The Rocket Mortgage Classic is the event on tour this week with the 149th Open Championship at Royal St. George’s, on what looks like a tremendously challenging course, only 2 weeks away from tomorrow. With that in mind, I’m also previewing and predicting the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open this week, which also commences tomorrow.

Bryson DeChambeau blistered the Detroit Golf Club with his massive length last year averaging 329.8 yards off the tee and shooting a 23 under par score to defeat Matthew Wolff by 3 shots. It was an indication that DeChambeau was ready to break out and win big, which he did at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot 2 months later in September, 2020. He’s back to defend along with a pretty stellar field. DeChambeu is the Vegas favorite at 7/1, followed by Patrick Reed at 14/1, Webb Simpson at 16/1, Hideki at 16/1, young rising star Will Zalatoris, if he can convert on the greens, is at 20/1. Joaquin Neimann is at 27/1 along with Wolff Man, and Jason Kokrak, the bomber who won the Charles Schwab Challenge a month ago. Kevin Kisner and Sungjae Im are at 29/1 along with Jason Day.

Last week, Harris English and Kramer Hickok put on a putting clinic at the Travelers Championship at Hartford, CT. English, the 31 year old Georgia Bulldog, knocked off the 29 year old Austin, Texas and former Longhorn Hickock with a 10 foot birdie putt on the 8th playoff hole. It was a spectacle. Each guy kept matching the other hole by hole with converted birdie or par putt every playoff hole. English had birdied 18 in regulation from 18 feet to take the lead at 13 under before the young Texan tied him with an 8 footer of his own to send it into sudden death. It was a highly enjoyable watch. Will also be pretty riveting this week in Detroit.

Nelly Korda won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with a score of -19, outlasting Lizette Salas, another American, who finished at -16. Nelly shot a 63 in day 2 to take the lead and finished the final 2 days at 68-68. She put on out a masterpiece. This was the 22 year old from Bradenton, Florida’s first Major Championship, and it could be the first of several more to come. It’s a really interesting family. Her father, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open in tennis and was No.2 in the world at one time. Her mother was a top female tennis player as well. Her sister, Jessica, is an accomplished, multiple winner on the LPGA Tour, and her brother, 20 year old Sebastian, is an accomplished men’s tennis player and has advanced to the third round of Wimbledon, where he’ll play Friday. He defeated the 15th seed, Alex De Minaur of Australia on Tuesday in the first round. So quite an accomplished family,.

Winner this week at Detroit Golf Club

I’m going to take the 37 year old from Aiken, South Carolina by way of the University of Georgia. He shot 63 on Sunday at the Travelers Championship last weekend to finish tied for 5th. I see this guy keeping the Georgia momentum going.

Kevin Kisner

Weather

Thursday, 78, 50% chance of showers wind N 13 MPH. No big deal with the rain, sounds like passing showers.

Friday, 75, partly sunny, wind N 10-20 MPH, so wind a factor there.

Saturday, 83, partly sunny, wind WNW 5-10.

Sunday, 91, Sunny, wind 5-10,. ‘

Friday may be a tougher day of scoring, but the guys could go low over the weekend with pretty prime scoring conditions.

Detroit Golf Club is a 7,370, Par 72. It’s a Donald Ross design, with a blend of bentgrass and Poa annua greens, interesting there, that’ll stimp at 12 1/2. The rough will be 4 inches and thicker this year according to PGA Tour.com, so keeping it in the fairway will be at a premium off the tee.

TV, Thursday-Friday, 2-5 PM CT, Golf Channel.

Saturday-Sunday, 12-2 PM CT, Golf Channel, 2-5 PM CT, CBS.

Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

With the upcoming 149th edition of the epic Open Championship in 2 weeks, this year at Royal St. George’s in England , a highly demanding course, I wanted to give you a selection for the Irish Open being played at Mount Juliet Estate, Thomastown, Co, Kilkennny, Ireland.

The course is playing 7,262 yards and is a par 72.

The heavy hitters playing are Rory, the 2016 champion and 4 time major winner, and a Northern Ireland native. Greame McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion is playing. McDowell is also a Northern Ireland native.Two thousand ten PGA and 2014 U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer is in the field. The defending 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry is back on home soil to try to win his national Open. He won the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. This tournament is on the mainland of Ireland. Englishman Tommy Fleetwood is also in the field. Thomas Pieters, a talented young Belgium player, is playing. Pieters is a familiar face as he’s played on the PGA tour frequently and has done well on the European Tour and is a very good Ryder Cup Player. Ryder Cup, September 25th-27th at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Classic venue, classic event. Nicolas Colsaerts, a guy who everybody thought would be big winner on the PGA Tour and the European Tour, but hasn’t lived up to those expectations, is also playing. Padraig Harrington is playing in his home country, also.

So solid field.

The defending champion is John Catlin. He’s a 30 year old American. I’m a little surprised more Americans aren’t playing, but with some still stiff COVID restrictions in Europe, the restrictions at the Open Championship are pretty severe, it makes sense for our guys to not travel over the pond yet. Maybe they’ll play in the all important Scottish Open next week. Phil did in 2013 and won it, and a week later won the Open Championship at Muirfield in Scotland.

Weather

Thursday, 75 with light rain, winds S 5-10. Chance of rain, 60%.

Friday, 69, partly sunny, wind 10-15.

Saturday, 66, cloudy with occasional light rain. Chance of rain, 90%. Winds, SSE 10-15.

Sunday, 65, occasional light rain. Winds S 10-15. Chance of rain, 90%.

From what I understand, this is typical Irish weather, so these guys are certainly used to it.

The course is playing 7,264 yards and is a Par 72. It’s a Jack Nicklaus design with plenty of bunkers, per usual with Nicklaus designs, and plenty of water hazards. So should be a very intriguing watch.

TV

Thursday, 7 AM-12 PM CT, Golf Channel.

Friday, 4-11:30 AM CT, Golf Channel.

Saturday, 7-11:30 AM CT, Golf

Sunday, 7-11:30 AM CT, Golf.

Winner

I’m going to take the 36 year old from Dusseldorf, West Germany. I’m seeing a resurgence in this guy and last weekend at the BMW International in Munich, he shot a 64 on Sunday, and finished -17 for the tournament, 2 back of winner Viktor Hovland, who looks very interesting heading into the Open in 2 weeks. This guy could be a guy in a couple of weeks, too. I like him at the Dubai Duty Free.

