Vanderbilt wins 2019 College World Series

Vanderbilt's is 2019 college baseball national champions after defeating the Michigan Wolverines 8-2 in the decisive game 3 of the College World Series in Omaha, NE. The win secured Vanderbilt’s second national baseball title in six seasons. Vanderbilt finished the season 59-12, an SEC record for wins in a season while Michigan fell to 50-22.

Michigan made an incredible run at college baseball’s championship, being a 200-1 long shot when the tournament began nearly four weeks ago, while being one of the last teams selected for the NCAA tournament. Only three schools north of Interstate 90 have ever won CWS championships and those titles were decades in the past — Michigan (1962), the University of Minnesota (1960, 1964) and College of The Holy Cross (1952).

Vanderbilt's national title run capped an emotional 37 months for the Commodores, who have been playing in the shadow of star freshman pitcher Donny Everett's drowning just before the 2016 playoffs.

Players had their late teammate's parents, Teddy and Susan Everett, join them on a stage set up behind home plate for the trophy presentation.

"Those two mean so much to this program and all the players and the seniors," shortstop Ethan Paul said. "To this day, every time I look at Teddy I think of Donny, and just being able to share that moment with them was something we all really wanted to do."

Vanderbilt University's Mason Hickman struck out 10 batters in six strong innings, while freshman Kumar Rocker, winning pitcher in Game 2, was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player. Vanderbilt has 13 players selected in the 2019 MLB Draft and look to be loaded in 2020 with a the addition of a strong recruiting class and the return of key players Kumar Rocker, Austin Martin, Mason Hickman, Tyler Brown, and Harrison Ray.