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“I want to thank the people who have been … coming to watch every sport that Vanderbilt competes in. The times [when they] go home [and] might leave frustrated … they might say, ‘We’re on our way, but not this year.’ Well, you know what? There’s a silver lining. “No—there’s a gold lining.”
TIM CORBIN, head baseball coach
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Up in the air. That’s how uncertain the outcome of the 2014 College World Series finals appeared to those watching on June 25. Knotted at one game apiece, Vanderbilt and Virginia were tied 2–2 going into the eighth inning, and it seemed like anyone’s ballgame.
But then Vanderbilt outfielder John Norwood stepped to the plate and, suddenly, being up in the air took on a whole new meaning. When his bat connected with a 97-mile-per-hour pitch, the ball soared toward left field, and Commodore fans everywhere leapt to their feet, urging it over the fence with all the body English they could muster.
The home run propelled the ’Dores to a 3–2 victory, giving the university its first-ever national championship in any men’s sport. And Vanderbilt fans were left to marvel that good luck—in the form of a well-struck baseball—had fallen their way.
Relive the Vandy Boys’ best moments in Omaha.