Commodores sink Blue Hose, 10-0 in NCAA Regional

PC set to play Indiana State Saturday at 2 p.m. in elimination game

Vanderbilt right-hander Kumar Rocker shut down Presbyterian’s bats, combining with two Commodore relievers for a two-hit 10-0 victory over Presbyterian in the Blue Hose’s NCAA Regional debut Friday at Vanderbilt’s Hawkins Field in Nashville.

Rocker, an expected top-five draft pick in the upcoming Major League Baseball amateur draft, struck out nine, walked two and gave up a pair of singles to PC in seven innings of work.

No. 4-ranked Vanderbilt jumped out to a 3-0 lead on PC starter Charlie McDaniel, who gave up six runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The Big South champion Blue Hose (22-22) will face Indiana State at 2 p.m. Saturday in an elimination game at Hawkins Field. Georgia Tech rallied for a 7-6  win over the MIssouri Valley Conference champion Sycamores Friday afternoon. Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech will meet at 7 p.m. Saturday.

First-baseman Dominic Keegan led the Commodores with two home runs and a double, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a game-high five RBI. Vanderbilt roughed up five PC pitchers for 14 hits. Keegan’s three-run homer in the second gave Vanderbilt a 6-0 lead and hits two-run homer in the seventh extended the lead to 8-0.

“Being on this stage in our first regional, it was good to see us get out there and get our feet wet,” said PC head coach Elton Pollock. “Obviously, we would’ve loved a better result but I’m proud of the guys. They kept coming, and I felt like we found the barrel a few times, but the baseball didn’t fall. You just have to tip your cap to an excellent Vanderbilt baseball team.”

PC first-baseman Eric Toth collected one of PC’s two hits, a one-out double in the fourth. Toth also reached base when he was hit by a pitch in the first inning.

Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin, who began his collegiate coaching career at PC and recruited and coached Pollock there, earned his 900th career coaching victory with the win over the Blue Hose.