Composite bats concern NCAA

Inspections are held at College World Series

By Maurice Patton, THE TENNESSEAN

Originally published 06:56 a.m., June 16, 2009
Updated 06:56 a.m., June 16, 2009

Vanderbilt baseball Coach Tim Corbin saw a lot of home runs this season.

Not many of them were hit by his Commodores.

But as Corbin focused on the subject of composite and "doctored" bats this spring, he became one of the nation's most outspoken coaches on the issue. Altered bats came to a head for Corbin and the Commodores during their final regular-season series against visiting Tennessee. Cody Hawn, one of seven players Vanderbilt faced who hit 20 or more homers this season, hit an opposite-field shot that cleared the 35-foot left-field wall at Hawkins Field during the series finale. Earlier in the three-game set, Blake Forsythe hit a ball that traveled an estimated 500 feet.

Now, the issue has come to the forefront of the NCAA's signature baseball event — the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. On Friday before the CWS opened on Saturday, NCAA officials conducted inspections of bats of all eight participating teams.

Continue reading at The Tennessean.

  © 2009 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online