Late Rally By Memphis Dooms Ole Miss Baseball On the Road
OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) Ole Miss Baseball (18-12) dropped a midweek road contest Tuesday night to the Memphis Tigers (14-17), splitting the season series with them.
Ethan Lege and Judd Utermark each went 3-for-4, combining for five doubles on the night. Jackson Ross went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Freshman Trenton Lyons went 1-for-3 with a walk in his first career start.
Lege opened the scoring for both teams with an RBI-double down the right field line that scored Ethan Groff after he opened the game with a single.
Memphis answered in their first set of at bats, as a leadoff hit by pitch came around to hurt Ole Miss starting pitcher Wes Mendes. Mendes would end up working just 1.1 innings in what would be a staff day for Ole Miss. The freshman gave up just one hit and one run while striking out two batters.
The top of the Rebel batting order produced another run in the third as Jackson Ross hit an infield single and Lege doubled again to put runners on second and third base with one out. Andrew Fischer made it 2-1 Ole Miss with an RBI-groundout that scored Ross.
Memphis answered with another run in the bottom of the third to tie the game before the Rebels took it back in the top of the fourth on a bases-loaded groundout.
The Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a squeeze bunt play to make it 4-3.
Austin Simmons struck out five batters and gave up just one hit in his two innings of work over the fifth and sixth to keep the game close.
With one out in the seventh inning, Ross and Lege hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 4-4. It was Lege’s third double and second RBI of the night.
Memphis broke things open in the bottom of the seventh with five runs on four hits as the Rebels used three different pitchers to get out of the inning. They would hold a 9-4 lead when it was all said and done.
Besides a double from Treyson Hughes to lead off the eighth, the Rebels would go down in order the rest of the way to finish the game.
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.
