2017 NCAA Super Regional Preview: Vanderbilt-Oregon State

OREGON STATE-VANDERBILT

Hosted by Oregon State • Goss Stadium • Corvallis, Ore.
Follow the action on Twitter: @BeaverBaseball | @VandyBaseball

Vanderbilt (36-23-1) at Oregon State (52-4)

Friday
9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday
9 p.m. (ESPN)
Sunday
9 p.m. (ESPN or ESPN2)

Vanderbilt

Will Toffey (Photo courtesy Vanderbilt)

Coach: Tim Corbin
Postseason History: Seventh super regional appearance. Seeking fourth trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 2 seed in Clemson Regional. Went 3-1, defeating No. 1 Clemson 8-0 in regional final.
Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Commodores)

“I think Vanderbilt goes as Raby and Kyle Wright go. I think this is the least amount of depth they have on the mound. For them to win the super regional, those two guys are going to have to pitch deep. Not that they don’t have arms, they have plenty of arms. But I just don’t know if they have the confidence in the arms other than those two guys. Obviously it was nice what (Matt) Ruppenthal did in the regional, but he’s had some moments this season that he’s had zero confidence.

“If Kendall can get going, but Toffey’s seemed to be the spark in the offense. And I really like Infante. I think if Infante’s a guy that can get hot too, he can give you a lot of headache. They’re going to struggle past those guys at the top. If they can get production at bottom of their lineup then they’re going to be good. Obviously, Ro Coleman coming on late, it’s like he’s playing the best he’s ever played offensively since he’s been in that uniform. I just don’t think this is one of those Vanderbilt teams that has had a ton of depth, so their margin for error is a lot smaller now.

“Obviously the matchup is brutal going to Oregon State. What they’re doing is un-baseball like. I’m really interested to see if Vanderbilt can go in there and Raby and Kyle Wright have success. If Kyle Wright is on you better have somebody who can match him or you’re not going to win. Kyle Wright the second half of the season, he’s earned the No. 1 pick. He’s pretty special. Raby will keep them in the game, the question is can they score enough runs on Friday. I just think this Vanderbilt team has more chinks in the armor, more holes than what coach Corbin has had in the past. It’s not as deep.

“(Wright has) got such a big bag of goods he can go to. Whether you call it a slider or a cutter and then the curveball and he’s got the two-seam and the four-seam, the changeup, it just seems like you can’t really sit on anything. He’s just got so much to go to. You obviously have to look for something hard. You’ve got to have a good approach. He does throw 97 mph so for the most part you know you’re going to get fastballs. I don’t know if there’s a great plan because he’s just so dominant. If there is one I don’t know who’s had it other than the teams that faced him early and that was more him than anyone else. Nobody’s touched him the second half of the year.

“(Toffey has) always been a good player. If you look deep into the numbers, he’s always walked a ton. So he’s got a really good eye at the plate, he’s very, very disciplined. I just think the experience and the fact that he doesn’t chase bad pitches. That’s kind of half the battle with elite pitching. If you can just stay really good in the zone, your success rate is going to go up, especially against elite arms. The experience level that he has and the confidence that he has to hit with two strikes and be patient early. I think that’s all kind of paid off. Now he’s gotten hot, he is getting mistakes and he isn’t missing them.

“Infant is scary too. I think he’s the kind of guy that can put the team on his back. Kendall goes without saying, I think. Toffey, Infante, Kendall, they run into a two- or three-run bomb and then Kyle Wright or Patrick Raby or both are able to stymie Oregon State’s offense. And in that park they could do it.”

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	Avg.	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Jason Delay	R	Sr.	.300	.376	.435	2	39	18	44	1
1B	Julian Infante	R	So.	.322	.391	.531	11	65	26	56	0
2B	Ethan Paul	L	So.	.251	.339	.414	5	27	18	43	6
3B	Will Toffey	L	Jr.	.350	.476	.594	11	62	48	29	5
SS	Connor Kaiser	R	So.	.219	.317	.278	1	18	25	42	4
OF	Ro Coleman	S	Sr.	.311	.370	.352	0	8	9	10	7
OF	Jeren Kendall	L	Jr.	.312	.379	.569	15	52	24	71	19
OF	J.J. Bleday	L	Fr.	.264	.394	.352	2	22	34	24	0
DH	Reed Hayes	R	Jr.	.281	.381	.369	0	36	24	31	4
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Kyle Wright	R	Jr.	5	5	0	2.98	96.2	28	113	.210
SP	Patrick Raby	R	So.	10	3	0	2.36	99.1	27	85	.223
SP	Drake Fellows	R	Fr.	3	3	1	3.30	62.2	17	68	.226
RP	Matt Ruppenthal	R	Jr.	3	3	3	3.17	54	19	45	.204

