A strange year punctuated by a wild run in the College World Series got stranger when Vanderbilt, which was scheduled to play a winner-take-all game with North Carolina State at 1 p.m. on Saturday, awoke to learn it had advanced to the finals without throwing a pitch.

The NCAA released a statement at 1:10 a.m. Central that read as follows:

“The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee has declared the Vanderbilt-NC State Men’s College World Series game scheduled for Saturday, June 26 at 1 p.m. Central time a no-contest because of COVID-19 protocols. This decision was made based on the recommendation of the Championship Medical Team and the Douglas County Health Department. As a result, Vanderbilt will advance to the CWS Finals. The NCAA and the committee regret that NC State’s student-athletes and coaching staff will not be able to continue in the championship in which they earned the right to participate. Because of privacy issues, we cannot provide further details.”

Vanderbilt will play the winner of Saturday night's game between Texas and Mississippi State, which is scheduled for 6 Central at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.

D1 Baseball's Aaron Fitt has more context on the situation here.

The Commodores beat a short-handed NC State team by a 3-1 score on Friday. Just before the game, news broke that Wolfpack second baseman J.T. Jarrett and pitcher Evan Justice were unavailable due to health and safety protocols.

Friday's game, scheduled for 1, started an hour late. The Wolfpack, missing several key contributors, played with just 13 players.

Vanderbilt needed to win that one, as well as Saturday's scheduled game, to stay alive. Instead, Vandy advances to Monday to play either of MSU or Texas in a game starting at 6 Central.

After a lengthy rain delay, Texas staved off elimination by finishing off MSU, 8-5, in a game that ended not long after the NCAA made its announcement regarding NC State.

The Commodores have not played Texas this year, but took two of three games from Mississippi State in Nashville in a regular-season series played April 23-25.

Vanderbilt pitched No. 1 starter Kumar Rocker on Friday. It would presumably have No. 2 starter Jack Leiter, who last pitched on Monday, available to start this coming Monday.