OMAHA, Neb. -- As expected, Carson Fulmer put on a memorable show in his last stint in a Vanderbilt uniform Monday night.
The Commodores' All-American pitched into the eighth inning in Monday's win over Virginia, giving up just two hits and two walks and allowing just seven Virginia batters to reach the outfield on their swings. His night ended with a standing ovation from the fans, numerous hugs from his teammates and a handful of tears flowing from his eyes.
It was another chapter in his long book of remarkable accomplishments in Nashville. Someday soon he will make headlines as a major league pitcher, but his final performance for the Commodores will be worth remembering as well.
Vandy took Game 1, 5-1. Nothing seems to be derailing this Commodore freight train right now.
On to the Grand Slam.
1. History is on the Commodores' side: Teams that win the first game of the title series usually win it all. The last time a team lost its first game in the championship series and came back to win the big brass ring was the Wonderdogs of Fresno State, who beat Georgia 19-10 and 6-1 in Games 2 and 3 to claim the title. in the 12 years that the CWS has had a best-of-three final round, that 2008 team and the 2006 Oregon State Beavers are the only ones who have come back from a 1-0 deficit in games.
2. Vanderbilt is trying to become a perfect 10: If the Commodores win Game 2 vs. Virginia on Tuesday (8 ET, ESPN), they will finish the NCAA tournament with a perfect 10-0 mark. If that happens VU would be the fourth program in the last five years to go unbeaten in the Big Dance. But before you get to thinking it's that easy, consider that from 2002 to 2010 not a single team went unbeaten in June.
3. OK, now what does coach O'Connor do? While Vanderbilt's rotation was all set to jet coming into this thing, Virginia's pitching rotation was the biggest question of the championship series. Now that Connor Jones has thrown, the attention turns to who is next on the mound for the Cavaliers. In Monday's postgame press conference, coach Brian O'Connor was still giving no hints.
"I don't know yet, [pitching] coach [Karl] Kuhn and I will talk about that tonight," he said. "We've got some good options, but we'll have to piece it together the rest of the way."
The smart money is on Nathan Kirby getting the call. But Kirby pitched for the first time since April 17 on Saturday night vs. Florida and only lasted 2.2 innings. If awarded the starting assignment, he will be given a short leash here I'm sure.
4. Most runs and fewest allowed: Want to know the definition of domination? Vanderbilt has the chance to become one of the teams with the fewest runs allowed in the College World Series, while also having the chance to finish with the second largest run differential in CWS history.
Right now, the Commodores have given up a grand total of five runs in four games. The record for fewest runs allowed is Cal from 1957, which gave up three runs in five games. The 2013 UCLA Bruins gave up just four runs in five games. And the 1949 Texas Longhorns gave up five runs in three games. So if the Dores pitch a shutout on Tuesday, they will have allowed the third-fewest runs ever.