Ole Miss Baseball Clinches Weekend Sweep Over Evansville Purple Aces

OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss Rebels completed the weekend sweep over the Evansville Purple Aces with an 8-3 win on Sunday afternoon in their final non-conference weekend series of the season.

The Rebels’ sweep advances their record to 15-2 on the season and 13-0 at Swayze Field.

The Recap

Wil Libbert took the mound for Ole Miss on Sunday afternoon for his fourth start of the season, getting out to a hot start as he struck out the side in the first inning.

Libbert immediately received some support from his offense as Judd Utermark scurried around the bases, eventually scoring on a Collin Reuter sacrifice fly.

However, in the at-bat before the sac fly, Will Furniss took a 1-1 pitch off his helmet and immediately exited the game and entered concussion protocol. Furniss’ replacement, Luke Romine, was thrown out trying to advance to second when the throw went home on the sac fly.

Libbert struggled a bit in the second as he loaded the bases with one out before a two-RBI single from Drew McConnell gave Evansville the lead, 1-2.

Ole Miss wasted no time at the plate, though, loading the bases, themselves, for Hayden Federico, who almost blew the gates open with a grand slam, but the park was just big enough to hold his fly ball, and it resulted instead in a sacrifice fly.

Ole Miss went on to strand the other two runners on base as a strikeout ended the frame.

Libbert returned to first-inning form as he retired the side 1-2-3 in the third, before his offense gave him more run support.

In the bottom of the inning, Ole Miss was pushed ahead as Tristan Bissetta stepped up to the plate with two runners on, and sent a three-run homer over the right field wall for his seventh of the season, giving him his 24th RBI and Ole Miss a 5-2 advantage.

The following inning, the Rebels stayed on the gas pedal as Brayden Randle sent a leadoff home run over the right field wall for his first of the season, giving Ole Miss a 6-2 lead.

The Rebels stayed aggressive at the plate as they continued to build their lead in the fifth, this time getting two runs across when Randle grounded into a fielder’s choice and error. The first run crossed on Randle’s ground ball, but a throw that got by the first baseman allowed Topher Jones to sprint home and give Ole Miss an 8-2 lead.

Ole Miss handed the ball over to Walker Hooks in the sixth inning, and he had a fantastic outing on the mound.

The Rebels’ offense quieted down, but Hooks’ 2.2 innings pitched consisted of 6 strikeouts, 2 hits, and no walks, while throwing 31 pitches with 26 of them being strikes.

Terry Hayes Jr took the mound for Ole Miss for one out in the eighth and returned for the ninth, trying to close out the game with a six-run lead.

Hayes allowed a leadoff walk but bounced back with a strikeout; however, skipper Mike Bianco made a call to the bullpen to bring in left-hander Patrick Collopy to pick up the final two outs.

Collopy gave up a walk to his first batter before both runners stole second and third, leading to a sacrifice fly from McConnell, making it 8-3 in favor of Ole Miss.

Collopy walked the next batter, and Bianco again had seen enough after 17 pitches and two walks, calling on Landon Waters to attempt to get the final out.

Waters entered with runners on first and second, two outs, and needed just four pitches to strikeout the final batter and secure the 8-3 win.

A Look Ahead

Ole Miss will travel to Hattiesburg this Tuesday to face off against the No. 10 Southern Miss Golden Eagles at 6 P.M. CT, before heading to Austin for their first SEC weekend series of the season on Friday.