Martin Kaymer

Coming off of an 8-2 victory last night, which moved our record to 49-16, and put us 1 victory away from winning our third national championship, Tim Corbin’s baseball team and Commodore Nation couldn’t be more electric right now.

Jack Leiter was his usual all world self last night at TD Ameritrade Stadium before 24,052 fans. Jack went 6, gave up 3 hits, 2 runs with 3 walks and 8 K’s. He now has 179 strikeouts on the season. Kumar has 173, and who knows, Kumar could get the call tonight, so he may overtake Jack. If Christian Little starts tonight, and he very well may, and we happen to lose, hopefully not, Kumar would get the start tomorrow night.

But the mock MLB drafts have 3 high school players going ahead of Jack and Kumar. The mock drafts by different sites have Jack going 4th to the Red Sox and Kumar 7th to the KC Royals. I don’t know how there are 3 better, more valuable players than Jack and Kumar. I don’t understand how these 2 proven college pitchers are not 1-2 in the draft. I’m not sure what these prognosticators are smoking, but it ain’t legal. You see our 2 hosses and realize these are the top 2 amateur players in the country. You draft on “potential” in high school and that doesn’t work out a lot. So I’d go with proven commodites. And there are no more proven commodities than Jack and Kumar.

But what they’re both concerned about and what our team is concerned about is winning it all tonight in Omaha. There might be more State fans there, but who cares, we’ve got the horses in the dugout and a good group of solid fans supporting our team. A lot of awesome parents like the Rockers and the Leiters and I think I saw Enrique’s and Javy’s parents there too. I would bet all of the guys’ families are there. It’s just such a magical, special thing that our guys are doing. So very proud of them.

But, we’ve got one more hurdle to clear. I like Christian on the hill tonight. Trust our 17 year old stud in the clutch. You never know with Corbs though, he may throw the man out there tonight to close it out. Kumar is a shut down force, so we’ll see what Corbs decides. Interesting decision. I have no preference. Just want to have the guy out there who gives us the best opportunity to win the national championship. Of course, I trust Kumar and I also trust Christian. He’s a battler and is super talented, so wouldn’t mind seeing Christian out there at all.

State looks to be throwing left handed junior Houston Harper. He’s 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA, 19 walks and 63 K’s in 58 innings. He’s given up 7 homers, so he keeps it in the park for the most part, but we’ve got guys who can hit it out 1-9, as one of our great seniors, Jayson Gonzalez, showed last night with his 3 run blast. I thought Jayson, along with Jack and the great Nick Maldonado, were our 3 star players last night. Jayson played an awesome third base, and that was such a clutch long one to deep left central. Proud of the man. Can’t forget our seniors, Jayson, Cooper Davis and Hugh Fisher. They’ve put their hearts and souls into this program, and it would be such a gift for them to go out as national champions.

Harper pitched against Texas in last Friday Night’s CWS game and went 4.2, giving up 4 hits, 3 earned runs with 2 walks and 4 K’s. He pitched against us on Sunday, April 25th, a game at the Hawk in a series we took 2 out of 3 games, and he went 1.1 innings, giving up 2 hits, 2 runs with a walk and 3 strikeouts. He’s got a good ERA and some good numbers, so we’ll need to lock in.

Maldonado was awesome last night going 3, giving up 2 hits, 0 runs, with 0 walks and 4 K’s. He was shutdown, lights out. That’s the Nick Maldonado we’re used to. He’s found that super ability he had for most of the regular season in the postseason. Nick is draft eligible and he’s certainly impressing scouts. He’s 21, like Jack, and even though he’s a sophomore, the rule is, if you choose to go to college baseball out of high school, you need to either play 3 years in college or if you turn age of 21 you are qualified to go out for the MLB draft. Nick is certainly making a strong case for himself right now. He’s a very strong pitcher.

CJ Rodriguez had a beautiful 2 out, 2 run single in the bottom of the 1st. CJ is also draft eligible as a 21 year old sophomore and he certainly has turned some heads with his terrific defense, leadership behind the plate catching our pitchers, his ability to throw out potential base stealers, and his effective and clutch hitting. CJ has gotten a lot of big hits for us. Isaiah Thomas had a run scoring double and made the catch of the CWS last night. What a diving head first catch he made in right field foul territory. That was a spectacular play. Isaiah, a junior, also impressed the scouts last night.

Our whole team played a phenomenal game and we just need one more. State is of course, a formidable foe. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. But I like the attitude and the focus of our Vanderbilt baseball team. Great bunch of guys who aim to close it out tonight and capture our third national championship in program history joining the 2014 and 2019 elite squads.

Game time is 6 PM CT on ESPN. Weather looks good. No problem with rain.

Anchor Down.

The Vanderbilt Commodores, 48-16, lock horns with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 48-17, in the College World Series Championship Series tonight through Wednesday. Wednesday’s game is if necessary in the best 2 out of 3 format.

Tonight’s game starts at 6 on ESPN2. Tuesday’s game is at 6 PM on ESPN, and Wednesday’s game is at 6 PM on ESPN2, if that game is played. Karl Ravech, the great Kyle Peterson, KP, and the great Eduardo Perez will be on the call. Kris Budden will have reports from the field.

The Commodores got to the Championship series by virtue of victories over Arizona, 7-6, in 12 innings, a Jayson Gonzalez walk off single to left past a drawn in infield. They lost to North Carolina State last Monday Night, 1-0, though sophomore right hander Jack Leiter, the great Al Leiter’s son, who won 3 World Series Trophies in an 18 year career in the big leagues from 1987-2005, winning the World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays in ‘92 and ‘93, and with the Florida Marlins in 1997, was stellar. Jack went 8, gave up 4 hits, just 1 run, a homer by N.C. State’s designated hitter Terrell Tatum, he walked 1 and struck out 15. Jack is second in the country in strikeouts with 171. He’s walked 42 in 104 innings. His record is 10-4 and he has a 2.04 ERA. His junior teammate, right hander Kumar Rocker, leads the country in strikeouts with 173. It’s been a back and forth battle all season in strikeouts between the two and Virginia’s Andrew Abbott. Abbott is out of the CWS now, after UVA’s stellar run in the postseason ended at the hands of Texas, so it’s between Leiter and Rocker.

