentioned earlier, you had a 2014 team that was basically perfect to the postseason. You had some other incredible teams that didn't make it this far. I'm not asking you to compare this team to any of those, but how will you remember this team and the journey they took you on over the last several months?

COACH CORBIN: Yeah, it was incredible. It really was. I mean, it was so peaceful. They just created such a nice harmony. I think -- when I think of them, I think of Jayson Gonzalez. I think of Cooper Davis. I think of Hugh Fisher. Those are three seniors that didn't play all the time, but they created such great communication within the walls. No trouble. They sent the staff home every night not worrying about them.

You know how valuable that is? You don't have to worry about what's going to happen if they do something socially. I just feel they gave themselves such a great chance because they just created great consistency in every area.

And you get to this point, I'm sure there's a lot of teams out there saying, well, we were better than Vanderbilt. They may have been. But there's some fortune, and it's doing things right, as I said. And if you can do that, you might put yourself in a position -- you've got to have some horses too. I am not naive. I know those two guys, Murph and McElvain and Maldonado, and our bullpen was very good. I think in a lot of ways they really helped us. But, no, this was an incredible group. They made it so much fun. I'm going to be really sorry to break it up. It's unfortunate.

Q. You talked about journey of this team. Is what you will remember about this team grinding it out and making it within one win of taking it all, or is the heartbreak of being so close too much to get passed?

COACH CORBIN: No, I'll get through that. I just don't think you can measure teams based on a gold trophy that's a half an inch bigger than the other one. And even if you don't get that trophy, this is so tough -- winning a national championship is insane; you can't do it. It's just so difficult to do.

So the fact that we've been around this place and gotten that opportunity, great. But, no, I'm sitting here and I'm at peace with this group. I know it's disappointing for all of them, it is. Disappointing for the staff. Disappointing for me. But I'm at peace with what happened. I am. I would have loved to have won. But I think 10, 15 years ago I may have felt completely different. But you know what, when every kid gives everything they've got and it's centered around the group, and no problem with what happens.

Outcomes are outcomes. They happen. We didn't play our best down the stretch here. I get it. But that doesn't take away anything from what the group was all about.

Q. I know Carter had a dislocated shoulder, what, six weeks ago now. That was awfully tough to play through that. It would have probably knocked a lot of guys out for the rest of the year. Talk about the effort he made to come back, how it affected him. And was he playing anywhere near 100 percent? And is that something that he will get treatment on after the year? Can you comment on that?

COACH CORBIN: He'll get treatment after the year. I'm glad you brought that up, because that kid is tough as nails. He doesn't say boo. He was hurting. On a 1 to 10 scale he was probably a 5 or 6. You know, he's not himself. But he also understands that that's part of playing sports. You're not going to be -- especially this time of year, you might be 60 percent of yourself -- but it still doesn't mean that you can't compete at a high-level.

He always competes, that kid. He's a hell of a kid. Raised well. His parents are super people. They're so supportive. But, yeah, he's dinged up. Bradfield is dinged up. Carter is dinged up. But it's part of playing a college season. You get near 70 games and you put everything into this for 11 months. Kolwyck wasn't himself at the end, from a hand standpoint. He was doing the best he could. But that's part of it. I'm sure over on the other side, the same way. And those certainly are not excuses. It's just the grind of a season. It kind of wears on you.

I want to thank all the people back in Nashville, too, the Nashville media, everyone. I don't want to leave anyone out. I appreciate you guys following us and taking care of our kids. It's very meaningful to me. It's very meaningful to the university. So thank you. And congratulations to Mississippi State again. Thank you.