Seniors lead Vandy to SEC title

Six years after his last one, Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin has a fourth Southeastern Conference title—and thanks goes to three seniors who stuck around to be part it..

Shortstop Ethan Paul and first baseman Julian Infante each knocked in four runs, and left fielder Stephen Scott drove in another with a solo home run, as the Commodores won SEC’s regular-season title by blistering Kentucky, 12-4, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington on Friday night.

Right fielder J.J. Bleday added a two-run shot in the third, his school-record 24th.

Bleday, Paul and catcher Philip Clarke all had two hits to lead the Commodores (44-10, 22-7 Southeastern Conference), who got the title outright after Texas A&M topped Arkansas about an hour after the conclusion of VU's game.

Starting pitcher Kumar Rocker (7-5) went seven innings, allowing four runs (all earned) while striking out six to pick up the victory. It wasn't the freshman's best outing, but he threw 90 pitches--60 for strikes--and never seemed in jeopardy of blowing the lead once VU got a big lead.

Lefty Jake Eder threw two scoreless innings to finish.

VU also clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament. Vandy will face the winner of Tuesday’s game between the No. 8 and 9 seeds on Wednesday. The game is scheduled to start at 4:30 Central.

Scott homered in the first, and after the ‘Cats tied it on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning, third baseman Austin Martin walked, stole second and took third on a throwing error before scoring on Bleday’s 24th bomb of the season.

After Paul walked, Clarke doubled down the line into the right-field corner to score Paul. Later in the third, Infante lined a double to left, putting VU up six. The Wildcats never got closer than four again.

Paul hit a three-run, opposite-field homer in the eighth to put the game out of reach. It was a fitting exclamation point for the senior, who, along with Scott, came back for his senior season despite being selected in last year's MLB Draft.

Another senior--pitcher Patrick Raby--gets his chance to leave a mark tomorrow. He'll start for VU against UK ace Zack Thompson in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Saturday’s game begins at 1 Central, and can be seen on the SEC Network Plus

It’s already a special season.

There were no celebrations after the game, but maybe there should have been.

Sure, Vanderbilt got the easy end of the SEC schedule, not having to play Mississippi State, LSU or Ole Miss. But 22 league wins, with one game to go--no matter who you play or don't play—is special. And all but three come against teams currently in the RPI top 50.

It’s the most any league team has won since the 2013 squad went an incredible 26-3. (LSU went 23-7 that season and won the West.)

Before that, VU, South Carolina and Florida each went 22-0 and tied for the league lead in 2011.

The base running mistakes continue.

Vanderbilt has made a habit of running into needless outs, which continued on Friday.

With nobody out, Clarke smacked one into the right-field corner, scoring a run. Clarke took third and perhaps had the base, but slid off momentarily and was called out—a call which helps up on review.

In the fifth, with one out and men on the corners, Infante bounced to third and was thrown out at first. Harrison Ray tried to take third and was gunned down there.

Had Clarke just stayed put, he’d have scored as the ‘Dores followed with a number of hits. Had Ray not gone, VU had Martin--who singled to lead off the next inning--coming up with a man on second.

However, the ‘Cats gave VU a gift in the bottom of the fifth, when Alex Rodriguez bounced to Infante at first with men on the corners. Infante snagged the ball, tagged the bag and threw home to throw Dalton Reed out at home.

Kumar Rocker is going to be even better when he matures in pitching with runners on.

Rocker is an exceptional talent and a kid mature beyond his years. There are fewer flaws with him as a freshman than any pitcher I’ve seen at VU,

But Rocker probably doesn’t have a ton of experience pitching with runners on, and it's shown lately.

Missouri took advantage of Rocker with a key double steal last week in VU’s Saturday loss. On Friday, Rocker balked a runner over early and then in the fifth, threw a wild pitch with two outs that got a runner home before giving up three consecutive hits to score two more.

Rocker had stranded just 65 percent of the runners who’ve reached against him this year. VU’s other starters—Drake Fellows (72 percent), Patrick Raby (83) and Mason Hickman (79) have all fared better than Rocker.

V2: Scott home run to center. V, 1-0

K2: Reed sacrifice fly scored Shelby. Tied-1

V3: Bleday home run scored Martin. V, 3-`1

V3: Clarke double scored Paul. V, 4-1

V3: Infante double to left scored Scott, Ray and Duvall. V, 7-1

V4: Infante ground out scored Scott. V, 8-1

K5: Lewis scored on Rocker’s wild pitch. V, 8-2

K5: Curtis double to right center scored Shinn, Johnson. V, 8-4

V6: Martin scored on Paul’s sacrifice fly. V, 9-4

V8: Paul home run to left scored Bleday and Duvall. V, 12-4