The Commodores faced an elimination game versus Stanford last Wednesday night and trailed 4-0 going into the bottom of the 4th when first baseman Dominic Keegan blasted a 2 run shot to left to cut the lead in half at 4-2. Down 5-2 going into the bottom of the 6th, the Dores scored 2 more runs on singles by pinch hitter Tate Kolwyck, the usual second baseman who has been hurt for a while now, and 2nd baseman Parker Noland to cut the lead to 5-4. Kolwyck may be available this series, at least as a pinch hitter. He’s a talent.

That’s the way it stayed till the bottom of the 9th when, with 2 outs, no runners on and things looking pretty slim against Stanford lock down closet Brandon Beck, who had been having his way with Commodore hitters, and with left fielder Javier Vaz up at the plate. Facing 2 strikes, Vaz coaxed a walk and the Dores had a little life. Then pinch hitter Spencer Jones hit a deep ground ball to short, and the Cardinal shortstop attempted to throw to first as he wasn’t going to get the speedy Vaz at second, and threw it away, allowing Vaz to get to third. The next hitter was all world freshman center fielder Enrique Bradfield, who lined a shot to right field for a run scoring single to tie the game at 5. Jones hustled to third. With shortstop Carter Young at the plate, Beck threw the ball over the catcher’s head and Jones scored in an improbable, electric victory. The Vanderbilt teams, under Tim Corbin through the years, have always had the flair for the dramatic. The Dores 9th inning rally was reminiscent of the Tua to DeVonta moment in the national championship game in 2018, Tua’s 42 yard strike to Smitty to win the national championship over Georgia was one of the most surreal, electrifying moments in college football history. Vanderbilt did that type of thing last Wednesday Night.

Friday was a controversial day. An hour before the game started against N.C. State, which had 2 games to win one and make the championship while it was win or go home for the Commodores, the NCAA informed the teams and the public that the Wolfpack was dealing with COVID issues on their team. There were several players out, but 5 of the starters were still available and good players at that. They were missing their star closer, Evan Justice, and that hurt, but the Pack put forth a gallant effort falling to the Dores and Rocker, 3-1. Rocker went 6, gave up 5 hits, with 1 earned, a walk and 11 K’s. Luke Murphy was heroic in closing it out. He pitched 2.1 innings, faces runners on board, gave up 2 hits, 0 runs, with 2 walks and 1 K. He was terrific in the high leverage, high pressure moments late in the game.

On Saturday, the game was declared a no contest due to N.C. State’s COVID issues, and Vanderbilt moved on to this championship series. Who knows what would have happened if the Wolfpack had had their full compliment of players. Tough break for those guys. But the Commodores remained healthy and took care of business when they had to, and earned the right to play tonight, tomorrow and possibly Wednesday.

Tim Corbin, the 19 year coach of the Commodores, is 800-375-1, 68%. He has taken his Commodore teams to 15 straight NCAA Regionals, 10 Super Regionals, 5 CWS’s, and has won the National Championship in 2014 and 2019. He has had 16 players drafted in the first round since 2004. David Price, in 2007, and Dansby Swanson, in 2015, were first overall picks by MLB. Price by the Tampa Bay Rays and Swanson by the Arizona Dbacks. Price is now pitching for the Dodgers and has had a highly successful career, particularly in the last 4 years. With the Red Sox in 2018, he helped lead them to the World Series title. Swanson, now with the Braves as a lot of you know, is a superb defensive shortstop, who is a solid doubles and homers hitter, and still trying to get the average where he’s a very good Major League hitter. Needs to cut down on the strikeouts, but he’s been hitting it pretty well lately. Braves could be getting better after splitting a series at Cincy over the weekend. Still trying to put it all together. They’ve had several debilitating injuries and the Marcel Ozuna disaster didn’t help with Ozuna being arrested for assaulting his wife, and being expelled from the team.

Corbin has had 10 players selected in the top 10 of the MLB draft since ‘04. The latest 2 are right fielder JJ Bleday, selected by the Miami Marlins 4th overall in 2019 and Austin Martin, selected 5th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2020.

So, it’s quite a story in Nashville under Corbin. He’s taken over a program that was not on the radar, even in the SEC, until his arrival in 2003. Quite a job Corbin has done. He’s like S also in that he’s not the most amiable of guys in postseason interviews. I asked him yesterday on a Zoom call with reporters how his starting rotation is setting up for the Series, and his response was, “Fine.” So you kind of have to guess with Corbin on pitching and injuries, though he is a good guy when he’s not in the heat of the season. S may be a little tougher on the media, but obviously, he’s earned the right to handle the media however he wants to even t though it can be a little unsettling at times.

First baseman Dominic Keegan leads the Commodores in hitting at .359. He has belted out 15 homers and driven in 57. Bradfield, the stellar freshman center fielder, is hitting .346 with 1 homer and 38 RBIs. He has also stolen 46-of-52 bases. Just a dynamic player at the top of the order and a vocal leader on the team. Shortstop Carter Young hits .256, but has hit 16 homers and driven in 51. Carter can struggle with the off-speed stuff, and has struck out 81 times in 58 games, so the team needs him to put the ball in play and drive one or two out of TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha to help their cause. Second baseman Parker Noland is hitting .271 with 7 homers and 42 Ribeyes, but has been very clutch in the CWS with run scoring hits in key situations. The Dores are hitting .292 as a team and fielding at a .974 clip, though they’ve committed some uncharacteristic errors in the last 2 games. The ERA on the pitching staff is 3.27. Rocker is 14-3 with a 2.52 ERA with 37 walks and 173 strikeouts in 117 innings. He’s a workhorse. His dad, Tracy, now coaching the defensive line for the Philly Eagles, was a hoss at Auburn at defensive tackle, and so is Kumar. He’s 6’5”, 255 and is as an intimidating presence on the mound as you can find in baseball at any level. The third starter could be highly talented 17 year old freshman Christian Little. Little reclassified from the 2021 class to the 2020 class and arrived in January and shows sign of being the next “guy” at Vanderbilt. He’s 3-1 with a 4.87 ERA, which is not impressive, but he stymied Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament, and was a victim of some bad defense last Wednesday Night against Stanford. He’s stellar and going to be one of the top pitchers in college baseball in the coming years. The bullpen combination of NIck Maldonado, 1-2, 2.45 ERA, 8 saves, 7 walks, 55 strikeouts in 47.2 innings, and Luke Murphy, 4-1, 2.50 ERA, 9 saves, 15 walks, 60 K’s in 39.2 innings, has become a force in the late innings for the Dores. Maldonado has a terrific slider and hits 94. Murphy is a pure power arm, hitting 95, 96, 97. Rocker can hit 95, 96 and his slider is a gem. Leiter throws it 96, 97, 98 and even 99 and has a terrific breaking ball. Chris McElvain, 5-1, 3.71 ERA, is another guy the Commodores use frequently. The depth in the bullpen isn’t superb, but it’s pretty strong.

