College World Series Scores: Vanderbilt Commodores 6, UC Irvine Anteaters 4

First, the good news, and it's almost all good news for Vanderbilt tonight. After beating UC Irvine 6-4 on Monday night, Vanderbilt is now one win away from playing for the program's first national championship in baseball. They don't have to play again until Friday, their opponent at that point will have played one more game than they have, and any loss will only result in another game being played. There's a reason that most teams who have won the College World Series have won their first two games: It's a lot easier path.

Second, the not-so-good news that's not at all fatal for Vanderbilt: Something seems to be wrong with Tyler Beede. In the last 8.1 innings, Beede has given up 10 earned runs. That includes a rocky game in the Nashville Super Regional that Beede won and the topsy-turvy game Monday, when UC Irvine took a 4-2 lead and the game seemed to be slipping away from the Commodores. Tim Corbin then went to Walker Buehler, who threw 5.1 hitless innings, striking out seven, while Vanderbilt's offense fought its way back into the game. A three-run fifth and an insurance run in the seventh put Vanderbilt on top for good.

The advantage for the Commodores is that they have three days of rest until their next game, and if they win that one, two days of rest before the championship series begins. If there's a starting pitcher you want to be able to work around, there's time to shuffle your starting rotation and avoid putting him on the mound again. The question is whether you want to do that with Beede, who has been inconsistent enough this year to wonder if he could be much better the next time he takes the mound. Whichever way that Corbin decides to go, it's about the best problem he can have.