Ole Miss baseball drops game two in Starkville; series tied with rubber game set for Sunday

STARKVILLE, Miss. – (Release) Ole Miss baseball (20-15, 3-11 SEC) dropped game two of their series with Mississippi State (21-15, 4-10 SEC) Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs walked it off in the ninth inning.

Anthony Calarco went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in the loss. Jacob Gonzalez also knocked in two runs while going 2-for-4.

For the second night in a row, the Rebels struck first, this time in the second inning. Calarco led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a groundout. Will Furniss singled up the middle to bring Calarco home and would move to second on a single by Peyton Chatagnier.

A fielding error by the Bulldog shortstop allowed Furniss to score from second base as Ole Miss took a 2-0 lead.

Mississippi State answered in the bottom of the inning with two runs of their own on a double and a sacrifice fly to center field.

Xavier Rivas got the start on the mound for the Rebels and after running into a spot of trouble in the second inning, really settled in in the middle innings. He would end up retiring 12 Bulldogs in a row from the second inning to the sixth and had allowed just two hits.

Calarco hit an opposite-field solo home run in the top of the fifth inning to give the Rebels the lead back at 3-2. It was his fourth of the year and second in four games.

In the top of the sixth, TJ McCants tripled with two outs in the inning to spark a two-run rally for Ole Miss. Ethan Groff brought McCants home with an infield single, moved to second base on an error, and came home to score on a Gonzalez double to make it 5-2 Rebels.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Mississippi State hit back-to-back home runs off Rivas to end his outing and cut the Ole Miss lead to one. Brayden Jones was the first man out of the bullpen and was able to work his way out of the sixth without any more damage done.

The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game in the seventh inning with another home run, this time a two-RBI shot to right field.

Neither team scored in the eighth and the Rebels came to bat in the ninth down one run. Groff opened the inning with a double and would score on the next pitch as Gonzalez hit a double to right field to tie the game. Calvin Harris moved him to third with a flyout to left field and Calarco brought him home with a single that went off the first base bag to make it 7-6 Ole Miss.

Now down to their final three outs, Mississippi State played small ball to set themselves up for the walk-off win. They drew three walks to load the bases and Dakota Jordan hit a two-RBI single through the left side to win the game 8-7.

Next Up

The two teams will play the rubber match for the series win Sunday at 1 p.m.

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.