Most likely, Leiter will start tonight. He threw 123 pitches a week ago, but he’s ready. Corbin wouldn’t tell me who was pitching, but I’ll say it’s 98 percent certain it’s Leiter. If Vanderbilt wins tonight, Rocker could get the call tomorrow night to try and close it out. He threw 111 pitches on Friday, but he’s a workhorse and wants the ball. Depending on the outcome of tonight, Corbin may go to Little tomorrow night with a victory. With a loss, it could be Rocker. If the Commodores win, Corbin may go to Little and save Rocker for Wednesday, though Corbin is very aggressive with pitchers, and could employ Rocker tomorrow night if he feels like his Sherman Tank is ready to go.

Mississippi State is no slouch either. They can hit it. They hit .278 as a team, but right fielder Tanner Allen hits .382 with 11 homers and 66 Ribbies. Center fielder Rowdy Jordan hits .328 with 10 homers and 43 RBIs. Catcher Logan Tanner hits .279, and has 14 homers and 49 RBIs. Third baseman Kamren James hits .270 with 11 homers and 59 Ribbies and has stolen 19-of-22 bases. State is 71-of-89 in stolen bases, and Vanderbilt is 90-of-102. State is fielding at a .974 clip, just like the Commodores. Both, usually, are solid fielding teams. Their team ERA is 4.07.

Coach Chris Lemonis has been at State for 3 years now, posting a 112-36 record, 76%, with a CWS appearance in 2019 and a CWS appearance, and championship appearance, this year. Last year was cut short for all teams due to the Coronavirus. He is 40-20 in SEC play. Prior to State, the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina native was at Indiana 4 years, compiling a 141-91 record, 61%, taking the Hoosiers to the NCAA Regionals in 2015, ‘17 and ‘18. Lemonis is 47 years old and will be 48 in August. Corbin is 59 and will be 60 on August 5th. He needs an invitation to the Fennec for his 60th to join the other veterans at the 60 year old bash at Derricks’ hot new Honky Tonk.

Pitching for State is a little up in the air. Their best two pitchers are Will Bednar and Landon Sims. Bednar, a starter, pitched Saturday in an elimination game in bracket 2 going 6.1 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 runs with 2 walks and 7 K’s. He threw 97 pitches. Sims came on in relief and threw 36 pitches, going 2.2, giving up 0 runs, 0 hits with 0 walks and 4 K’s. He’s a lockdown closer. Bednar is 8-1 with a 3.34 ERA with 23 walks and 135 K’s in 86.1 innings. Sims is 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA, with 14 walks and 96 K’s in 53 innings. He also has recoded 12 saves. They’ve got some other pretty good starters. Houston Harding is 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA, with 7 starts. He’s walked 19 and struck out 63 in 58 innings. Jackson Fristoe is 3-3 with a 5.81 ERA in 13 starts with 36 walks and 67 K’s. Christian McLeod is 6-5 with a 4.61 ERA in 15 starts with 31 walks and 113 K’s in 82 innings. If they can get to Sims with a lead, they’re very hard to defeat.

MacLeod pitched last Tuesday and struggled against Virginia giving up 5 hits, and 4 earned runs in only 1.1 inning of work. Harding pitched Friday and threw 82 pitches, giving up 4 hits, 3 earned in 4.2 innings. Harding and MacLeod, despite their struggles last week, are leftys, and Vanderbilt has 5 guys who hit left handed, and have had trouble with leftys and off speed stuff. So they could be in the rotation. Bednar and Sims are rightys. So, it’ll be interesting to see what Lemonis will do with his starting rotation. Could be a lot of bullpen use the next 2 nights before they can get to Bednar Wednesday, though Lemonis could use Bednar Tuesday Night if tonight doesn’t go well. Sims is up in the air tonight, though he could very well pitch if State has a lead late in the game.

One thing to note, State has a massive fan base and their fans are amped up for this. Vanderbilt fans need to match the State contingency in enthusiasm to help their team. That’ll be hard to do as TD Ameritrade will be loaded with State fans. They were there last week, including Saturday, and there will be more this week. Should be a riveting atmosphere.

Prediction

Game 1

I like Leiter to handle business in game 1 for the Dores. Corbin didn’t commit to Leiter yesterday, but I like him on the hill, and to pitch very well. He and Rocker are Golden Spikes nominees for the best player in college baseball along with Arkansas’ awesome Kevin Kopps. That will be announced in July. Give me Leiter and the Dores tonight.

Vanderbilt 3, State 2

Game 2

I see Bednar starting for State and Sims closing it out in game 2.

State 3, Vanderbilt 2

Game 3

I’ll take the Commodores to capture their 3rd National Championship under Corbin. It’ll be Rocker or Little and all hands on deck, even Leiter if he doesn’t throw 100+ pitches tonight. It’s going to be a tight game though.

Vanderbilt 5, State 4

National Champions, Vanderbilt University

Stanley Cup Prediction

The Tampa Bay Lightning, the defending Stanley Cup champion, face off with the Montreal Canadians, the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, in 1992-93. The Canadians are a storied franchise with 24 Stanley Cup titles, but it’s been slim pickings lately.

The Lightning are loaded. Nikita Kucherov leads the league in points in the playoffs with 27. Brayden Point leads the league in postseason goals with 14. The next guy has 8. Defenseman Victor Hedman leads all defenders with 16 points and he is a lock down defender. Highly tough and physical.

And the great Andrei Vasilevskiy leads the NHL: in postseason save percentage at .934.

