Ole Miss evened up its road trip with an 8-3 win over Louisville Wednesday afternoon. The Rebels continue the five-game swing by opening up conference play at LSU this weekend. The three games are at 7 p.m., 7 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
We'll tackle this in parts.
First, Ole Miss was very good on the mound. Sam Smith got the start and put together his best outing of the season. Smith allowed four hits in four innings but just two runs, one earned, and two of the hits were of the infield variety. In the inning with the two runs, the two infield singles and an error greatly contributed. He was even better than the box score. The senior struck out three without a walk It was an impressive outing at a time when Ole Miss badly needed it. He didn't get down about the midweek start and got the win against a top 25 team.
Will Stokes was tremendous in relief. The freshman pitched the last five innings to close the game and get his second save of the year. He retired the first 13 batters he faced before a ninth-inning single with one out in the ninth. He had four strikeouts without a walk. The fastball really moves, and he spotted everything. That was a confidence boost for him and the team heading into conference play.
Offensively, there are two ways to look at this one. Ole Miss scored eight runs on eight hits and had a couple doubles while putting up three innings of multiple runs. With how tough it's been for Ole Miss to score runs, this is a confidence boost no matter how it happened. The Rebels needed runs an and a comfortable win. With the game still at 5-2 in the eighth, Ole Miss loaded the bases with three singles, including one by Cam Dishon on a bunt, and executed to score a couple runs. A weak chopper got one in, and Will Golson hit a sacrifice fly. The final run came when JB Woodman hit a long fly ball misplayed by Louisville's left fielder. It fell for a ground-rule double.
OK, now saying all that, Louisville was awful defensively. Only two errors went on the board, but at least two others easily could have been. The Rebels' first five runs of the game were unearned. In the third inning with no score, Colby Bortles hit a lazy bloop toward the right field line with the bases loaded and two outs. The right fielder muffed what would have ended the inning, and three runs scored for the Rebels. Bortles was up again with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth, and he hit into a double play. That scored a run, and Sikes Orvis did a nice job with a two-out RBI single a batter later.
They have to keep getting better with situations, but the gifts and great pitching made this an easy day. Ole Miss needed a spark. We'll see if this is it. Baton Rouge is up next, and Ole Miss hasn't won a series there since 1982.
The Rebels had positive steps, going 3-of-10 with runners in scoring position and 5-of-18 with runners on base. Ole Miss was 0-for-5 with the bases loaded. Woodman and Dishon had two hits apiece. Kyle Watson had two stolen bases.
This post was edited on 3/11 5:19 PM by Chase Parham
We'll tackle this in parts.
First, Ole Miss was very good on the mound. Sam Smith got the start and put together his best outing of the season. Smith allowed four hits in four innings but just two runs, one earned, and two of the hits were of the infield variety. In the inning with the two runs, the two infield singles and an error greatly contributed. He was even better than the box score. The senior struck out three without a walk It was an impressive outing at a time when Ole Miss badly needed it. He didn't get down about the midweek start and got the win against a top 25 team.
Will Stokes was tremendous in relief. The freshman pitched the last five innings to close the game and get his second save of the year. He retired the first 13 batters he faced before a ninth-inning single with one out in the ninth. He had four strikeouts without a walk. The fastball really moves, and he spotted everything. That was a confidence boost for him and the team heading into conference play.
Offensively, there are two ways to look at this one. Ole Miss scored eight runs on eight hits and had a couple doubles while putting up three innings of multiple runs. With how tough it's been for Ole Miss to score runs, this is a confidence boost no matter how it happened. The Rebels needed runs an and a comfortable win. With the game still at 5-2 in the eighth, Ole Miss loaded the bases with three singles, including one by Cam Dishon on a bunt, and executed to score a couple runs. A weak chopper got one in, and Will Golson hit a sacrifice fly. The final run came when JB Woodman hit a long fly ball misplayed by Louisville's left fielder. It fell for a ground-rule double.
OK, now saying all that, Louisville was awful defensively. Only two errors went on the board, but at least two others easily could have been. The Rebels' first five runs of the game were unearned. In the third inning with no score, Colby Bortles hit a lazy bloop toward the right field line with the bases loaded and two outs. The right fielder muffed what would have ended the inning, and three runs scored for the Rebels. Bortles was up again with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth, and he hit into a double play. That scored a run, and Sikes Orvis did a nice job with a two-out RBI single a batter later.
They have to keep getting better with situations, but the gifts and great pitching made this an easy day. Ole Miss needed a spark. We'll see if this is it. Baton Rouge is up next, and Ole Miss hasn't won a series there since 1982.
The Rebels had positive steps, going 3-of-10 with runners in scoring position and 5-of-18 with runners on base. Ole Miss was 0-for-5 with the bases loaded. Woodman and Dishon had two hits apiece. Kyle Watson had two stolen bases.
This post was edited on 3/11 5:19 PM by Chase Parham
