After finishing 4-1 last week, No. 4 Ole Miss hosts No. 22 Southern Miss
OXFORD, Miss. — No. 4-ranked Ole Miss baseball went 4-1 last week — with a huge pot of controversy brewing up along the way from the university that sits on the northern-most side of the Boot. That would be the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, the Rebels’ mid-week opponent who traveled to Oxford for a two-game matchup last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Let’s take a quick look back at what happened against Louisiana Tech…and a little irony that ensued in Minnesota.
Pitcher JT Quinn began game one as though he were Jack Freakin’ Dougherty pitching against the Oklahoma Sooners in the finals. He retired the first 13 batters who came to the plate, seven of them by strikeout. Then, suddenly, the command was gone. Quinn gave up a couple of walks and two hits, and the game was tied at 4. Reliever Mason Morris gave up a solo shot, and without warning the Bulldogs out of nowhere had turned a 4-run deficit into a 1-run lead.
The Rebels would tie the game in the 6th but then gave the lead up again in the top of the 7th, and the Bulldogs held on for a very surprising 6-5 win. It’s a rare thing for the Rebels to lose a game in which they’ve held a lead. However, in this one, they left 13 runners on base.
Flip the page to the following day for game two when forecasts indicated that inclement weather would be in the vicinity that evening. The game time was moved up an hour to get the game in and fans attending the game were properly alerted.
This is when the fun started.
The Tech baseball team was looking for the feather in its cap of taking two from the defending national champions. The Bulldogs did indeed take a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 4th — and then the Rebels got them all back, tying the game at 3-3. Ole Miss would score again in the bottom of the 5th to make it 4-3, making the game “official” should it eventually be called.
After the 5th inning is complete, the rules say that both teams must get an equal number of at-bats in every inning going forward, should the game be tied or the visitors ahead.
After Louisiana Tech had gone ahead 6-5 in the top of the 7th, umpires were informed that lightning was in the area and the players were removed from the field. Although the players did once again take the field for warmups, more lightning prompted the game to be called altogether.
In these cases, the official final score reverts back to that of the last full inning played, which fortuitously was in the Rebels’ favor, 4-3. Game over, and so was any discussion.
The aftermath
To say this highly infuriated the Louisiana Tech people, and especially their coach, would be a huge understatement. He demanded a rematch, railed against the rules that have been in place for centuries, then swore Louisiana Tech would never play Ole Miss again in the future.
Louisiana Tech fans on social media whined and moaned, saying the Rebels were scared to face the Bulldogs for 2 1/2 more innings at Swayze somewhere down the road. Furthermore, they asserted that they would’ve held Ole Miss scoreless again through the last three innings, as they’d done the game before, had the game gone to completion. (That seems quite a leap and, of course, there’s literally no way of knowing what would have happened, but I like my odds of these Rebels scoring across a three-inning span.)
Anyway, apparently the baseball gods were having none of it.
The Rebels simply tipped their caps and said goodnight and good riddance. After all, they were headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota to sweep three Big Ten teams.
Coming from behind….a little irony?
And, irony upon irony, after beating Maryland in the opening game of the Cambria College Classic this weekend (for the third time this season), the Rebels found themselves in game two of the tourney down 5-4 to Minnesota in, lo and behold, the 7th inning.
I’m sure to the surprise and amazement of the folks in Shreveport, the Rebels ripped off 5 runs in the final 3 innings to put the game away, 9-7. It’s what defending champions do. We’re only sorry Louisiana Tech folks didn’t get to experience it.
Again, never count out these Rebels.
Ole Miss followed that up with an 8-run first inning against Nebraska in game three that should’ve been enough to remove all doubt, and it was.
The Rebels continued their barrage throughout, winning 14-5 to move to 10-2 on the season. Their team batting average is an amazing .352 and they’re holding opponents to a .220 average.
Hosting Southern Miss
Today, the Rebs host No. 22 Southern Mississippi, the Super-Regional foe of a year ago. Southern Mississippi is once again a stout ball club.
It was against these Golden Eagles that the Rebels first saw some light at the end of the tunnel in April of 2022. After a 4-1 win, Ole Miss went to LSU and made Ole Miss history — sweeping 3 games there for the first time ever. They got hot, one could say.
Tonight, first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. JT Quinn will take the mound for Ole Miss, while Southern Miss sends out RHP Colby Allen.
The No. 4 Rebels enter the game this evening having shut out the Golden Eagles in 25 straight innings. What a great way to start Week 4 of college baseball!
Hotty Toddy!
David Walker
David Walker was named Louisiana’s High School Player of the Year at just 16 years old and, at 17, became college football’s first quarterback to earn Freshman of the Year honors. He remains the NCAA’s youngest-ever starting quarterback, a distinction that has stood for decades.
Transitioning from a wide-open high school offense to Emory Bellard’s renowned wishbone triple option, Walker excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. He graduated as Texas A&M’s all-time winningest quarterback and served as a two-time team captain, helping to transform a program that had endured 15 losing seasons in the previous 16 years.
After his playing career, Walker coached and taught algebra at six Texas high schools before moving into private business. In 2011, he published his memoir, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good,” a title inspired by the coaching philosophy of Shannon Suarez, the Sulphur High and Louisiana High School Hall of Fame coach who was a significant influence on Walker’s life and career.
Walker’s compelling storytelling in his autobiography reflects the breadth of his experiences in high school and college football, and it is an undeniable fact that he saw more action than any athlete in the history of the NCAA. Since 2013, he has contributed to The Rebel Walk, sharing his insights and expertise with readers.
