Ole Miss defeats Louisiana Tech, 4-3, in weather-shorted series finale
OXFORD, Miss. – Game two of the midweek series between Ole Miss and Louisiana Tech ended abruptly due to severe weather, with the Rebels winning 4-3. Ole Miss dropped game one to the Bulldogs on Tuesday, 6-5.
On the Mound
Freshman right-hander Jordan Vera got his first career start Wednesday afternoon. Ethan Groff made a leaping grab on the wall in centerfield for the leadoff out.
Vera then settled in nicely, punching out one to give the Rebel offense their first chance.
.@ethangroff12 makes robbing home runs look easy! pic.twitter.com/8n2RFyVuNA
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 1, 2023
Jordan allowed his first hit of the day in the top of the second. However, despite the baserunner making his way to scoring position, Vera punched out the next two hitters.
After two quick outs to start the third, Vera gave up a home run to right-center field. The Bulldogs plated the first run of the day for either team, taking the 1-0 lead after two-and-half played.
With one down in the top of the fourth, Vera was replaced by another reshman, Sam Tookoian. Vera’s final line for the start was 3.1 innings pitched, 2 runs allowed, a pair of walks and hits, and 3 Ks.
Head coach Mike Bianco commented postgame on Vera’s start:
“I thought he was good, it was another tough day to keep the ball in the ballpark. And I thought he made some good pitches and credit to them (Tech). Just proud of him, it’s tough to walk out there, your first college start. That was his best outing of the three for sure.”
Coach Bianco on Jordan Vera
After getting a quick strikeout, Tookoian was sent deep to center for the second Louisiana Tech homer of the day — a two-run shot that extended their lead to 3-0 heading to the Rebs half of the fourth.
Despite giving up a walk that eventually put a runner in scoring position, Tookoian sat down the next two hitters in strikeout fashion. The game was tied at 3 through four-and-a half played.
T5 | @STookoian fans two batters to get his fourth strikeout of the game.
Ole Miss 3, LA Tech 3 pic.twitter.com/10iXL9C85x
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 1, 2023
Brayden Jones was called on to relieve Tookoian to start the sixth; he was the third freshman of the day to come to the bump for the Rebels. Tookoian finished with 1.2 innings pitched, 1 run, 1 walk and 3 Ks.
After one inning of work, Brayden was replaced by senior Mitch Murrell. Jones finished the day with 1 inning pitched, 2 hits, 1 run allowed and a strikeout.
Murrell came on with a runner on second, eventually throwing a wild pitch to advance him to second. Following a walk, a SAC fly brought in the Bulldog runner from third to tie the game back up at 4-4. A double into the left-center gap would plated one more for Tech, giving them a 5-4 lead going into a lightning delay.
That was the last we saw of the Rebels as the game was eventually cancelled due to weather. As Ole Miss did not have the opportunity to bat in the 7th, the score reverted to that at the end of the sixth, giving the Rebels the win.
Murrell’s appearance was not recorded due to the rule that ended the contest. The win was credited to Brayden Jones.
The Bats
The Rebels were blanked through the first three innings, leaving three runners on.
Kemp Alderman, who started at catcher today, put the first Ole Miss run on the board with a deep shot over the batter’s eye in centerfield to start the bottom of the fourth.
.@KempAlderman gets things going for the Rebs 💣 pic.twitter.com/vx3NoxGwAs
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 1, 2023
Rebel second baseman Peyton Chatagnier kept the inning alive, tying the game with a two-out single that plated Anthony Calarco and Will Furniss.
.@peytonchat5 singles to right field to bring @WillFurniss and @antcalarco home. We've got a brand new ball game! pic.twitter.com/NWwaSHGvlt
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 1, 2023
Groff led off the bottom of the fifth with a blast to right center. His second home run of the season gave the Rebs a 4-3 lead.
Robbed one and scored one 🚀 | @ethangroff12 pic.twitter.com/ycfbdcqCno
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) March 1, 2023
The shot from Groff would eventually go down as the winning run due to the cancellation. Here is what Coach Bianco had to say about the unexpected win:
“It’s tough for them; obviously, good for us. It’s one of those situations where if the rain and the lightning had gotten here 15-20 minutes later, maybe we would’ve been on the other end of this…our game ops guy waited over two hours and fought several lightning delays. As you can see right now, there was just really no window to finish the game. And it’s unfortunate, these situations, we were lucky on this one. Next time we might not be so lucky.”
Coach Bianco on the weather-shortened game
Hunter Elliott update
Coach Bianco gave an update on sophomore pitcher Hunter Elliott who has been out since the season opener against Delaware due to “forearm tightness.”
Coach Bianco confirmed Wednesday evening that Hunter suffered a sprained UCL and will be out until mid-April if all goes as planned.
“He had an MRI last week and we appreciate our orthopedist Dr. (Kurre) Luber and the way he’s handled it. And at the request from Hunter and his family, we wanted several opinions and wanted several people to look at this. We sent it to a handful of physicians around the country and fortunately for us all the answers have come back very consistent of what it is. It’s a sprained UCL. They want him to take three weeks off from throwing, which he’s already taken two will be Friday. So a week from Friday he will start to work back to action. But it’s a little more methodical just because of where it is and the sensitivity of that injury. And so they want to make sure that he’s fine. It’ll slowly progress back to the mound and once he gets back to the mound, he’ll throw some bullpens and throw some live hitters. It looks like, and again we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like probably somewhere in mid-April he will be able to throw in a game, live. He’ll be throwing obviously before then but live in a game…we don’t want to box ourselves in too much but I think that’s where we are with that.“
Coach Mike Bianco on Hunter Elliott
Next Up
Ole Miss will head up north to Minneapolis, Minnesota this weekend for the Cambria College Classic. The Rebels will play No. 17-ranked Maryland for the 4th time this year at 3 p.m. this Friday.
Jack Dougherty is expected to make his second consecutive start in place of the injured Hunter Elliott as the Rebs face the Terrapins. Grayson Saunier is set to take the mound against Minnesota Saturday and Xavier Rivas will face Nebraska Sunday.
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss)
Kameron Wicker
Kam is an undergraduate at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he’s from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn’t stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He’s a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.
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