First, a win is a win, this one a 6-5 victory. After losing five of the last six including three in a row to the Bulldogs, take it, celebrate it and move on. It creates the opportunity for a good week to gain some confidence since Alabama is 2-7 in the SEC and, frankly, average except for a couple spots. The Rebels have struggled with USM in past years so it shouldn't be a game about negatives. It worked out. Move on.
I've seen some complaining in places about having to use Southern Miss errors to win it since Jason Barber, normally a pitcher, reached base on a hit by pitch and then moved around the bases because of Golden Eagle mistakes, eventually scoring on an overthrown intentional walk pitch. Maybe that was that inning, but in baseball that stuff happens, and it hadn't happened for Ole Miss in a while.
Also, the team, and specifically the offense, showed a ton of toughness there in the sixth inning. Down 5-1 at the time the Rebels put together five quality at-bats in a row including four hits. Thomas Dillard singled, Grae Kessinger singled, Tate Blackman and Tim Rowe hit doubles and Colby Bortles had a sacrifice fly. That was the winning moment even thought it just pulled the Rebels within one. With all they hadn't done over the past few weeks, they kept swinging and built off each other.
Cole Zabowski's one-out single in the ninth inning was good to see. He's struggled for a while, and that was a big situation. It moved Nick Fortes to third, and he scored on a passed ball with two outs to tie the game.
Ole Miss played 24 players in the 12 innings.
Will Stokes threw two scoreless relief innings. He needed that. The junior gave up a leadoff single in his first inning but got a double play shortly after. It seemed to settle him down, and he should have had a little extra confidence playing in that park. Could be something to get him back on track.
Dallas Woolfolk threw the final 2 innings for the win. It was only 22 pitches, and the series this weekend is Friday to Sunday so he's fine. His ERA is 0.76 now on the season.
Andy Pagnozzi, Stokes, Brady Feigl and Woolfolk kept Ole Miss in it with 6.1 scoreless to finish the game.
Ryan Olenek went 3-for-6 and his average is up to .293.
Great numbers for Ole Miss: 7-for-20 with runners on base and 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
I've seen some complaining in places about having to use Southern Miss errors to win it since Jason Barber, normally a pitcher, reached base on a hit by pitch and then moved around the bases because of Golden Eagle mistakes, eventually scoring on an overthrown intentional walk pitch. Maybe that was that inning, but in baseball that stuff happens, and it hadn't happened for Ole Miss in a while.
Also, the team, and specifically the offense, showed a ton of toughness there in the sixth inning. Down 5-1 at the time the Rebels put together five quality at-bats in a row including four hits. Thomas Dillard singled, Grae Kessinger singled, Tate Blackman and Tim Rowe hit doubles and Colby Bortles had a sacrifice fly. That was the winning moment even thought it just pulled the Rebels within one. With all they hadn't done over the past few weeks, they kept swinging and built off each other.
Cole Zabowski's one-out single in the ninth inning was good to see. He's struggled for a while, and that was a big situation. It moved Nick Fortes to third, and he scored on a passed ball with two outs to tie the game.
Ole Miss played 24 players in the 12 innings.
Will Stokes threw two scoreless relief innings. He needed that. The junior gave up a leadoff single in his first inning but got a double play shortly after. It seemed to settle him down, and he should have had a little extra confidence playing in that park. Could be something to get him back on track.
Dallas Woolfolk threw the final 2 innings for the win. It was only 22 pitches, and the series this weekend is Friday to Sunday so he's fine. His ERA is 0.76 now on the season.
Andy Pagnozzi, Stokes, Brady Feigl and Woolfolk kept Ole Miss in it with 6.1 scoreless to finish the game.
Ryan Olenek went 3-for-6 and his average is up to .293.
Great numbers for Ole Miss: 7-for-20 with runners on base and 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
