Hoover, AL--It was a special night for Vanderbilt on Tuesday that honored a special family and a special kid.
As Vanderbilt wore helmet stickers to honor Asher Sullivan, a 10-year old boy who tragically passed away on Sunday after an accident where he was swept into a storm drain after a flash flood, it honored Sullivan with its play too.
The Commodores picked up their second-straight win with Sullivan in their mind, which feels like no coincidence. Rather, it felt like fate.
Asher, as well as his brother Declan, were more than familiar with what Vanderbilt baseball was about.
"He's been around our program before, just from what I've seen of him and known of him, happy, smiley, much like you would think a 10-year-old child would be," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said of Sullivan. "There's nothing fair in life. That's the way it is. I love both boys. I do."
That love isn't one sided.
"Coach Corbin is the most genuine human I’ve ever met!" Sullivan's father Jimmy said on Twitter. "He was unbelievable during Declan’s battle with cancer, and has done even more for our family during this tragedy. Coach Corbin has checked on Asher EACH day, even before and after games. Thank you will never be enough!"
Corbin noted on Tuesday that the Sullivans’ support of his program hasn't just been confined to convenient times or moments.
The 62 year old coach seemed to be more reflective and emotional than normal on Tuesday night. That's because of what the Sullivans have done and meant for him and his program.
"That family is just glued to what we do from a baseball standpoint," Corbin said. "As difficult as it was when Asher passed away, they were watching the game the entire time as he was going through that. And I just -- I talked to the kids about that, and I said: That's passion. I mean, you think about, that's real passion for a family just to be absorbed in what you're doing while they're going through that. I can't get over it."
Corbin is just as stunned as everyone else about Sullivan's tragic incident.
"I think it checks your belief system sometimes on really -- is it really fair? But there's nothing fair in life," Corbin said. "Just again, just couldn't get over the fact that such an innocent thing turned into something like that. That will always be mind-numbing and hard to wrap your mind around."
Corbin seems to think of Vanderbilt's helmet gesture as small, but it meant something to Sullivan's family.
"Thank you @VandyBoys for recognizing Asher!!!" Sullivan's dad said on Twitter. "We needed a positive as we had just left a place that parents should never have to be to see their child. As soon as we got to the car, we saw this. Words will never be enough."
Corbin has more in mind, as well.
"Obviously it's such small change, but it just shows kind of a response to the family, what they will continue to go through during this time," Corbin said. "It's a small thing that we're doing. We'll continue to do it, and hopefully we can get Declan down here at some point, too, because he's a special young man, too, who's already been through his own deal, and now losing his brother, we'd like to help him out."
The older Sullivan brother in the Vanderbilt dugout the Sunday that it beat Tennessee, who it will face on Wednesday, at Hawkins Field.
That was also a Corbin fueled decision.
"I just was laying in bed last night, thinking about if there was anything that personally we could do to help the healing process just in the short term," Corbin said that Sunday. "I just texted Jimmy. It was late. It was about 10:30. And I said: Listen, you know, this is small change, but can we take Declan for the afternoon, and just bring him over to the ballpark? And he texted me right back and said: Let's do it. So I picked him up right after batting practice, brought him back and we had a great time.
"Sports sometimes can bring relief to families and people in times of need and this is just one of those."
As Vanderbilt enters its most important stretch of baseball, it will carry Sullivan's memory with it. As it carries that memory it also carries a reminder about how there is more to life than sports and a reminder of sports can be used for good.