This is a loaded team. The Canadians have been extremely impressive getting through the North and Western conference playoffs as they were one of the last teams in the North Division to make the playoffs. They defeated a loaded Vegas Golden Knights team in 6 in an improbable upset. But I like the talent on this Lightning team more. They’re well coached, led by 9th year coach, 53 year old Jon Cooper, they’ve got excellent leadership amongst the team, they play lock down defense, and have several guys who can put it in the back of the net. Also, I really like their goalie.

I’ll take Champa Bay to continue the winning tradition of the stellar city on the central Gulf Coast. They’ll follow Brady’s lead, they’ve already won last year, and the great Tampa Bay Rays, which went to the World Series last year and have a shot to win it all this year.

Champa Bay in 5

Conn Smythe Award winner

Most Valuable Player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs

There are going to be a lot of candidates for the Bolts here, but I’ll take their 26 year old stellar goalie from Tyumen, Russia.

Andre Vasilevskiy

TV

Game 1, Tonight, Montreal @ Tampa Bay, 7 PM CT, NBCSN

Game 2, Wednesday, Montreal @ Tampa Bay, 7 PM CT, NBCSN

Game 3 Friday, Tampa Bay @ Montreal, 7 PM CT, NBC

Game 4, Monday, July 5th, Tampa Bay @ Montreal , 7 PM CT, NBC

Game 5, Wednesday, July 7th, Montreal @ Tampa Bay, 7 PM CT, NBC

Game 6, Friday, July 9th, Tampa Bay @ Montreal, 7 PM CT, NBC

Game 7, Sunday, July 11th, Montreal @ Tampa Bay, 6 PM CT, NBC.

****Games 5,6 and 7 are if necessary.****

The 134th edition of the Championships at Wimbledon commences tomorrow at the All England Club just outside of London. ESPN and ESPN2 will broadcast. First round coverage starts tomorrow at 5 AM CT on ESPN and continues until 10:30 AM CT. ESPN2 will then broadcast from 10:30 AM-3:30 PM CT tomorrow. Continuing coverage on ESPN and the Deuce will last through the fortnight and conclude with the Women’s Semifinals on Thursday, July 8th from 7 AM-1 PM CT on ESPN. On Friday, July 9th, the men’s semifinals will take place from 7 AM-1PM CT. The Women’s Final will take place Saturday, July 10th, from 8 AM-2 PM CT. The Men’s Final will be from 8 AM-1:30 PM CT on Sunday, July 11th. So an electric 2 weeks in in London.

There will be no Rafa Nadal as he was mentally and physically exhausted after that marathon, a sensational 4 set match with Novak Djokavic at the French Open. Rafa withdrew and is saving up for the hard courts and the U.S. Open in late August through the 2nd week of September. Dominic Thiem is also out for the men due to injury. On the women’s side, Naomi Osaka is sitting out the Championships due to mental recuperation. Also, Simona Halep, the 2019 Wimbledon champion, has withdrawn due to an injured wrist.

But there are plenty of highly talented and capable players in both the men’s and women’s draws, which should set up a riveting 2 weeks at the Championships. This is the premiere event in professional tennis. The U.S. Open and the French are very close, but all the players gear their games towards winning Wimbledon. Just like the Masters is the premiere event in golf, with the U.S. Open and the Open Championship a close second and third, Wimbledon is where it’s at for these superb players.

Here are White’s World’s Predictions for the Championships at Wimbledon.

Men’s Singles

Semifinals

Novak Djokovic, at 19 Majors, is aiming to tie Roger Federer and Nadal with 20 majors. He obviously wants to surpass them in the near future, but this major, he’s set his sights on tying Fed and Rafa. It’s been a spectacular run for the 34 year old Serb this year. He’s already won the Australian and the French Opens, and now he sets his sights on his 6th Wimbledon title. He’s won Wimbledon in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019. With Wimbledon being canceled in 2020, he is the reigning 2 time champion. I like him to keep it going in the semis.

Djokovic over Stafanos Tsitsipas (Greece, played Djoker to 5 sets in the finals of the French)

6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3

Other semifinal

Daniil Medvedev over Alexander Zverev 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Men’s Final

I’m gong to take the 25 year old 2nd seeded Russian to break the door down and pull off a major upset over Djoker and win his first Grand Slam title. He’s just coming off a victory at the Mallorca Open in Spain yesterday, a grass surface, and I like his momentum heading into the Championships. He’s got a strong ground strokes game and a tough first serve, and a solid second serve. He can hang with Djoker in fitness, so I like him to barely outlast the preeminent player in men’s tennis today and maybe all time, and deny Djokovic a chance of tying Roger’s and Rafa’s all time record. for now That might not last through the U.S. Open though. This will be must see professional tennis on Sunday morning on Centre Court at the All England Club.

Medvedev over Djokovic 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 7-5, 4-6, 8-6

Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion

Daniil Medvedev

Women’s Singles

Semifinals

I’m going to take the 33 year old from Bremen West Germany over the 24 year old Latvia native.

Angelique Kerber over Jelena Ostapenko 5-7, 6-4, 7-5

In the other semifinal, I’ll take the 31 year old Czech Republic native who is a two time winner at the Championships in 2011 and 2014. She’s coming off a strong grass event where she lost in the semifinal of the Bad Homburg Open in 3 sets. I like her to defeat the 27 year old from Spain, who is also the 2017 Wimbledon Champion.

Petra Kvitova over Garbine Muguruza, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3

Finals

The 33 year old German is coming fresh off a grass court title at the Bad Homburg Open. I’ll take the 2016 Australian Open, 2016 U.S. Open and 2018 Wimbledon Champion to capture her fourth Grand Slam championship at the All England Club. She defeated her opponent just recently at the Bad Homburg in the semifinals.

Kerber over Kvitova, 7-5, 6-3

Wimbledon Women’s Singles Champion:

Angelique Kerber

Has advanced to the championship series of the College World Series. Today’s game with NC State was declared a no contest by the NCAA as there were so many NC State players in COVID protocol that they are unable to field a team. Don’t know if any of their players who played yesterday are in protocol today.

But Kumar Rocker’s and Luke Murphy’s pitching yesterday and some timely hitting by C.J. Rodriguez and Parker Noland allowed us to win yesterday’s contest, 3-1.

We will now face today’s Mississippi State-Texas winner on Monday Night. Texas defeated State last night, 8-5, to force a deciding game today as both teams have a loss. Today’s game starts at 6 PM CT on ESPN2.

