Ole Miss Baseball Grabs Win Over Southern Miss at Trustmark Park
PEARL, Miss.– (Release) No. 17 Ole Miss earned its 10th win in its last 11 games on Tuesday night at Trustmark Park against in-state foe No. 25 Southern Miss with a final score of 8-3.
Starting pitcher, Riley Maddox, put together his second consecutive quality start, allowing only two earned runs in his career-high of 6.0 innings and sending six batters back on strikeouts. He earned the win, moving to 2-1 on the year.
The Rebel bullpen led for Ole Miss, continuing its streak of three straight games with no runs allowed. With six combined strikeouts and only one walk, the bullpen shut down the Eagles, only permitting two hits.
At the plate, Luke Hill went 3-for-4 on the night with a double, two runs and a stolen base. Ethan Lege had three RBI and hit his fifth home run of the season.
Ole Miss (16-6, 2-1 SEC) was quick to get its offense rolling, securing a two-run lead after the first inning. Ethan Groff reached base on a walk and stole second with his seventh stolen base of the season. A 14-pitch at-bat from Jackson Ross gave the Rebels their first run on the board as Ross singled down the left line to bring home Groff. Ethan Lege singled over the second baseman to right field and brought Ole Miss’ second run on the night.
Southern Miss (15-6, 3-0 SBC) responded as it combined for three runs on three hits and an error to give it a 3-2 lead after the top of the second. However, this would be the only inning that the Rebels would allow the Eagles to put runs on the board.
Through the next six innings, it was a pitcher dual as Maddox continued to deal. Maddox faced 24 batters and only allowed three runs on five hits, three of those hits coming in the second inning.
Southern Miss dove into its bullpen in just the second inning, using seven different pitchers on the mound with no one pitching more than two innings.
In the sixth, the Rebels’ bats woke up as back-to-back singles put Luke Hill and Will Furniss on third and first. A fielder’s choice to the first baseman from Brayden Randle worked in Ole Miss’ favor as Hill came home to tie the game at 3-3.
Next in the lineup, Groff reached first on a hit-by-pitch to load the bases for Ole Miss and to call the Golden Eagles’ sixth pitcher of the night from the bullpen. On the second pitch, Ross lined a fielder’s choice to the third baseman, but a fielding error by the second baseman for USM gave Ole Miss the lead, 4-3.
Ryne Rodriguez was the first pitcher out of the cage for the Rebels where he earned his first strikeout in his Division I career. Brayden Jones took over shortly after, also earning a strikeout. Mason Nichols struck out three out of four batters, and Connor Spencer came in during the final inning to give Ole Miss the final strikeout of the evening.
In the seventh, a single and double put Treyson Hughes and Hill in scoring position. A sacrifice fly from pinch hitter Bo Gatlin scored Hughes from third. After a throwing error from the Golden Eagle pitcher to attempt to pick off Hill, the shortstop ran home to extend the Rebels’ lead to 6-3.
A two-RBI, 412-foot home run from Lege in the eighth, put the cherry on top for the night for Ole Miss.
Next Up
Ole Miss will continue its season on the road this weekend at No. 5 Tennessee where it will compete in a three-game series from Friday to Sunday in Knoxville.
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.
