Road to Omaha

The journey begins. The Vanderbilt baseball teams hails as the number 1 team in the country heading into the SEC baseball tournament held in Hoover, Alabama this weekend. After sweeping the LSU Tigers this past weekend and claiming the SEC regular season championship, Vanderbilt all but assured itself a national seed.

Vanderbilt is slated to begin their SEC tournament play against Tennessee this evening in Alabama. Following completion of the SEC tournament, regional and super regional play will follow in the subsequent weekends. And, of course, following super regionals is Omaha, which is the sanctuary for all baseball fanatics and the ultimate goal for every baseball program at the beginning of every season.

Walking home from class today, I passed by Hawkins Field, home of Vanderbilt baseball. Preparation has already begun for regional and super regional play. Extra bleachers were being installed behind the right field wall to accommodate the mass of people coming to support the Commodores. With SEC tournament tickets and regional tournament tickets in hand, I will be one of the many Vandy faithful supporting the team all the way to Omaha.

Seeing those bleachers go up, I could only speculate on the madness that would incur next weekend. Nashville better get ready...and fast. If this amazing baseball team wins regionals, super regionals, and secures itself a spot in Omaha, the possibility of bringing back another National Championship to the campus of Vanderbilt University would be absolute mayhem. All year, this team has had such high expectations and has consistently played as a team. During the year, I missed only a handful of home games, but walking over to the stadium prior to the first pitch, I knew I was going to see fundamental, quality baseball.

And if you're wondering who the #2 team in the nation might be, it would be Rice University. And, yes, my fiance happens to work for Rice University. This could get ugly folks. Please hide the children.

Go 'Dores!