No. 18 Ole Miss Baseball Grinds Out Series Opening Win Over Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. – (Release) No. 18 Ole Miss Baseball took game one of their road series against Missouri Friday night 9-6.
Isaac Humphrey went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI on the night. Austin Fawley, Will Furniss, and Mitchell Sanford each had two hits in the game while Furniss drove in two runs of his own. Sanford hit his third triple in his last two games.
The Rebel pitching staff struck out 16 batters, one shy of their season high. Hunter Elliott struck out seven over his 4.2 innings of work while giving up just four hits.
Brayden Jones struck out three of the four batters he faced, and Connor Spencer picked up two punchouts.
Ole Miss scored first on a Sanford Little League home run in the second inning. The senior was credited with his third triple of the week on the play and came around to score on a throwing error by the Missouri right fielder.
The Tigers took the lead in the bottom half of the inning, stringing three singles together and then taking advantage of a Rebel throwing error.
The lead didn’t last long however as Humphrey lead off the next inning with a solo shot to right field that made it 2-2.
Missouri answered back with a solo home run of their own in the bottom of the third and would hold onto that 3-2 lead until the sixth inning.
Judd Utermark and Furniss opened the sixth inning with singles and Fawley would draw a walk to load the bases. Humphrey was hit by a pitch to tie the game and Luke Cheng would give the Rebels the lead with an RBI fielder’s choice.
The offense put up four more runs in the seventh inning as they loaded the bases once again. Furniss and Fawley each drove in a run before Humphrey brought them both home with a single through the right side to make it 8-3.
The Rebels would load the bases once more in the eighth and scored a run on a RBI walk from Furniss.
The Tigers scored one run in each of the final three innings but could not get anything going against the Ole Miss bullpen.
Game two of the series is set for 4 p.m. Saturday at Taylor Stadium.
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. Email Evie at: Evie@TheRebelWalk.com
