Vanderbilt baseball is heading back to the College World Series for the fifth time in a decade, and Tennessee will play for the national championship for the first time in 16 years after both won best-of-three super-regional series over the weekend.
The Commodores beat the East Carolina Pirates 4-1 on Saturday afternoon for a chance to defend their 2019 title. Last year’s season was cancelled because of COVID-19.
Pitcher Jack Leiter posted 10 strikeouts while allowing just two hits and one run.
“The fans can’t be credited enough. They helped us out a lot. And we knew when we earned the right to host a regional and a super-regional, that was going to be a huge factor because again they helped so much.”
This will be the fifth time Vanderbilt has been to the College World Series since 2011. The team previously won national titles in 2014 and 2019.
On Sunday, the Volunteers slugged six home runs, including two by Greenbrier native Jake Rucker, to easily handle Louisiana State 15-6. It’s only the fifth time in the program’s history that the Volunteers have made it to Omaha.
The College World Series begins Saturday.
WPLN’s Chas Sisk contributed to this report.
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