Rocker throws compete game as Vandy tops Mississippi State
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Kumar Rocker pitched a complete game and struck out eight, as Vanderbilt knocked off Mississippi State, 6-2, at Hawkins Field on Friday evening.
Outfielders Cooper Davis and Isaiah Thomas each drove in two runs, while catcher C.J. Rodriguez was 3 for 3 with two runs, an RBI and a walk.
The Commodores (30-6, 12-4 Southeastern Conference) seized sole possession of the SEC's overall lead, and moved a game and a half of Tennessee in the Eastern Division standings.
Rocker (9-1) allowed just four base runners all evening. He worked ahead in counts most of the night, firing 70 of his 108 pitches for strikes while utilizing a fastball, change-up, slider and cutter effectively.
"His fastball command (was important) and then he worked off that… I thought the cutter to the right-handed hitters was important... just getting those quick outs early in the game (was key)," Vandy coach Tim Corbin said.
The night didn't start well for Rocker and Vandy. MSU's Rowdey Jordan bounced a double into the right-field stands to start the game, took third on a fly ball out and then scored on Kamren James's ground-out.
MSU's Christian MacLeod was terrific the first time around the order, striking out seven of the first nine Commodores he faced while holding a 1-0 lead heading into the fourth.
But the State lefty, who confused Vandy early with an combination of a breaking ball and a fastball that sat 89-91 on the stadium gun, wasn't getting close calls on pitches in the fourth. He walked Dominic Keegan and Jack Bulger to start the fourth, then, Rodriguez hit a hard ball to left that went off Brayland Skinner's glove and was ruled a single.
Thomas then singled up the middle on a 3-1 pitch for two more runs. Enrique Bradfield Jr. later lined a two-out single for a fourth run, chasing MacLeod.
By the middle innings, Rocker was locating his pitches well and had thrown just 55 pitches through the fifth inning. Nor was the velocity waning late, as he struck out pinch-hitter Kellum Clark with a 96-mile-an-hour fastball to end the eighth.
Rocker didn't face more than four hitters in any inning until the ninth, when Jayson Gonzalez's two-out throwing error allowed James to reach with James scoring on Luke Hancock's single.
By that time, Davis's two-RBI single in the eighth had given the 'Dores two more insurance runs.
The normally-comatose Hawkins Field had energy from start to finish thanks to a group of several football players assembled over the Commodore dugout. That was something that didn't escape Corbin's notice.
"It means a great deal," Corbin said when asked about it. "We’re kind of transitioning into a new month where you can start to see now what this place can be like if there’s people here.
"That football group, they were up the minute the game started from first pitch to last pitch and never sat down. … It’s the energy, it’s the emotions and the kids feel it, they certainly feel it, to play in situations like that."
The teams play Game Two at 7 Central at Hawkins Field on Saturday night, with right-hander Jack Leiter pitching for Vandy against MSU right-hander Will Bednar.