NASHVILLE – Kumar Rocker pitched like he’d been there before. He has, of course.
Rocker was dominant on the mound Friday, leading Vanderbilt to a 2-0 win against East Carolina to open their best-of-three super regional in Nashville and put the Commodores – the reigning national champions – on the cusp of another trip to the College World Series.
Rocker was the biggest star of the previous NCAA baseball tournament in 2019 – last year’s event was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic – and he’s doing his thing again, keeping batters off balance by mixing his mid-90s fastball with a curveball and a slider.
“I just think he gives us what we need at the time that we need it,” said coach Tim Corbin, who is trying to lead a program that had never reached the CWS before 2011 to its fifth berth overall. “And this is certainly a situation at the end of the year where games are important and they’re closely contested and there’s very little difference between teams. So you need guys that are willing to to get out there and leave it on the field, and he’s done that continually.”
Rocker, who could be the first player taken in the Major League Baseball draft next month, allowed three hits and struck out 11 batters in 7 2/3 innings in what was probably his final appearance at Hawkins Field. In the regional opener against Presbyterian last week in Nashville, he allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings for Vanderbilt (44-15), the No. 4 national seed.