NECBL: College World Series Alums

Zander Wiel was named the NECBL Player of the Week during his only week with the Mainers in 2013. /VU

There's something to be said about the level of talent in the NECBL when 28 current, former and future players are on the rosters of Virginia and Vanderbilt- the two teams competing in Omaha on D-I baseball's biggest stage.

Vanderbilt has the edge with 18 alums, and the Cavaliers have 10. Here's the complete list for both teams.

VANDERBILT
Player	Position	NECBL Team	Year
Joey Abraham	RHP	Sanford	2015
Ben Bowden	LHP	Plymouth	2014
Tyler Campbell	IF	Laconia	2013
Ro Coleman	OF	Keene	2014
Karl Ellison	C	Laconia	2014
Tyler Ferguson	RHP	Newport	2013
Tyler Green	IF	Newport	2014
Ryan Johnson	LHP	Sanford	2014
John Kilichowski	LHP	Newport	2014
Aubrey McCarty	IF	Keene	2014
Drake Parker	OF	Sanford	2014
Nolan Rogers	OF/IF	Sanford	2015
Matt Ruppenthal	RHP	Newport	2015
Liam Sabino	IF	Newport	2015
Jordan Sheffield	RHP	Laconia	2014
Kyle Smith	OF	Vermont	2013
Brandon Spagnulo	RHP	Newport	2015
Zander Wiel	IF	Sanford	2013

VIRGINIA
Player	Position	NECBL Team	Year
Robbie Coman	C	Keene	2014
Kenny Towns	3B	Vermont	2013
Bennett Sousa	LHP	Keene	2015
Alec Bettinger	RHP	Keene	2014
Tommy Doyle	RHP	Keene	2015
Jack Roberts	RHP	Keene	2014
Nathan Kirby	LHP	Keene	2013
Kevin Doherty	LHP	Saratoga	2013
Connor Jones	RHP	Keene	2014
David Rosenberger	LHP	Vermont/Sanford	2014/15

Commodores take home first national championship

John Norwood takes off with the crowd going crazy. (Vanderbilt)

A solo home run in the top of the eighth by John Norwood clinched the Vanderbilt Commodores first ever national championship with a 3-2 win over Virginia. Second basemen Darby Swanson was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player as the Commodores bounced back from losing Game 2 to pick up the win.

Norwood crushed a 1-0 pitch on a line over the left field fence, dropping into the bullpen for the first Vanderbilt home run in the CWS.

"I thought it was gone, but you never know in this park," Norwood said. "I was just hoping it went out, and if it didn't, I knew my teammates would pick me up. It's a home run, but it's also a team effort to get here. We were confident the entire year."

The junior outfielder was greeted at the plate by the entire team after he took a high pitch up in the zone from Virginia reliever Nick Howard and deposited it into the Commodores bullpen.

"You've got to give credit to (John) Norwood," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "The pitch was up in the zone and he took an aggressive swing and hit the ball out."

Commodore starter Carson Fulmer was almost unhittable over five plus innings of work as he gave up two runs, just one of which was earned. He struck out five and combined with reliever Hayden Stone, who threw two innings get the win.

Fulmer had began to tire in the sixth so he was pulled after giving up a one-out RBI single to Daniel Pinero. Stone entered and loaded the bases with two outs before Vince Conde dropped a lineout to score the game-tying run.

Vanderbilt had scored twice already as Darby Swanson's smart heads-up baserunning brought him around in the top of the first. He moved to second on a pop up to the third basemen before stealing third and coming home on a double steal when Cavalier catcher Robbie Coman's throw sailed into center field.

The Commodores added another run in the top half of the sixth behind more aggressive baserunning. Norwood grounded a ball to third that he would've beat out but a error from Kenny Towns moved him to second. He moved to third on a groundout and came around to score on a Conde RBI single.

Virginia looked like the better team in the second game, but Vanderbilt bookended the series with narrow wins and came away with their first national championship in school history. It was the fourth SEC title in the last five years and the Cavaliers couldn't win the first ACC title since 1955.

As a side note, Commodore pitcher Brian Miller proposed to his girlfriend after the game, and she said yes. Miller had thrown 7 1/3 innings of relief in last Friday's loss to Texas.

Mountaineers in the Tournament

The road to Omaha began today as the NCAA released the 2014 D-I baseball bracket field- 64 teams divided into 16 regionals, which match up with their super regional partners. The Mountaineers have nine 2014 players on three different teams in the tournament- all regional hosts. Here's a breakdown of each team, the players and when/who they'll be playing.

INDIANA (#4 Overall)
Mountaineers: RHP Evan Bell, 2B Casey Rodrique, C/OF Brad Hartong, RHP Christian Morris
Regional/Seeding: Bloomington (#1)
Teams in it: #2 Indiana State, #3 Stanford, #4 Youngstown State
First game: Friday, vs. No. 4 Youngstown State, 7 p.m. ESPN3
Notes: One of 16 regional hosts...The Hoosiers grabbed the Big Ten's first-ever national seed...Beat Nebraska 8-4 to win the Big Ten title...Began the season 9-8 and were 15-10 at the end of March...Went 33-5 to finish the season and win the regular season title...If they advance they host the winner of Nashvilles's regional, which contains Vanderbilt, Oregon, Clemson and Xavier.

LOUISVILLE
Mountaineers: SS Nick Solak, INF Blake Tiberi, RF Colin Lyman, LHP Robert Strader
Regional/Seeding: Louisville (#1)
Teams in it: #2 Kentucky, #3 Kansas, #4 Kent State
First game: Friday, vs. No. 4 Kent State, 6 p.m ESPN3
Notes:  One of 16 regional hosts...Cardinals won the American Athletic Conference regular season title...Lost the AAC tournament championship, 10-4 to Houston...Went 29-7 at home in 2014...Seventh postseason berth in the last eight seasons...If they advance they play the winner of the Tallahassee regional, which contains Florida State (5), Alabama, Kennesaw State and Georgia Southern.

VANDERBILT
Mountaineers: Nolan Rogers (CF)
Regional/Seeding: Nashville (#1)
Teams in it: #2 Oregon, #3 Clemson, #4 Xavier
First games: Friday, vs. No. 4 Xavier, 8 p.m. ESPN3
Notes: One of 16 regional hosts...Eliminated from the SEC tournament with losses to No. 14 LSU and No. 10 Ole Miss...Finished 41-18...26-9 at home...If they advance they play the winner of the Bloomington regional, which includes Indiana (4), Indiana State, Samford and Youngstown State.