Game One: Ole Miss Baseball Pitching Dominates First Game of Doubleheader Against Evansville

OXFORD, Miss.— The Ole Miss Rebels took away a 7-2 win over the Evansville Purple Aces in game one of Friday’s doubleheader inside Swayze Field.

The Recap

Hunter Elliott opened the afternoon hot as he faced the minimum, striking out the side in just thirteen pitches.

Ole Miss proceeded to squander a leadoff single in the bottom half of the inning as a double play and a flyout left them tied at zero, ending the first.

After the inning break, Evansville’s Reid Haire greeted Elliott with a first-pitch home run into the student section out in right field, giving Evansville a 1-0 lead.

Quickly after the home run, Elliott lost a full-count battle, walking Spike Magill, but instantly picked him off, which ended up limiting his damage as Ximi Baftiri launched a towering fly ball into the visitors’ bullpen to give the Purple Aces a 2-0 lead, which is what would stand as Ole Miss went back to the plate.

Elliott proceeded to find himself in trouble in the third, but produced an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play in the third.

The Ole Miss bats responded to their pitcher as a one-out double from Hayden Federico and a single shortly after from Dom Decker gave Ole Miss first and third with one out for Judd Utermark,  who skied a fly ball into center field but was held by the park; however, Federico raced home to put Ole Miss on the board.

The following batter, Decker stole second and was brought around by Will Furniss, knotting the game at 2-2, which is where it would stand into the fourth.

In the fourth, Ole Miss jumped in front for the first time in the afternoon as Tate Sirmans got a hold of a 1-1 pitch and sent it deep into left center field for a leadoff solo home run as Ole Miss found itself with a 3-2 lead.

The Rebels extended their lead as Utermark continued his hot streak, scraping a solo home run over the left field wall and a jumping left fielder to make the Rebels’ lead stand at 4-2.

Following Utermark’s fifth-inning home run, both sides really took control on the mound, working out of jams and limiting base runners.

That was until the eighth, when the Rebels broke through and added some insurance via small ball.

A leadoff single and a walk left Ole Miss with runners on second and first and Federico at the plate. Federico then sacrifice bunted, moving over the two runners into scoring position for Decker, who skied a fly ball to center, which was caught, advancing Federico home and Fawley to third.

Two batters later, Furniss slapped an RBI single which bounced right before the diving right fielder Harrison Taubert to make it 6-2 Ole Miss in the eighth.

Ole Miss capped off their three-run inning when Tristan Bissetta drew a bases-loaded walk, giving Ole Miss a 7-2 lead into the ninth inning.

Hudson Calhoun trotted out to the mound for his fourth inning of relief in the ninth to close out the game with a newfound five-run lead.

Calhoun concluded his outing with dominance as he did all night, striking out the side in the ninth, and finished the night with 4 innings pitched, one hit, nine strikeouts, no walks, and no runs.

A Look Ahead

Ole Miss will begin game two of the series and doubleheader in approximately 45 minutes, where Cade Townsend will take the mound for the Rebels.