Rocker pitches Vanderbilt past Gamecocks

Kumar Rocker threw eight innings and struck out 14, leading Vanderbilt to a 3-2 victory over South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at Nashville's Hawkins Field on Friday night.

Cooper Davis singled in C.J. Rodriguez to break open a two-all tie in the seventh and provide the winning run.Rodriguez scored two runs and drove in one.

Rocker ran his record to 5-0, while Luke Murphy registered his third save.

This was the Southeastern Conference opener for both Vanderbilt (14-2) and the Gamecocks (11-5).

Baserunners were difficult to come by on either side. Neither team had a hit until the fourth as Carolina starter Thomas Farr was also good, giving up three runs on four hits while striking out nine.

“It was a very difficult game," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "It was a very good college baseball game… every single (pitcher) who stepped on the rubber is a high-level guy. … Runs were just tough to come by.”

But Vandy's Isaiah Thomas lined a single to right with one out in the fifth and then Rodriguez followed with an RBI double to account for the game’s first run.

Tate Kolwyck then followed with a line-drive single to put men on the corners. Enrique Bradfield Jr. then laid down an RBI bunt single for a second run.

But Carolina got a Josiah Sightler RBI double in the sixth. Wes Clarke followed with an RBI on an infield ground-out to tie the game.

Those were the first two earned runs off Rocker this season.

Carolina threatened to add more in the seventh when Rocker walked David Mendham to start the inning. But Kolwyck started a 4-6-3 double play and then Rocker struck out Colin Burgess to end the inning.

Rodriguez walked to start the seventh, chasing Farr for Jack Mahoney. With two outs, Davis then singled past short off Andrew Peters to give the Commodores a 3-2 lead.

In the ninth, Murphy came on to strike out the side around a one-out, four-pitch walk to Clarke.

Rocker threw 116 pitches (82 for strikes) while allowing just five base runners.

"He wasn’t coming out of the game. … After he made the 3-2 pitch to (George) Khalil (to start the eighth), you could tell he smelled the finish line," Corbin said.

The teams play Game Two on Saturday at 11 a.m. Central.

Corbin said the Commodores should get Dominic Keegan (.548/.659/1.290), their leading hitter, back soon. Keegan has missed the past five games due to a positive Covid-19 test.

He’s here. He’s in the dugout, he took BP… he’s on the 30-man… if we get him cleared we can potentially can have him for Sunday.

The 'Dores are 4-1 without Keegan, who was hitting third when he left the lineup.

Rodriguez started behind the plate and had a good night with the bat. He entered with a .474 on-base percentage, but hadn't been driving the ball as capable: the second-year player has just one extra-base hit this year.

Corbin said that he expects Rodriguez to hit with more authority.

"He’s the one guy who’s handled Rocker inside scrimmages and there aren’t many guys who can do that," he said.

More than that, Corbin was thrilled with Rodriguez's defense. He credited him with blocking eight pitches on Friday night.