The Championship Series is the best 2 out of 3 games with games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, if necessary, at 6 PM CT on ESPN2.

Jack Leiter can take the hill for us Monday Night now. It worked out well for us. Sorry for NC State, but really elated for our team as we play for our third national championship in program history starting Monday Night. State or Texas will be a formidable foe, but having Jack available Monday is tremendous.

Have an awesome weekend and Anchor Down!

The Wolfpack are going with freshman right hander Matt Willadsen. He’s 5-3, with a 4.73 ERA. He has walked 29 and struck out 72. He’s their number 3 guy. They are saving junior right hander Reid Johnston, their number one starter, for a game tomorrow, if necessary. Johnston is 9-3, 4.47, 23 walks, 96 K’s. They’ll have their excellent closer, Evan Justice, the lefty available today and tomorrow.

We’ll go with Kumar today. Rocker is 13-3 with a 2.58 ERA, 36 walks and 162 K’s in 111.2 innings of work. If we win today, I’m speculating we’ll go with Patrick Reilly tomorrow. The freshman right hander is 4-2 with a 4.87 ERA, with 24 walks and 52 K’s in 42.1 innings of work. Jack threw 123 pitches Monday Night, so not so sure he would be ready for tomorrow. I would say it’s doubtful. Plus, if we pull it off and win today and tomorrow, we would have Jack for Monday’s championship series opener. You never know though. He could come out of the bullpen today or tomorrow as well.

First pitch is 1 PM CT on ESPN2.

It was the Miracle in Omaha. The Immaculate Inning. Divine Intervention. You can give it any superlative you want and you would be correct in your moniker.

The Vanderbilt Commodores, down 5-4 and facing 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th with the bases empty and with Javier Vaz up with 2 strikes against him and tough Stanford closer Brendan Beck on the hill, who looked un-hittable, looked on the brink of elimination in the College World Series. But I said to my wife I thought Javy was going to find a way to get on, and at least keep the inning alive. Javy hung tough and coaxed a walk. Then, Spencer Jones pinch hit for Jay Gonz, and hit a grounder to deep short which the shortstop, instead of holding on to the ball because he was not going to get Javy out at second and Spencer can run and it would be a longshot to get him at first, decided to try and throw out Spencer at first. I don’t blame him. He wanted to close out the game. But he threw the ball away and Javy advanced to third. Then the great Enrique Bradfield, who had already singled twice on the night, hit a line shot that dropped in right field to drive Javy in and move Spencer over to third. We were all tied up at 5. Then, with Carter Young at the plate, Beck unloaded a fastball over the catcher’s head and Spence raced home to secure the improbable 6-5 victory for our special team before 22,804 fans at TD Ameritrade Park.

We were down 4-zip, and Dom Keegan drilled a 2 run homer to left field in the bottom of the 4th to cut the lead in half at 4-2. We were down 5-2 in the bottom of the 6th when Tate Kolwyck, good to see him back hope he can start on Friday, and Parker Noland, had run scoring singles to cut the lead to 5-4. And then came the majestic bottom of the 9th. We committed 3 errors on the night and that’s not us, so we HAVE to clean that up Friday. I’d like to see Tate get back in the lineup at 2nd. He looked healthy and energetic last night. We need his stellar leadership and ability in our lineup. Spencer Jones may have very well earned DH duties for Friday after his base hit last night. Our bullpen was superb. Nick Maldonado went 3, gave up 4 hits, with a run, 1 walk and 3 K’s. Nick had some tough luck with a ground ball that should have been a double play, but was an error on Carter. Not like Carter. But Nick pitched very well. Chris McElvain pitched 1.2 innings of 2 hit ball with 0 runs, 1 walk and 3 K’s. And Luke Murphy was spectacular and was a major reason we won, coming in with the bases loaded in the top of the 8th and 2 outs, and striking out the Stanford hitter. Then Luke had a 1-2-3, 9th inning. He gave up 0 hits, 0 runs with 0 walks and 3 K’s. Wow, Luke is a talent. Proud of him for his mental toughness for keeping the score where it was. That was really clutch pitching.

Then, the amazing bottom of the 9th. What a victory. Corbs made all the right moves with the bullpen, and with pinch hitting. I loved the moves of putting Nick in early for Christian Little, who was very unlucky, as the fielding behind him, besides Javy’s awesome diving catch in left field, was not up to our standards. it was a tough night for Christian, but I still believe in him. Nick was super, then putting Chris in, trying lefty on lefty with runners on 2nd and 3rd with Hugh Fisher against that awesome hitter for Stanford, centerfielder Brock Jones, who was 3 for 4 on the night with his 18th homer of the season and 3 RBIs. Hugh walked him to load the bases, then Corbs immediately went to Luke, who struck out Kody Huff, another power hitter for Stanford. Pinch hitting Tate in the bottom of the 6th was an excellent call, then pinch hitting with Spencer in the bottom of the 9th was perfect. Awesome job by the head man. Pitching Coach Scott Brown and Christian got into it. Christian was frustrated with the defense and was vocal about it in the dugout after the first inning and Brownie, in no uncertain terms, told him to calm down, get his act together and help his team. Christian probably learned that it’s not going to always go his way, but he still has to keep his head down and focus on the task at hand and not blame teammates. He’s still 17, won’t be 18 till July as he reclassified to the 2020 class, coming to the West End a year before he was supposed to, so he learned from this. We may need him again before this is over, so we need his head in the game. He’s going to be a stellar pitcher for us.

What a team. They’re special. Now we have NC State Friday at 1 PM CT on ESPN2. I’m fully expecting Kumar to be on the hill for us. He’s 13-3 with a 2.58 ERA with 36 walks and 162 K’s. Jack now has 171 K’s to lead Kumar and Andrew Abbott, the Virginia pitcher, who has 162 as well. Abbott is possibly pitching for Virginia tonight. He threw 104 pitches Sunday, so that’s kind of risky, but Virginia is in a do or die situation with Texas, so he may be out there. Doubt it though. That game is tonight at 6 on ESPN2. Nick Savino for UVA has 10 starts and a 3.86 ERA, so he may get the call. Not sure about the Longhorns. Should be a terrific game.

