No. 4 Ole Miss drops series opener to No. 5 Arkansas, 6-4
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss, coming off a come-from-behind win over No. 16 Southern Miss on Tuesday, welcomed Arkansas to Swayze Field on Friday night for the Rebels’ first top-five matchup of the year. It was a tough, hard-fought game for the Rebels, but ultimately the Razorbacks were able to take game one 6-4.
It was another game, another early deficit for Ole Miss. This time it happened to be 4-0, Arkansas, after the second inning. The Razorbacks put two on the board in the first and followed up with a two-run homer in the second.
Then the rain came in.
Ryan Olenek went 2-4, with a double and
one RBI. (Photo: Josh McCoy)
After the delay, Thomas Dillard hit a ball way over the foul pole and the beer went flying in the student section; however, the officials reviewed the play and ruled it foul. One batter later, Cole Zabowski smashed a no-doubt dinger to avoid the shutout.
“Just stick to what we’ve been doing routine-wise,” Cole Zabowski said after the game. “Going out and playing like we want to win every pitch. That’s what we’re doing.”
If you haven’t already, you will learn to never count these Rebs out, no matter the score. In the third inning, the team did what it does best, evening the score at four after Ryan Olenek hit a two-run single and Zabowski added another RBI with a single.
“When we get into games we feel like we have a chance to win throughout the whole entire game no matter what the score is.“
Cole Zabowski
Arkansas regained the lead in the sixth inning after another solo homer and an RBI single that made the score 6-4, Hogs.
Ryan Rolison started on the mound for Ole Miss in game one, giving up five earned runs and striking out eight in five and one-third innings of work. Will Ethridge took the ball after Rolison for two and a third and allowed just one run. Greer Holston finished the game in the ninth.
“[Arkansas] was good early. I think it was more them and less Ryan.”
Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco
The comeback kids came back but were never able to take the lead. Once Arkansas re-took the lead, the Rebels couldn’t get anything going offensively and failed to score another run.
Ole Miss will look to rebound on Friday, but must win the next two to take the series. We saw them do it against Tennessee a few weekends ago; although, this Razorback team is much better than the Vols. We will see how resilient this team really is over the next couple of days.
“We played well,” Zabowski said.
“A couple of balls didn’t fall our way, but tomorrow we’re gonna come out and look to win.”
Cole Zabowski
Next up:
Game two of the series is Friday at Swayze Field in Oxford. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
(Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco – Video credit: Justin Dial, The Rebel Walk)
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.
