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Rocker leads Vandy past Florida on Friday

Vanderbilt's Kumar Rocker pitched five innings of two-run ball, as the Commodores beat Florida, 11-7, at Florida Ballpark in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday night.

Vanderbilt's Kumar Rocker picked up a win over Florida on Friday.
Vanderbilt's Kumar Rocker picked up a win over Florida on Friday. (Vanderbilt athletics)

Rocker (10-1) struck out eight, gave up four hits, walked four and got the win as the Commodores staked him to an early lead. He threw 99 pitches before the Commodores (32-7, 14-5 Southeastern Conference) replaced him with Thomas Schultz to start the sixth.

Isaiah Thomas homered, Enrique Bradfield Jr. reached base four times, scored three times and drove in two while C.J. Rodriguez drove in three.

But Florida (28-13, 11-8) made it interesting after Rocker left, forcing Vandy to use Nick Maldonado in a spot it would rather have not. Maldonado pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to finish the evening, picking up four strikeouts.

It wasn't the prettiest of games the two powerhouses played. Vanderbilt made a pair of errors while Florida left 14 men on base.

Vanderbilt hammered Florida starter Franco Alleman for nine runs in five innings.

The 'Dores jumped on the Gators for two runs in the first after Bradfield and Carter Young both walked to lead off the game. The two came home on Rodriguez's two-out infield single.

In the second, second baseman Tate Kolwyck--making his first start in over a month--doubled to lead off the inning and took third on a Jayson Gonzalez single.

Bradfield then reached on a run-scoring squeeze bunt, Jack Bulger added an RBI double and then Rodriguez grounded out to make the lead 6-0.

Dominic Keegan doubled in Bradfield in the fourth, and the Gators answered with the Armstrong home run. But Vandy's Thomas made the lead 9-1 with a blast to center in the fifth.

Then came Vandy's bullpen troubles.

Schultz retired just two of the five hitters he faced, and allowed a two-run double to Kirby McMullen. Vandy went to Luke Murphy to face Jud Fabian, and Murphy gave up a single to left to load the bases.

But Murphy recovered to strike out Armstrong swinging, keeping the lead at 10-4. He went a scoreless inning and a third, then, freshman lefty Nelson Berkwich, who allowed a home run to Jacob Young for one of the two runs he allowed before leaving two on as Maldonado entered.

A Colby Halter infield single cut the lead to 11-7, with an unearned run charged to Berkwich. Maldonado racked up a pair of strikeouts to keep the lead there, and gave up just a two-out infield single in the ninth.

Murphy threw 25 pitches, and Maldonado, 37, for the Commodores, who threw 202 on the evening.

The teams play again on Saturday evening at 5:30 Central, a game that'll be shown on the SEC Network Plus.

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