Kumar is still the man in these moments, so absolutely trust him on the hill. I would think North Carolina State would go with Reid Johnston, their junior right hander, who is 9-3 with a 4.47 ERA with 23 walks and 96 K’s. He went 6 innings last Saturday against Stanford, throwing 75 pitches, giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned with a walk and 5 K’s. Their freshman right hander, Sam Highfill, who went 7.1 innings against us Monday Night, giving up only 2 hits, 0 runs with 2 walks and 7 K’s, threw 100 pitches. They may use him in short relief, and they’ll definitely have their stud closer Evan Justice, 5-2, 3.77 ERA, 25 walks, 74 K’s, ready against us. He threw 28 pitches Monday Night giving up 0 hits, 0 runs, with a walk and 2 K’s. So, if we have to face him, we need to figure out ways to get on base and score a run or 2 because it’s going to be a tight game. I see Kumar pitching well. Facing maybe his last game as a starter at Vanderbilt, Kumar is going to refuse to go down without a major battle.

So, Friday at 1 PM CT on ESPN2 in a game we must win to make it to a game Saturday against NC State. That would be at 1 PM also and ESPN will televise. If we win, will confirm our game time Saturday in postgame column. It could be at 6 PM CT Saturday Night on ESPN2, but I’m pretty positive it would be Saturday at 1 PM CT on ESPN2. Just gotta get the job done Friday. Anchor Down, what a performance. Have a super day.

Bama Golf and Brownie were doin work last week as both successfully predicted that Jon Rahm would win the 121st U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Rahm was iron with 22 foot birdie putts on both 17 AND 18. Amazing stuff by the Rahminator. Bama and Brownie were strong for predicting him. Good job fellas. At an Open where there were players imploding, see DeChambeau among others, Rahm was not going to be denied. He was resilient coming back from COVID quarantine and kept believing in himself and won for his infant son on Father’s Day. Good stuff by Bama and Brownie, too. Both were happy fathers on Sunday for a variety of reasons. Both have done tremendous jobs as fathers and they’re both stellar sports minds. Great job, fellas.

Women’s PGA Championship

The 67th KPMG Women’s PGA Championship should be fascinating as the top 156 players in the world, and 99 of the top 100, descend on the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club starting Thursday. Coverage Thursday is by Golf Channel from 10 AM-2 PM CT. Peacock continues coverage from 4-6 PM CT Thursday.

Friday, Golf Channel has coverage from 10 AM-2 PM CT and Peacock takes over from 4-6 PM CT. Saturday, Peacock has it from 9 AM-12 PM CT and NBC takes over from 12-3 PM CT. Sunday, Peacock has it from 11 AM-2 PM CT, and NBC has the riveting final round coverage from 2-5 PM CT.

The Highlands Course, where Keegan Bradley won the men’s PGA Championship in 2011, the 93rd edition, will be playing as a par 72, playing at 6,800+ yard course, so very long. Weather looks good. 81 Thursday, winds ESE 12. Friday, 86, Wind E 8 MPH. Saturday, 86, wind SE 8. Sunday 84, Wind SE 8. Slight chance of isolated T-storms Sunday, but not any rain Thursday-Saturday, and looks promising Sunday. Maybe a little humid and warm, but doable for these young ladies. Very good forecast overall.

Winner

There are a lot of candidates. Lexi Thompson was so good at the U.S. Open before falling apart on the last 5 holes. Felt bad for her. She’ll be ready in Atlanta. Danielle Kang is another who’s playing well. Inbee Park is always a factor. Lydia Ko has been playing well. The Jutanugarn sisters, Moriya and Ariya, always play well. Ariya won at Shoal Creek in the 2018 U.S. Open. Brooke Henderson is always a factor. South Korea’s Yuka Saso won this year’s U.S. Open at Olympic and is playing with a lot of confidence. Twenty eight year old Jessica Korda is a superb player, who won in January.

But, I’m going to take Jessica’s little sister. This 22 year old young lady from Bradenton, Florida, just won last week at the Meiijer LPGA Classic, shooting 25 under par to win by two shots, She also won in late February at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. She’s already won 5 times on the LPGA Tour. I know it’s hard to go back to back in tournaments, but I also believe in momentum, and this young lady has it. Give me,

Nelly Korda

We face the Stanford Cardinal tonight at 6 on ESPN in an elimination game in the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.

The questions are who will we start, who are they going to start and can we hit the dadgum baseball tonight and make something happen on the bases. Defense is always critical as well.

I like Christian Little to start for us. CL is a hoss and has superb stuff. He pitched exceptionally well against Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament and deserves to be out there. Our team needs him out there. Christian was spectacular in 6 innings against Ole Miss before leaving the game in the 7th with a minor forearm issue. But our coaches were just being careful with him. I like Patrick Reilly as well, and Patrick is a tremendous competitor, but I’d give the nod to Christian tonight. He reminds me a lot of Kumar two years ago. He’s made for this. Christian is 3-1 with a 5.02 ERA with 16 walks and 44 K’s in 37 innings pitched. Patrick is 4-2, 4.89 with 24 walks and 52 K’s in 42 innings. I just prefer Christian with Patrick in the pen ready to go, if necessary.

Jack pitched such a terrific game Monday Night that it was too bad it was wasted by our anemic hitting. N.C. State had a couple of good arms, no doubt, but we gotta do better than that. We need to make something happen on the bases, too, if our bats aren’t clicking tonight.

I’m predicting Stanford will start sophomore left hander Quinn Mathews. He’s 5-2 with a 6.02 ERA with 32 walks and 55 K’s. They’ve already used their 2 best starting pitchers, so this may be a bullpen game for Stanford if Mathews isn’t effective.

They hit .284 as a team, their team ERA is 4.61 and they are fielding at a .979 clip, so they’re good on defense and pretty strong with the bats. Their leading hitter is rightfielder Christian Robinson, who hits .321 with 8 homers and 48 RBIs. Centerfielder Brock Jones hits .302 with 17 homers and 59 RBI’s and was 3 for 5 Monday against Zona with a homer, a double and 5 RBIs in a 14-5 victory which knocked Arizona out of the Series. Third baseman Drew Bowser hits .303 with 7 homers and 41 RBIs and was also 3 for 5 Monday against Zona with a double and 2 RBIs. So they’ve got some hitting. They lost their first game last Saturday to N.C. State, 10-4.

