Vanderbilt advanced to the final of the Louisville Regional on Sunday with a pair of victories, eliminating Middle Tennessee with a 6-0 win and beating top-seeded Louisville 8-4 to force another game against the host team on Monday.
Against the rival Blue Raiders, the Commodores got a sterling pitching performance from Caleb Cotham, who shut down the potent MTSU offense with a four-hit shutout. He struck out eight and walked none.
It was the second straight goose egg by a Vanderbilt opponent; Sonny Gray and Taylor Hill combined on a 10-0 whitewashing of Indiana on Saturday to send the Hoosiers home.
It was also the first-ever complete game shutout in NCAA tournament play by a Vanderbilt starting pitcher. Cotham retired the side in order five times and never gave up more than one hit in an inning.
"The performance we got from Caleb was nothing short of outstanding," said Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin. "He went out there and pitched against a very good-hitting team and kept it down."
Maybe even more impressive than the shutout itself was holding MTSU stand-out Bryce Brentz, the nation's best hitter, without a hit in four at-bats.
Cotham got all the offense he needed when Aaron Westlake hit a solo home run in the second inning. It was only 2-0 in the eighth when Vanderbilt broke open the game with four runs. Jonathan White hit a two-run home run, and Andrew Giobbi singled in Westlake after he had doubled. Jason Esposito singled in Giobbi for the final tally to give Cotham some insurance going into the ninth, where, after allowing a base hit, he retired the side in order for his seventh win of the season.
Vanderbilt still wasn't out of the woods with another elimination game that evening against powerful Louisville.
Nick Christiani took the hill against the Cardinals and threw six innings, allowing three earned runs to earn his sixth victory of the season. The Commodores leapt out to a 5-1 lead in the second inning thanks to two Louisiville errors. Brian Harris homered in the fourth to make it 6-1, and Steven Liddle doubled in Curt Casali and Riley Reynolds to plate two more runs to blow the game open.
"I think the momentum was good, coming off a win in the first game," Harris said. "We want to take it one game at a time."
Drew Hayes pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief, and Chase Reid got the last five outs to earn the save. Fresh arms in the bullpen were an important byproduct of three straight outings of eight innings or longer by Commodore starters Mike Minor, Sonny Gray and Cotham.
"It was nice to have someone fresh behind Nick in Drew, and Chase did a nice job of closing it out." Corbin said.
The Commodores seem to thrive with their backs against the wall. After tap-dancing into the NCAA tournament with a strong run in the Southeastern Conference tournament, they lost their first game of the Louisville Regional, needing four wins in a row to advance. With one more win tomorrow, they would advance to their first Super Regional in five years.
The teams play with their seasons on the line on Monday night at 6 p.m.
"I think it was a four-game tournament and then it became a three-game, then a two," Corbin said. "Now it's a one-game tourmament."
