If Vanderbilt baseball is going to win decisive Game 3 of CWS, Kumar Rocker must help do it | Estes

Gentry Estes
Nashville Tennessean

OMAHA, Neb. — Here’s the good news for Vanderbilt after a night that contained none:

Kumar Rocker should be available to pitch Game 3.

So yeah, there is still hope. Even after Mississippi State beat it out of Vanderbilt during Tuesday’s Game 2, jumping in front and piling on for a 13-2 drubbing that evened the series and sent it to Wednesday night’s finale.

Tim Corbin isn't eager to confirm his starting pitchers ahead of time in a College World Series, but he didn't disagree with questions assuming Rocker's return for Game 3 on short rest.

"Give him the ball," Corbin said, "and he'll compete."

And it's got to be Rocker, right? Who else? The setup is just too perfect.

How fitting would it be for one of the Commodores’ all-time greats – in any sport – to be able to end his college career on the mound in a game that will determine the 2021 national champion?

Vanderbilt right handed pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) signs autographs for young fans ahead of Game 1 of the College World Series finals at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. on Monday, June 28, 2021.

Vanderbilt blew its opportunity Tuesday. Yet as Game 2 turned into a lost cause, you could see Corbin – with two Game 3 victories on his résumé – positioning for Wednesday night. Here’s who didn’t pitch out of the bullpen in Game 2: Luke Murphy, Chris McElvain or Nick Maldonado (who'd closed out Game 1).

They should all be available in Game 3, along with Rocker.

And that’s huge. Because if the Commodores are to pull this off, you have to believe it’ll be because of those arms, and not their hitting or fielding.

In baseball, it often doesn't matter what is expected. It'll be someone you don’t see coming who steps up in a big moment on the biggest stage. But with Vanderbilt so far in this CWS, it has been exactly who everyone saw coming.

Rocker and Jack Leiter have indeed been the most valuable players, with those top relievers worthy of distinction, too.

HISTORY LESSON:How would Kumar Rocker fare on short rest in College World Series? How Vanderbilt pitchers have done

Otherwise, Vanderbilt is still looking for someone in its batting order to step up and stand out as a difference-maker that could put it over the top. Each of the Commodores’ regulars, it seems, has had occasional moments (looking at you in particular, Jayson Gonzalez) at this CWS. But as a team, those moments have been too few. Vanderbilt carried a .211 CWS batting average into Tuesday night’s four-hit, three-error performance.

You can win that way, but the pitching must be spectacular.

Luckily for Vanderbilt, its had been. The staff’s 1.91 ERA through the first five CWS games was better than everyone else in the tourney except NC State. The pitching has been so good that it has made up for tepid hitting and shaky defense, putting Vanderbilt on the cusp of another national title anyway.

But on Tuesday night, a fear about Vanderbilt's team was again realized. We saw what it looked like without Rocker or Leiter.

Against a locked-in Mississippi State lineup that was facing elimination and backed by a roaring crowd, Vanderbilt didn’t have enough to compete once the pitching went from strength to liability.

It’s difficult to blame Vanderbilt starter Christian Little for that. Looking back, you’d have to say it’s more an indictment of the team’s lack of starting depth that Corbin felt his best move in Omaha was to gamble twice on Little – who is 17 years old, you may have heard.

Little has all the makings of becoming Vanderbilt’s next great pitcher, but he’s not yet. If that wasn’t apparent last week against Stanford – when he was chased early and didn’t get much defensive help – it was even more so against Mississippi State.

Defense let Little down at times again, but that wasn’t the problem. Of his 58 pitches, only 27 were strikes. He kept falling behind MSU hitters, and while Little battled bravely and was able to survive a couple of innings, it wasn’t sustainable in an NCAA final.

The dam broke in the third inning, when Little walked the final three batters he faced. The Bulldogs’ four-run inning featured only two hits – both singles, one of them an infield hit that stuck in shortstop Carter Young’s glove.

Vanderbilt huddles on the pitchers mound in the first inning in Game 2 of the College World Series finals at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.

Didn’t help that Patrick Reilly, who relieved Little, couldn’t throw strikes either. Reilly was worse, actually. He walked four of the eight batters he faced.

It’s a simple lesson: You can’t give free passes to an opponent this formidable and expect to beat them. MSU experienced that in the first inning of Game 1, and Vanderbilt did it in Game 2. Neither of those contests was close.

And so it’ll take one more to separate champ and runner-up.

Entering Tuesday, Vanderbilt would obviously have rather it didn't come to that.

But it has. And is there anyone the Commodores would rather have on the mound to decide a national championship than Kumar Rocker?

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.