No. 9 Ole Miss sweeps Tulane in weekend series, wins game three 6-3
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss notched its second series sweep of the season this weekend after defeating Tulane 6-3 on Sunday. The Rebels faced a first-inning deficit in each game of the series but came back to defeat the Green Wave in all three games.
(Click here for box score.)
Ole Miss found itself down 1-0 after the top of the first, but unlike game two, the Rebels weren’t able to answer back in the bottom half of the inning.
“That’s a good offense over there,” Bianco said of Tulane. “They put a lot of pressure on you.”
Cooper Johnson hits a homer.
Photo: Josh McCoy
The Rebels’ answer arrived in the fourth when Thomas Dillard put one over the fence for his first homer of the year, a solo bomb to left field, to tie things up. He finished 2-3 at the plate and scored two runs.
“I think the vibe in the dugout is that everyone knows we’re going to come around at some point. It’s 1-9, there’s no real holes [in the lineup].”
Ole Miss sophomore catcher Cooper Johnson
Although Ole Miss was able to come back and keep the lead in games one and two, Tulane wasn’t going out as quietly in game three. In the top of the fifth, the Green Wave put up another run to take a 2-1 lead.
“They get a lot of good swings, a lot of scary swings,” Bianco said. “They’re very physical in the middle of the lineup.”
McArthur started the day on the mound and went 5.1 innings. Mike Bianco made a change in the sixth with two runners on and one out, and Jordan Fowler took over and got the last two outs in only four pitches. Fowler earned the win for the Rebels.
“Jordan came in and got us out of a little jam,” Bianco said. “That’s a big thing to us to win those little battles within the game.”
This Ole Miss team just seems to thrive in the sixth inning.
On Saturday the Rebels were able to drive in five runs, and on Sunday they did the same. Will Golsan went up to the plate with the bases loaded and put down a two-RBI single to make the game 3-2. Golsan finished 2-4 with a run scored and two RBI.
“I just stayed up there and tried to stay to my approach and get solid contact, and it finally fell,” Golsan said.
Video credit: Justin Dial, The Rebel Walk
Two batters later, Cooper Johnson provided some security to the lead and smashed a three-run bomb to give Ole Miss a 6-2 lead.
“It seems like [the offense will come around eventually],” Bianco said.
“We’ve had that knack of being able to put big innings together.”
Mike Bianco
Rebels prove they will compete when faced with adversity
Dallas Woolfolk took the mound in the ninth and earned another save, his fourth of the year.
Ole Miss proved this weekend that they will compete when faced with adversity. They were down at one point in all three games. They grinded out a win in game two when Tulane started to rally back late. And in game three, they came back on two occasions and ended up winning by three runs. Rebel fans couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2018.
“We’ve all been talking about how this season has a really different feel. The depth, defense, offense and pitching staff, I’ve never played on a team like it.”
Cooper Johnson on this year’s Ole Miss team
Justin Dial
Justin Dial is a junior at Ole Miss pursuing a Journalism degree. He is from Olive Branch, MS and is an avid fan of college and
professional football, basketball and baseball. Justin covered Ole Miss
Sports for the Daily Mississippian for one year, and he also works in the
University of Mississippi Writing Center helping students with their
writing assignments. He spent his childhood going to Ole Miss football
games with his grandfather and grandmother (an Ole Miss graduate).
Currently, his favorite favorite athletes are LeBron James and Marc Gasol. In Justin's free time he likes to play video games and listen to sports podcasts.