So our guys, Enrique, Carter, Dom, Javy, Isaiah, Troy LaNeve or Jack Bulger, whomever starts against the lefty, Parker Noland and C.J. Rodriguez are going to need to bear down tonight at the plate and help our pitchers out. Nick Maldonado and Luke Murphy will be available out of the bullpen.

The perfect scenario would be for Christian or Patrick to go 7 or 8 and for us to close it with Luke and Nick with a minimal amount of pitches thrown by each pitcher. But we’ve got to hit and make something happen on the bases if we expect to make it to Friday versus N.C. State. We’ve got it in us, we’re still hitting .294 as a team, so we need to show America the real Vanderbilt at the plate tonight. Have to pitch and defend well as always.

Anchor Down. Let’s get the job done tonight and advance to Friday. Major challenge. I see our guys being up to the challenge.

Our third ranked and 4th nationally seeded Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team squares off with the North Carolina State Wolfpack tonight in our game 2 of the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Ballpark in Omaha. Game time is set for 6 PM CT and will be televised by ESPN.

Our team moved to 46-15 on the season with a phenomenal 7-6, 12 inning victory over No. 6 and 5th national seed Arizona Saturday Night. Carter Young launched a major 2 run homer to tie the game up 3-3 in the bottom of the 4th, and the hero of the game, senior third baseman Jayson Gonzalez, was 3 for 5 with his 8th home run of the season and 3 Ribeyes including the walk off bases loaded single in the bottom of the 12th. Carter hit his 16th homer on the season. North Carolina State defeated Stanford, 10-4, in the first game Saturday, with left fielder Jonny Butler going 3 for 4 with 5 RBIs, including his 14th homer of the season. Devonte Brown also hit a solo shot, his 13th.

Sophomore right hander Jack Leiter will get the start for us tonight. Jack is superb at 10-3 with a 2.16 ERA along with 41 walks and 156 strikeouts. Kumar pitched 5.2 on Saturday, giving up 5 hits, 5 runs, only 3 of which were earned, with 0 walks and 7 K’s. It was a solid performance. We struggled a little bit defensively with 3 errors. Need to rectify that tonight. Kumar now has 162 strikeouts on the season and is tied with Virginia’s Andrew Abbott for the nation’s lead. Jack will have the opportunity to overtake Rocker and Abbott tonight. Abbott pitched well in Virginia’s 6-0 victory over Tennessee Sunday.

Our bullpen was exceptional Saturday Night. Nick Maldonado looked like the pitcher we always have known he is. Nick was in his dominant midseason form in the CWS going 2.2 innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 earned run, with 0 walks and 4 K’s. Luke Murphy was stellar as well, going 2.2 himself, with 1 hit, 0 runs, with a walk and 6 K’s. And Chris McElvain finished off the superb bullpen effort going an inning giving up 1 hit with 0 walks and 2 K’s. McElvain moved to 5-1 on the season with a 3.92 ERA. Kumar now has a 2.58 ERA, Nick is at 2.42 and Luke is 2.75. Nick threw 48 pitches and Luke 47. Chris threw 13, so he should be available tonight, while the other two most likely aren’t. We still have some guys in the ‘pen. Ethan Smith is back and healthy, Thomas Schultz is a guy we can use. Nelson Berkwich has given us some good innings. Hugh Fisher is another. Both Berkwich and Hugh are leftys. If we need to use Patrick Reilly, he’ll be available. Patrick was warming up in the bullpen late Saturday Night.

Jack will be opposed tonight by Wolfpack sophomore right hander Sam Highfill, who is 8-2 with a 3.98 ERA, which includes 24 walks against 77 K’s. In 11 2/3 innings of postseason work, Highfill has given up only 3 runs. State used their star reliever, lefty Evan Justice for 46 pitches as he picked up his 12th save, so it’s highly questionable whether he will pitch. Unlikely really.

The Wolfpack are led in hitting by Butler, who hits .385 with 14 homers and 53 RBIs. Center fielder Tyler McDonough hits .341 with 15 homes and 45 RBIs. And first baseman Austin Murr hits .326 with 7 homers and 32 RBIs. Catcher Luca Tresh is hitting only .239 but has 15 homers and 43 RBIs on the year. Right fielder Devonte Brown hits .253 with 13 homers and 40 RBIs.They like the long ball as they’ve hit 91 this year. We’re right with them at 88. They have 102 doubles on the season, we have 128. They have 14 triples, we have 20. And they’ve stolen 74 bases in 90 attempts, while we are 87-of-99. Our leader is Enrique Bradfield with 46 in 52 attempts. Would like to see Enrique steal tonight and test them. I think Javier Vaz can steal with his speed. He’s 2-of-2 this season. Isaiah Thomas is 12-of-12, so Isaiah needs to get on and be aggressive on the base paths. Carter Young is 9-of-10. So we need to get the running game going. Butler has stolen 16-of-17 and designated hitter Terrell Tatum is 16-of-18. So C.J. Rodriguez are star catcher, may be tested by the Wolfpack running game. Trust C.J. to have a handle on it. We’re hitting .297 as a team and they’re hitting .289.

We are fielding at a .975 clip and they’re at .982. Didn’t see catcher Tresh get tested by Stanford on the base paths Saturday, and that’s something we ought to do. Enrique is so smart about his base stealing, but hope we’re more aggressive tonight. Javy did steal a base Saturday Night. He’s such a stellar addition to our lineup. Love our outfield with Javy, Bradfield and Thomas left to right. That’s as good as it gets.

Their team ERA is 5.08 and ours’ is 3.36.

So another tremendously important contest in the CWS for us. If we can pull this off, we’d advance all the way to Friday’s 1 PM CT game on ESPN2, which, if we win that one, would qualify us for the national championship best 2 out of 3 game series starting a week from tonight, Monday, June 28th. But a lot of work ahead of us tonight. We’ve got a stellar opponent that defeated Arkansas in the Super Regional and Arkansas’ magnificent pitcher Kevin Kopps, who, on his 118th pitch, had it deposited over the left central field wall. Justice was awesome in closing the door for the Wolfpack in their 3-2 victory in Fayetteville that sent them to Omaha.

We’ve got a sensational team and a hoss on the hill tonight and our bullpen is still in good shape even without Nick and Luke tonight. Let’s get the job done and move on to Friday.