Vandy Closer Than Ever To Nat’l Championship, Except For That Bowling Title

Vanderbilt slipped past the University of Texas Saturday night on a 10th-inning infield grounder that drove in the winning run. It is the team’s first trip to the College World Series finals. Credit: John Russell / Vanderbilt University

If Vanderbilt’s baseball team can beat Virginia this week at the College World Series finals, it would be the first championship for any men’s team on campus – a feat the Commodore women achieved in 2007.

The closest the men have come was a near-miss in 2003, when Vanderbilt athletics communications director Rod Williamson says a former walk-on tennis player battled an All-American from the University if Illinois. He lost in three sets.

Vanderbilt’s best shot at a men’s championship has been with the baseball program in recent years. But in 2007, when the team was ranked number one in the country, they failed to get out of regional play. This year’s team didn’t have such high expectations, but it’s gone further than any in school history.

“Good luck, good teams, good coaching, good karma – you need everything,” Williamson says. “So far it has happened for the Commodores.”

To date, the only program on campus that has brought home a national title is the women’s bowling team. They pulled out a win over Maryland Eastern Shore. When they arrived back on campus, young women in their collared bowling jerseys stepped off a chartered bus to a parade-like atmosphere and chants of “go-Dores-go.”