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Oregon State

K.J. Harrison (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

Coach: Pat Casey
Postseason History: Sixth super regional appearance. Seeking sixth trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in Corvallis Regional (No. 1 national seed). Went 3-0, outscoring opponents 27-3. Beat Yale 8-1 in regional final.
Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Beavers)

“On the mound, obviously, they’re pretty suffocating. When you look at, originally when it was Friday and Sunday with Heimlich and Thompson, they were able to go eight or nine (innings) with those two kids and piece together Saturday. Now, with Rassmussen back, the velocity just keeps getting bigger as the weekend goes on. Its plus command and Thompson’s made a huge jump, which has changed their team this year. But it starts with Heimlich. It’s plus command of the fastball, he has the breaking ball he can throw for a strike and then a change. I think the biggest thing is it’s constant strikes down in the zone and he just doesn’t give you anything.

“When you look at the combination of frontline arms in the rotation, how athletic they are defensively, especially up the middle when you’re talking about a combination of Madrigal and Grenier in the middle, you’re talking about either Kwan or Cary in the outfield, there’s a lot of hits they can take away. And then you play on that turf there, it’s pretty tough to score against them. A lot of times those middle ground balls will score things, but those two kids get to everything up the middle. Rutschman has done an unbelievable job handling the pitching staff as a freshman. He’s an extremely good blocker, receiver and he’s starting to hit. For them it all starts with fact that they’ve given up like 100 runs in 56 games this year. Their starting pitching is exceptional. It’s as good as I’ve seen in college, one, two, three, and then their defense, how athletic they are defensively.

“Madrigal is what makes them go (offensively). There’s a reason he was the player of the year in the conference, he just makes them go. He can do a lot of different things and there’s not one way to pitch him. He can get on base, he can wreak havoc on the bases, he can bunt, he can drive the ball, he can ambush the fastball, he can hit a breaking ball, he can use the other way, he can pull the ball. He just has a lot of different ways to beat you. They have a lot of guys that just buy into the system. I think the big factor for them moving forward is that Rutschman is starting to hit and he has a little bit of pop and he’s a little bit more of a threat. Then we all know that K.J. is a big threat. He can run the ball out of the yard. He may not have had the year he necessarily would have wanted, but it was still a really good year. It’s not like they have a ton of power, but they just have guys who can get hits in spots.

“I think they have a kid in Madrigal who won’t let them lose and I think you need that. They have some leadership within their team that you watch them on the field and it’s evident. Madrigal’s baseball instincts and will to win and all of that are on another level and you need that. They’re motivated, they’re on a mission and they know they can win a lot of different ways. Now they just kind of have that magic. Each time they lost, I think everybody was waiting for it to be like, ok this is where they go into a little bit of a slump. The next thing you knew they went on like a 10-game winning streak. That doesn’t happen by accident. One, they have the arms when you pitch to a 1.70 (ERA), it’s hard to go into a slump. Because you feel like you just have to score three runs and you’re going to win. That has to give you a lot of confidence as a team that every close game you’re going to win because we’re just going to keep throwing up zeroes.”

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	Avg.	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Adley Rutschman	S	Fr.	.246	.335	.326	2	32	25	33	5
1B	K.J. Harrison	R	Jr.	.328	.394	.490	6	32	23	33	7
2B	Nick Madrigal	R	So.	.380	.443	.537	4	34	21	13	15
3B	Michael Gretler	R	Jr.	.304	.364	.459	4	32	19	26	1
SS	Cadyn Grenier	R	So.	.276	.403	.442	5	31	34	42	6
OF	Christian Donahue	L	Jr.	.248	.349	.328	0	18	20	38	9
OF	Steven Kwan	L	So.	.341	.448	.413	1	15	25	12	7
OF	Jack Anderson	L	Jr.	.300	.408	.367	1	29	26	21	3
DH	Trevor Larnach	L	So.	.301	.418	.443	3	39	34	46	1
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Luke Heimlich	L	Jr.	11	1	0	0.76	118.1	22	128	.172
SP	Jake Thompson	R	Jr.	13	0	0	1.30	110.2	34	106	.180
SP	Drew Rasmussen	R	Jr.	3	0	0	0.83	21.2	5	22	.200
RP	Jake Mulholland	L	Fr.	6	1	6	1.32	47.2	11	40	.192