NCAA Baseball Super Regionals 2011, Vanderbilt Vs. Oregon State: Vandy Advances To College World Series

The Vanderbilt Commadores are the second team to advance to the College World Series in Omaha after North Carolina did it earlier in the day, thanks to their emphatic victory over Oregon State in Game 2 of their Super Regional. The Vandy bats were alive in both of their wins in the series as they combined for 20 runs, outscoring the Beavers by 16.

Aaron Westlake had the game of his live for Vanderbilt on Saturday night, and considering his great college career, that’s really saying something. He hit 3-4 and drew a walk, hitting a home run and driving in six RBI in the process. The fans gave him a standing ovation as he came to the plate for his final at bat - the home run - then continued to cheer until he gave them a curtain call.

You could argue that Vanderbilt almost didn’t need the first two outs tonight. After all, the Commodores scored 10 of their runs with two men down — about five times as much as they eventually needed in a thumping of Oregon State in the first game of the Nashville Super Regional.

Oregon State starter Sam Gaviglio started off the evening by giving up four runs in the first inning — again, all with two outs — and the Beavers’ pitching never really recovered. They issued eight walks and gave up two home runs as part of the 11-run Vanderbilt romp.

As we hit the seventh-inning stretch, things aren’t getting any better for Oregon State. Vanderbilt had already scored eight runs by the end of the fourth inning, and has apparently decided not to stop. The Commodores tacked on one run in the fifth with a Conrad Gregor double and Tony Kemp single to take a 9-0 lead.

Then came the home half of the sixth inning, and the Beavers’ dam once again broke. With two outs and one on, Jason Esposito smashed a two-run home run to left field, and suddenly the lead sat at 11-0.

It’s just not Sam Gaviglio’s night. After he managed a couple of innings of scoreless baseball — not effortless, but scoreless — the wheels came off again the Vanderbilt half of the fourth.

Despite a botched bunt attempt with nobody out and runners on first and second, Vanderbilt loaded the bases before Curt Casali grounded out to drive in the first run of the inning. Mike Yastrzemski — yes, he’s one of those Yastrzemskis — followed that up with a three-run home run that gave the Commodores an 8-0 lead.

The first Super Regional game in Nashville started off quietly enough, with the first five batters retired in order. Then Oregon State’s Sam Gaviglio walked Vanderbilt’s Aaron Westlake with two outs in the bottom of the first, and things promptly fell apart. The remainder of the inning went walk, single, single, walk, single before Gaviglio managed to finally strike out the inning’s ninth batter, Riley Reynolds.

Vanderbilt’s Sonny Gray followed that up by getting two groundouts -- five of the six outs have come on the ground; the other was a fly ball -- and it’s 4-0 right now in Nashville. Gaviglio did manage to avoid any further damage in the second inning.

Two teams with opposite reputations are ready to square off at Hawkins Field in the Nashville Super Regional as part of the NCAA Baseball Championship this weekend. The favorites, Vanderbilt, the No. 6 national seed, have been in this position before.

Under head coach Tim Corbin, the Commodores have built one of the better programs in the country with players like David Price and Pedro Alvarez putting on the black and gold before moving onto the big leagues. Their success started with a Super Regional berth in 2004 and grew from there. They’ve been ranked number one before, won conference titles and they have hosted postseason games, but since 2004, they had not qualified for a Super Regional.