Vanderbilt left fielder Troy LaNeve ripped a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, leading the Commodores to a 4-2 win over Kentucky on Thursday night at Nashville's Hawkins Field.

LaNeve hammered a 3-1 pitch off Daniel Harper out to left-center, scoring Tate Kolwyck.

It made a winner of Luke Murphy (1-1), who pitched two scoreless innings and struck out four.

Dominic Keegan also homered for Vanderbilt (38-12, 18-9 Southeastern Conference), which took the first of the three-game series.

The Commodores remain a half-game behind Tennessee in the SEC East standings after the Vols won their opener at South Carolina.

Nor did they make ground in the overall lead; Arkansas beat Florida in its Thursday game; a Razorback win tomorrow would eliminate the Commodores from the SEC's overall title chase.

LaNeve had three hits and scored twice, the other coming in the third when Enrique Bradfield Jr. drove him in.

That, with Keegan's bomb, staked starter Kumar Rocker to a 2-0 lead, and Rocker (seven innings, two strikeouts) was cruising along, having retired 12 in a row until he walked Kentucky catcher Coltyn Kessler on a 3-2 pitch with two out in the sixth.

Two pitches later, Kentucky's John Rhodes then hammered a pitch over the big wall in left to tie the game.

After Vandy squandered a bases-loaded, one-out opportunity in the eighth, Murphy, who dominated with a fastball that sat between 95-98, got into a jam in the top half of the next inning when he hit Kessler with a pitch and then gave up a single to Rhodes with one out.

Murphy got a strikeout and a fly-out, then, hit Zeke Lewis in the elbow with an 0-2 pitch. But Cam Hill flied to LaNeve in left to end it.

Kolwyck led off the ninth by taking a 3-2 pitch just off the outside of the plate, setting up LaNeve's game-winner.

The teams play the second game Friday night at 6:30 Central, a game shown on the SEC Network Plus.