So much for national seeds mattering. Monday night marks the beginning of the 2015 College World Series final between Virginia and Vanderbilt, a repeat of last year's matchup that seemed highly unlikely a few weeks ago.Vanderbilt was held out of a national seed despite a 47-19 regular-season record, including an impressive 20-10 mark in the SEC. Despite a strong overall resume, the Commodores were undone by skepticism about their hitting, which was only so-so outside of stars like Dansby Swanson.Virginia's road was far rockier. The Cavaliers were saved almost entirely by their RPI after a regular season that saw them barely crawl to .500 against ACC competition. They've largely just gotten hot at the right time, mixing sterling pitching performances with clutch hitting.Brian O'Connor's team gave up more than four runs only twice in the Super Regionals and the World Series, both losses that put their season in jeopardy. Each time, they came back with a sterling all-around performance to keep their campaign alive.The Cavaliers' latest heroics came in their semifinal matchup against Florida. Having already taken the red-hot Gators down once in Omaha, the task seemed unlikely after a 10-5 thrashing in the second matchup. Florida entered the deciding game having scored 35 runs in its three wins and carrying the "best team in baseball" moniker to most.Instead,Josh Sborz gave the Cavaliers four innings of shutout baseball in relief andKenny Towns knocked through a sacrifice in the seventh inning to give Virginia a 5-4 win. The win completes one of the more unlikely journeys to a final in recent CWS history."They're all special, certainly, but this one's different," O'Connor told reporters. "How this team has navigated and what they've been through to get here is really, really special and memorable. They have a lot of pride in playing for each other. They're going to give it everything they've got. They're going to be prepared. And it's been a lot of fun to coach."Vanderbilt's journey has been more of a standard affair. The Commodores have been borderline unstoppable since the beginning of tournament play, never allowing more than four runs as they've gone undefeated. Much of the credit goes to (arguably) the best pitching staff in college baseball, which is led by arms that went in the first round of this month's MLB draft.Walker Buehler, who went No. 24 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, shut down TCU in a 7-1 win Friday despite having nearly three full weeks off. Buehler struck out eight over 6.2 innings before ceding toJohn Kilichowski, who allowed only one hit to finish it off."Those were six of the most impressive innings I've seen him pitch," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said, per David Climer of theTennessean.Luckily for Corbin, he still has two aces who should be ready to go for the championship series.Philip Pfeifer, who will go with Buehler to the Dodgers system soon after this series, should get a nod after pushing the Commodores to a 1-0 win over TCU in their initial second-round matchup. Pfeifer has been one of college baseball's best stories, recovering from substance-abuse issues to return to dominant form."I'm just so overwhelmed by it because the fact that he's here and just playing for us, it's such a good story from a human comeback thing," Corbin said, per Adam Sparks of the Tennessean. "Just that he's able to be wearing a uniform, still going to school and still living a normal life, that supersedes everything, supersedes the game."This all before we even get to ace Carson Fulmer, the No. 8 overall pick in June. Fulmer is well-rested, having last pitched in Vanderbilt's first-round win over Cal State Fullerton. It'll be interesting to see how Corbin chooses to deploy his staff. Getting Game 1 is an absolute must in these best-of-three situations, which means putting Fulmer in this spot is a good move.The Commodores will also enter the championship series relaxed after getting consistent layoffs throughout their run.I definitely like the off days, first baseman Zander Wiel said, perJon Nyatawa of theWorld-Herald. It's good for the coaching staff. I think it's good to give our minds a break for a couple days. Just get to sit back, watch some baseball and hang out with each other. It's been a good time.Virginia would have been able to counter with an equal array of stars during the regular season, but Nathan Kirby's injury issues leave it a bit short-handed. Kirby was the losing pitcher and struggled against Florida in the semis, a sign that perhaps he's not quite 100 percent after recovery from a lat strain.With Vanderbilt seeming as close to full strength as you can be at this point of the season, odds are in favor of a repeat of last year's result.
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