No. 6 Ole Miss Baseball Picks Up Midweek Win Over Alcorn State Behind Historic Offensive Night
OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) Behind a new single-game program record 29 runs scored, the No. 6 Ole Miss baseball team picked a 29-1, midweek win over Alcorn State Wednesday afternoon at Swayze Field.
BOX SCORE (PDF) | HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTO GALLERY | MIKE BIANCO PRESSER | LUKE HILL PRESSER | CADE TOWNSEND PRESSER
Ole Miss got the sticks rolling early, putting up six runs in the first inning. After Luke Hill and Will Furniss reached on walks, Judd Utermark broke the Rebels into the scoring column with a double to the left center gap.
Isaac Humphrey would also double to score Utermark. After a Ryan Moerman walk, Campbell Smithwick laced the third Ole Miss double of the inning to right field scoring Humphrey. Moerman would score on a wild pitch, and Owen Paino would drive in Smithwick with a single to left to make it 6-0, Rebels after one.
Cade Townsend would get the start on mound for Ole Miss and tossed a career-high four scoreless innings allowing just one hit. He would tie his career-high with five strikeouts.
Townsend would get plenty of run support behind him as the Rebels tacked on two more runs in the second, three in the third and another six spot in the fourth.
In the third, Connor Chisolm would draw a pinch-hit walk, and Hill would score him with an RBI single. Two batters later, Utermark would send a blast to dead center for his 11th home run of the season to make it 11-0.
After another clean frame from Townsend in the top half of the fourth, the bats went back to work for the Rebels.
Smithwick would reach to start the inning after being hit by a pitch. Luke Cheng would send his third home run of the season over the left field wall for a two-run shot. Owen Paino would pick up a base knock with a single to center and Luke Hill would tally his second RBI of the contest, driving in Paino.
Jackson Miller would pinch hit for Utermark, drawing a walk. Isaac Hemphrey then lifted the third Ole Miss home run of the game to right field for a three-run blast. After four complete it was 17-0 Ole Miss.
Owen Hancock would relieve Townsend in the fifth, tossing a scoreless frame with two punchouts.
Ole Miss would add nine more runs in the fifth off six hits. Three of those runs would come off the bat of Cheng who launched his second home run of game over the left field wall. It marked the first career multi-home run game of Cheng’s career.
Cooper Johnson would enter in the sixth inning relieving Hancock and threw one scoreless inning, tallying two strikeouts.
In the sixth, Ethan Surowiec would connect for his first career home run as a Rebel delivering a three-run blast to left. The home run made it 29-0, setting the new single game record for most runs scored by an Ole Miss team in program history. The previous mark of 28 runs came against Illinois College on March 9, 1989.
Surowiec would drive in the 27th RBI by a Rebel on the night setting a new record for the most RBI in a game by a team in program history. The previous record of 25 came last season in a 25-2, win over High Point on February 25, 2024.
Cole Ketchum would shut the door for Ole Miss in the seventh. Across the four arms used in the win, Townsend, Hancock, Johnson, and Ketchum combined for seven innings of one run baseball. The foursome surrendered just one run on five hits and struck out 10 collectively. Townsend (1-0) would earn his first victory as a Rebel.
The Ole Miss offense tallied 23 hits, led by Humphrey and Paino with four each. The four base knocks set new career-highs for both Humphrey and Paino. Humphrey and Cheng each had five RBI to lead the Rebels. The five runs batted in tied a career-high for Humphrey and marked a new career-best for Cheng.
Alcorn State would use eight pitchers in total with starter Myles Dews (2-4) suffering the loss.
Next Up
Ole Miss (26-7, 8-4 SEC) gears up for No. 5 Tennessee (29-4, 9-3 SEC) in a three-game series beginning this Friday in Oxford. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Swayze Field and can be streamed on SEC Network+.
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
