Vandy Dude Gets Drilled In The Neck By Fastball During Bunt Attempt...Stays In Game And Cranks A Home Run
June 21 – OMAHA, Neb. – When Vanderbilt’s Rhett Wiseman was struck in the neck by an 89 mph pitch in the College World Series on Friday night, a quick checklist ran through his woozy mind.
“First, I had to make sure I could breathe,” he said. “… Then I got numb on that side of my body, and I had to make sure it came back. But then it all came back, and I was good to go.”
But before taking first base, Wiseman had one more hurdle – convincing coach Tim Corbin that he was healthy enough to stay in the game.
He found the right words, but Corbin said they weren’t for public consumption.
“I can’t really tell you what he said,” Corbin said. “But I can tell you that under no circumstances was I pulling him out of the game.”
Later on:
Wiseman followed the shot to the neck with a single in the third inning and two-run home run well over the right-field wall in the fourth, carrying the Commodores to a 7-1 win over TCU to advance to the best-of-three national championship series versus the Florida/Virginia winner.
After the game, Wiseman sported a welt on his neck and offered his first-hand expertise of such an injury.
“I knew it was my neck, not my jaw. I was fortunate it didn’t hit my jugular or my windpipe,” Wiseman said. “…But it’s the College World Series, baby. You’re not taking me out of this game. And (Corbin) was like, ‘Yeah, I know.’
…
This College World Series man…feels like every time I tune in there’s some crazy entertaining shit happening. Last time it was a TCU/Texas AM 18 inning marathon that I got stuck watching live until 2 AM. Now we got a Vandy kid getting drilled directly in the throat by an 89 MPH fastball, having his body go numb, then stepping right back up to the plate and cranking a home run over the bullpen. Mix in all the dugout celebrations, the fans, the smokes in the crowd, and I might just have full blown CWS Fever over here.
Seriously who says baseball players are soft?
PS – Any crowd shot at the College World Series, 80-85% chance you’ll land on a serious smoke.
