Lartigue’s walk-off homer gives No. 6 Ole Miss the sweep over Kentucky
Henri Lartigue hits a walk-off homer to give the Rebels the win over Kentucky. (Photo credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
OXFORD – For Ole Miss catcher Henri Lartigue it was deja vu all over again. Just as he did in the Rebels’ ninth-inning win over Auburn, Lartigue delivered the magic, but this time it was in the form of a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth against Kentucky in the regular-season finale at Swayze Field.
Lartigue’s blast gave No. 6 Ole Miss the 7-5 win over the Wildcats (29-23, 13-14 Southeastern Conference) Saturday afternoon to complete the team’s fifth sweep on the season.
Lartigue homered to right field with J.B. Woodman and Tate Blackman on base, giving Ole Miss the dramatic, come-from-behind win–and once he reached home base, his teammates were all over him.
I think that was the most beating I have taken all year. Being a catcher, you know, you get beat up a little bit, but the guys got me real good right there.
Henri Lartigue, Ole Miss catcher
Rebels rally from five-run deficit
The Rebels (39-13, 17-10) were solid in the first two games but the Wildcats had another thing in mind for Ole Miss in game three.
Kentucky quickly jumped out to a two-run lead when Tristan Pompey homered to right field with Riley Mahan on base. Pompey and Mahan, along with Evan White, had two hits apiece.
The Wildcats’ JaVon Shelby then homered to left field to score Zach Reks and White. Prior to Saturday, Kentucky had scored only three runs in Thursday and Friday’s defeats to Ole Miss.
Mike Bianco’s team found itself looking at a five-run deficit.
All of the Wildcats’ five runs were scored on starting right-handed pitcher James McArthur, who pitched 2.1 innings. Brady Feigl, Wyatt Short and Will Stokes (1-0) pitched the rest of the way for the Rebels.
“That will be the thing that will get lost as it should,” Bianco said about the pitching effort.
But we don’t get there without Feigl’s great outing. He pitched a day ago with one day off. He comes back and gives us that kind of effort. Then, of course, Wyatt (Short) gets out of a jam with a couple of runners on. Of course Will (Stokes), in two innings on Thursday, comes back today and was lights out.
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco on the Rebels’ pitching
Woodman gets the Rebels going
J.B. Woodman homers in the bottom of the fourth. (Photo credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)
The Rebels, who totaled 11 hits in the game, quickly woke up with Woodman’s second homerun of the series – 12th overall – in the bottom of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Connor Cloyd got an unearned score after Robinson advanced to second on a passed ball. Robinson then tallied an unearned score after Blackman singled up the middle to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 5-3 after five complete.
Kentucky held the 5-3 lead heading into bottom of the seventh, but the Rebels quickly got within one run after Ryan Olenek scored an unearned run to cut the deficit to 5-4.
That’s where things stood until Lartigue’s ninth-inning heroics.
Senior designated hitter Holt Perdzock realizes how tough the road is, but is confident in how the team can finish.
That’s been our goal all season to get to 40 wins, host the Regionals, host the Super Regionals. Hope we get to 40. We got a big game on Tuesday; hopefully we can win that. Then we will have a big series next weekend to worry about.
Holt Perdzock, Ole Miss DH
Notables
- Lartigue’s walk-off homer was the first by a Rebel since Austin Anderson hit one April 4, 2014 versus Auburn.
- Ole Miss now has three comeback victories this season when trailing by more than five runs.
- The Rebels earned their seventh sweep of the season, including third in SEC play.
- J.B. Woodman hit his seventh home run in nine games.
- The Ole Miss bullpen held Kentucky scoreless for the final 6.2 innings of the game.
- Ole Miss finished the season 26-6 at home and set school records for total regular season attendance (272,081) and average regular season attendance (8,502) at Swayze Field.
(Notables provided by Ole Miss Athletics)
Next up
Ole Miss travels to Arkansas State on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.).
Courtney Smith
Courtney is from Memphis and received his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Memphis in May of 2014. He began his journalism career covering the Memphis Tigers Men's basketball team, which landed him an intern position on 730 Yahoo Sports Radio and a position with Rivals.com. A freelance writer for the Associated Press, Courtney is also a member of The Rebel Walk team and reports regularly on Ole Miss football and basketball. Courtney, the father of a six-year old girl named Soniyah, prefers to cover NCAA basketball and football, but is happy to report on any other sport that comes his way.
