College World Series: Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt force winner-take-all Game 3 vs. Michigan

OMAHA, Neb. — Kumar Rocker saved Vanderbilt’s season once again.

The Commodores beat Michigan 4-1 in Game 2 of the best-of-three national championship series Tuesday to force a winner-take-all title game.

Vanderbilt (58-12) and Michigan (50-21) will face off at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday. The Commodores are looking for their second national championship, following the 2014 title. The Wolverines won national championships in 1953 and 1962.

"There's no turning back," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "Everyone from an adrenaline standpoint is going to be ready to go."

Rocker, the freshman right-hander, is a big reason that Vanderbilt still has a national title shot. 

When the Commodores last faced elimination, Rocker tossed the first no-hitter in Super Regional history to beat Duke. In this College World Series elimination game, he answered the call again amid a crowd of 25,017 at TD Ameritrade Park.

"Whatever comes with that (elimination situation), I'm not worried about it," Rocker said. "I just think about my team and I think, 'yeah, they're going to hit.' They've got me if I fail."

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Rocker (12-5) tossed 104 pitches over 6 ⅓ innings, allowed one run on three hits and struck out 11 — the most ever by a Vanderbilt pitcher in a College World Series game.

Rocker has won 10 of his last 11 starts. And in five postseason starts, he has allowed only four earned runs and struck out 46 batters. Closer Tyler Brown threw 40 pitches in relief to finish it, but Corbin said he will be available in Game 3.

"Everyone who steps in that dugout tomorrow will be in use or can be ready to play," Corbin said. 

Philip Clarke hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to pad Vanderbilt’s lead.

Rocker was strong

Rocker struck out five of the first six batters he faced, remained calm through some tight spots and overcame two Vanderbilt errors. He had to wait to get run support, but it finally came in the middle innings.

Rocker and Michigan's Isaiah Paige (4-1), both freshmen, got the job done early on, but in vastly different ways. Rocker baffled Michigan batters with a fastball in the mid-90s, a change-up and hard-breaking slider. Paige threw off-speed, usually in the low-80s, and kept Vanderbilt batters off balance.

Paige got through the first four innings with no runs allowed. Harrison Ray lined a single to start the fifth to end Paige’s outing. Facing reliever Benjamin Keizer, Ty Duvall hit a ground ball under the shortstop’s glove for an error that put runners on the corners. 

Austin Martin’s dribbling groundout scored Ray to put Vanderbilt ahead 1-0, but the Commodores squandered a chance for a much bigger inning. Keizer intentionally walked J.J. Bleday and Ethan Paul to load the bases, but Clarke grounded out to end the threat.

Paige allowed one run on three hits in four innings, and he struck out a career-high five in only his fifth start of the season. Vanderbilt managed just six hits against six Michigan pitchers. 

"I thought early we were squeezing it," Corbin said. "We were fighting to get some offense, leaving the zone, couldn't get to the middle of the ball and chasing some off-speed pitches that were off the plate."

Wild pitches, Clarke home run widen lead

In the sixth, the Commodores shook up Michigan’s bullpen. Keizer exited after Pat DeMarco singled, Stephen Scott walked, and Ray moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Both scored on wild pitches by Jack Weisenberger, who also walked two batters before leaving the game with Vanderbilt leading 3-0.

Clarke smoked a 2-2 pitch into the bullpen beyond the right-field wall for his ninth home run of the season. It stretched Vanderbilt’s lead to 4-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Rocker left with one runner on base. Tyler Brown gave up an RBI single to cut the gap to 4-1.