Ole Miss drops 10-inning game to Utah in opener of Oxford Regional
OXFORD, Miss. — In front a sometimes raucous crowd of 10,166, Ole Miss fell 6-5 in 10 innings to the PAC 12 Champion Utah Utes. The four-hour game—which saw intermittent periods of rain—was dominated by pitching with all but two half-innings seeing zeros or ones being put on the scoreboard.
DH Holt Perdzock was 2-for-4 against Utah. (Photo credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
The Rebels showed life in the 5th, scoring four runs to take a 5-2 lead. The big hit in the inning was a one-out single by Will Golsan that scored both Kyle Watson and Holt Perdzock. This sent a charge into the stadium and excited the Rebel faithful.
The lead, however, was short lived as Utah scored three runs in the 6th off reliever Brady Feigl. Feigl recorded just two outs. Will Stokes went two full innings coming in after Feigl.
Stokes was efficient giving up no runs on one hit. He left the game as he inherited it with a 5-5 tie.
Closer Wyatt Short gave up one run in the 10th inning and recorded the loss, his second in two outings.
After the game, Ole Miss Head Coach Mike Bianco commented on Feigl’s performance:
I think sometimes we forget Brady Feigl is a freshman because he’s been so good for us. At first he falls in, but then he looks like he’s going to be alright. It’s a tough situation. There are 10,000 people in the stands; we have the lead, and it’s raining. He just wasn’t able to make enough pitches to get off the field for us tonight.
Mike Bianco
Junior starter Brady Bramlett went five complete innings, allowing two runs on three hits. Bramlett recorded five strike outs and threw 100 pitches.
Bramlett shared the following with media after Rebel loss:
I felt good from the start. My fastball today was there. I just knew that we were right there at the point where our hitters were about to open it up. The mindset going in was just to compete for our team and give us the best chance to win. At the end of the day, Utah hitters just strung together the right type of hits at the right time.
Brady Bramlett
Kyle Watson homered against Utah in the Oxford Regional. (Photo credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
Will Golsan had an outstanding game defensively, making a number of great plays at first base. Colby Bortles also stood out at third base. Center fielder J.B. Woodman also showed flashes of brilliance with an outstanding diving catch, moving a long way to his left in the 5th inning and nearly throwing a runner out at the plate in the same inning.
Offensively, left fielder Kyle Watson homered to centerfield in the 3rd and scored two runs. First baseman Will Golsan and designated hitter Holt Perdzock both had multi-hit games, going 2-for-4 each.
Overall the Rebs struggled at the plate, hitting .194 for the game as a team. The lack of extra-base hits plagued the Rebels with the sole extra-base hit for the home team being the solo home run by Watson.
Next Up: The Rebels return to action Saturday against Tulane in an elimination game at 1p.m. CT. Tulane fell to Boston College, 7-2, on Friday afternoon.
Other Regional action
In other Regional action of note, Miami scored two late runs to defeat Stetson, 4-2. Long Beach State was in control the whole game and beat Florida Atlantic, 5-1. Stetson faces Florida Atlantic in an elimination game and home-standing Miami plays Long Beach State in the winners bracket side of the Coral Gables Regional.
The winner of the Coral Gables Regional will meet the winner of the Oxford Regional in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
