Duke Baseball: Blue Devils get no hit in Game 2 of Super Regional

The Duke Baseball team was no-hit in Game 2 of the Nashville Super Regional by Kumar Rocker of the Vanderbilt Commodores.

After an 18-run explosion in Game 1 of the Nashville Super Regional, 24 hours later the Duke Baseball team was on the opposite side of the equation, getting no hit in Game 2.

Vanderbilt starting pitcher Kumar Rocker went the distance, leading Vandy to a 3-0 win in a game they had to win to keep their season alive.

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Rocker used 131 pitches to send down the Blue Devils, walking two batters, hitting one, and striking out 19 batters.

It was the first no-hitter ever in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament, but it didn’t get off to that good of a start for anyone involved in this game as Rocker nailed Kennie Taylor, the captain and second hitter for Duke, in the head area and he had to be removed from the game, but walked off under his own power.

After going to the hospital to get tests, Taylor returned to the Duke dugout with a noticeable bump on the side of his head and an ice pack.

After the game, Chris Pollard told the assembled media that he would not rule Taylor out for Sunday’s winner-take-all game to advance to the College World Series.

Damon Lux replaced Taylor and he went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and a walk, in addition to making some highlight reel plays in center field. Lux was the last Blue Devil to reach base on his walk in the bottom of the sixth inning.

While Rocker will receive all the headlines, and rightly so, Bryce Jarvis tossed another stellar game.

Exactly one week after his 126 pitch, eight scoreless innings against West Virginia, Jarvis threw 126 pitches again, surrendering one run in seven innings against the Commodores.

The Duke rightly yielded five hits, but control was a factor early as he walked four, but also struck-out nine.

Vanderbilt was able to put together a two-out rally in the fifth thank to a single, stolen base, wild pitch, and then an RBI single from Philip Clarke.

Still in a 1-0 game, Pollard went to closer Thomas Girard in the eight inning, but a leadoff triple off the bat of Pat DeMarco, followed by a sacrifice fly from Stephen Scott, Vandy doubled its lead to two.

A cut on the finger of Girard forced him to be removed from the game and freshman Jack Carey entered the game and he was victimized by poor defense as a bunt single continued the Vandy eighth innings, but a misplay in left field set the Commodores up with second and third with one out instead of a runner on first and two outs.

A suicide squeeze gave Vandy a 3-0 lead and with Rocker on the mound, that felt insurmountable on this evening in Nashville.

With the series tied at a game apiece, Duke and Vanderbilt will square off one last time with the winner going to Omaha for the College World Series, and a little bit of deja vu for the Blue Devils as Duke was in the same position last year in Lubbock against Texas Tech.

First pitch of Game 3 is scheduled for 3:00pm EST on Sunday afternoon and can be seen on ESPN2.

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