Ole Miss defeats No. 3 Texas Tech to earn program-record 18th straight win
ARLINGTON — No. 4 Ole Miss defeated No. 3 Texas Tech 5-4 in dramatic fashion Sunday, earning the Rebels’ 18th-straight win dating back to last season — the longest win streak in the illustrious history of Ole Miss baseball.
(Click here for our Rebel Walk live play-by-play blog.)
Right-hander Gunnar Hoglund struck out 11 batters in 5 1/3 innings, one strikeout shy of his career high.
See below for the official Gunnar Hoglund K counter. ⬇️
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
🎥 @FloBaseball
📡 https://t.co/kCmwSPS7e5@GunnarHoglund | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/waoxJsiAjy— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 21, 2021
Head coach Mike Bianco was asked about his junior starter’s performance.
“I thought he was terrific against a really, really good offense that makes you work, a team that’s super aggressive. They’ll handle the fastball, they’ll handle the breaking ball. Proud of him, we needed the effort.”
Coach Mike Bianco on Gunnar Hoglund
After falling behind 2-0 in the second, Ole Miss scored five runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-2 lead. Freshman shortstop Jacob Gonzalez hit a two-run homer — the first of his collegiate career — in the inning to give the Rebels the boost they needed.
Gonzalez was not sure at first he had the homer, thinking the fielder made the play.
“To be honest, I actually thought he was going to catch it. Fortunately, our strength coach helped me get the strength to get it out of the ballpark.”
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez
First career bomb for Jacob Gonzalez and it's a big one!
🎥 @FloBaseball
📡 https://t.co/kCmwSPS7e5@jakegonzalez717 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/cvPBcSBmYl— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 21, 2021
Catcher Hayden Dunhurst and OF Hayden Leatherwood each contributed RBI singles to right that added to the lead.
Tech scored one run in the sixth inning to make it a 5-3 Ole Miss lead.
Ninth-inning drama
In the top of the ninth inning, drama ensued as Tech scored one run after two walks and an RBI single made it 5-4, Rebels.
Enter Braden Forsyth.
The junior pitcher entered with two outs and two runners on base and a slim one-run lead. He walked the first batter he faced, loading the bases. He then had a full count on Tech’s cleanup hitter Murrell — but forced him to fly out to right field to preserve the victory.
Outstanding performances
Hoglund earns the victory and Forsyth notches the save.
“I started the game off, I felt like I had all my pitches working,” Hoglund said. “The third inning, I didn’t have my best stuff with my slider. Using technology has been a big thing with my improvement. I have a complete arsenal now and can use all my pitches on any count,” he added.
Offensively, the Ole Miss standouts are: Gonzalez who finished 2-4 with a home run and 2 RBI; Hayden Dunhurst who went 1-3 with 1 RBI; and Hayden Leatherwood who went 1-2 with 1 RBI.
Though he is just a freshman, the stage is not too big for Gonzalez.
“I expect this performance from me. I haven’t been doing my best personally, striking out a little too much. But the pitchers have been doing a good job and we’ve been having fun.”
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez
Defensively, Peyton Chatagnier made a fantastic play in the 8th on the throw from Dunhurst to tag Murrell who was trying to steal second.
After further review, @peytonchat5 is a ninja. 🥷
🎥 @FloBaseball
📡 https://t.co/kCmwSPS7e5@Hayden_Dunhurst | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/RGYs0ZUpgD— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) February 22, 2021
Highlights
Here are your game highlights, courtesy of Ole Miss Baseball:
Up Next:
Ole Miss finishes the three-game tournament against No. 10 Texas at 2:30 p.m. (CT) Monday. We will have a Live Blog with batter-by-batter updates on our website.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
