Vanderbilt benefited, but there are no winners with NC State’s COVID-19 problems in CWS | Estes
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The winning team was obvious long before Friday afternoon’s game started an hour late. It was one with a full roster of players and – oh, by the way – perhaps the nation’s best pitcher on the mound.
Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker was sharp as usual. He struck out the side in the first two innings of a 3-1 victory, but truth is, had Rocker struck out every NC State batter and thrown a perfect game at the College World Series, it wouldn’t have been celebrated all that much.
Similarly, if his Commodores go on to win another national title — and that looks like more of a possibility now than it did before Friday — you can already hear the grumbles: Yeah, but they didn’t really earn this one.
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And that, folks, is why there were no winners Friday afternoon.
[ Why Vanderbilt should — or shouldn’t — start Jack Leiter in decisive NC State game Saturday ]
Not a College World Series that’ll be diminished. Certainly not NC State or its coaches, players and fans, who might’ve lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And not Vanderbilt, either.
The Commodores had nothing to do with the Wolfpack having to piece together a makeshift lineup out of 13 players and start a pitcher who’d barely thrown this season. Obviously, the team from Nashville benefited from an opponent so depleted by horribly timed COVID-19 problems.
UPDATE: Vanderbilt baseball advances to CWS Finals. NC State game canceled due to COVID-19
Vanderbilt’s victory was far closer than it should have been, all things considered. The available NC State players fought heroically against the odds, but we don’t know if the Wolfpack will be in much better shape for Saturday’s win-or-go-home rematch.
Huge advantage to Vanderbilt, no question. The Commodores couldn’t have wanted it this way. Who would have? It’s terribly disheartening.
There is no topic I’ve grown sicker of talking and writing about than COVID-19, and I was to that point many months ago.
But when it was so prominent back then — when Nashville SC was sidelined from an MLS tournament or the Tennessee Titans dealt with a torturous in-season outbreak — you kind of threw up your hands. It was chalked up mostly to bad luck or, at worst, a lackadaisical adherence to league protocols.
Not anymore. Now vaccines are widely available.
I should say that I don’t know the vaccination status of each Wolfpack baseball player. I can only assume those unable to play Friday were subjected to protocols that vaccinated players haven’t been subjected to in Omaha.
RELATED: Were NC State players vaccinated before College World Series? ‘I don’t try to indoctrinate my kids’
Vanderbilt’s team has been holding gatherings with fans for weeks now, including a sendoff when it departed Nashville for Omaha and on the morning of each CWS game. I doubt that’d be happening without vaccines.
“My job is to teach them baseball,” said NC State coach Elliott Avent after Friday’s game, “make sure they get an education and keep them on the right track forward. But I don’t try to indoctrinate my kids with my values or my opinions. … These are young men that can make their own decisions, and that’s what they did.”
Personally, I’ve tried to understand the vaccine hesitation, but I just don’t. Seems simple enough to me. You mean, there’s this shot that means I’ll be able to work and travel and do all things I love again without worrying about a virus that might harm me and my loved ones? Um … heck, yeah!
But hey, that’s me. I’m not here to shame anyone. I’d like to see others get vaccinated because I want the COVID-19 pandemic to go away. But it’s each person’s decision to make.
Some are going to prefer to remain unvaccinated, including those who play sports.
That means it will impact wins and losses, whether you agree or disagree or take sides. It will become a competitive advantage to be vaccinated and could greatly disadvantage a team when its players are not.
Just look at the NFL and the uproar by those unhappy (see Beasley, Cole) that the NFLPA agreed to far sterner restrictions for unvaccinated players, essentially punishing those who refuse to get vaccinated.
The NFL isn’t making unfair demands for no reason.
What is happening with NC State’s baseball team – that’s why.
You had to feel for the Wolfpack players on the field Friday. They fought so hard. They did everything they could. They could have said, “Nah, let’s go back to the hotel and regroup and gear up for Saturday.” Instead, they fought remarkably well with a sparse dugout and hands collectively tied behind backs.
That shouldn’t happen at the College World Series.
If only it could be prevented somehow.
Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt benefited, but there are no winners with NC State’s COVID-19 problems in CWS | Estes