Baseball Drops Regular Season Finale Against No. 6 Auburn
OXFORD, Miss. – (Release) Ole Miss scored eight runs in the series finale against Auburn, but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers came away with a 13-8 win Saturday afternoon at Swayze Field.
In the series finale, after Mason Nichols took care of the Tigers in the first inning, the Rebels took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a leadoff solo home run by Mitchell Sanford.
The game remained 1-0 until the top of the fourth when the Tigers scored three runs. Ike Irish led off the frame with a solo homer. Later in the inning, Bristol Carter singled to plate two runs. Auburn led 3-1.
Ole Miss retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Judd Utermark walked and Will Furniss singled. With one out, Isaac Humphrey homered to give the Rebels a 4-3 lead through four complete.
The Rebels added four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Luke Cheng was hit by a pitch, and Sanford singled. Luke Hill singled to score Cheng. Utermark singled to score Sanford. After Ryan Moerman reached on a fielder’s choice, Humphrey doubled to score Moerman and Utermark. That gave Ole Miss an 8-3 lead after five innings.
But the Tigers struck for five runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game 8-8, and Ole Miss failed to score in the bottom of the sixth.
Auburn added two more runs in the top of the seventh to take a 10-8 lead at stretch time. The Rebels, however, couldn’t get any more scoring the rest of the way as Auburn put up three runs in the top of the ninth for the final score.
Humphrey with two hits but five RBI led the way, while Utermark and Sanford had three hits each. Both teams had 13 hits apiece.
The Rebels’ Ryan Rodriguez (0-1), the fourth of seven pitchers, got the loss. Auburn’s last of three pitchers, Ryan Hetzler (2-0) got the win.
Ole Miss is now 37-18 on the season and 16-14 in Southeastern Conference play. Auburn improved to 38-17 and 17-13.
All SEC teams now head to Hoover, Ala., for the SEC Tournament, which is Tuesday, May 20, through Sunday, May 25.
Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics
-Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
Adam Brown
Adam Brown joins The Rebel Walk as the Managing Editor after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 11 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
