Ole Miss Baseball Drops Game Two to No. 21 Florida Gators in Pitchers’ Duel; Rubber Game Set for Saturday

Ole Miss baseball dropped game two to the No. 21 Florida Gators, 2-0, in a pitchers’ duel in Gainesville on Friday night, setting up a crucial rubber game Saturday.

The Recap

Ole Miss led it off in the first with a single from Judd Utermark, before the Gators’ starter Aidan King threw a wild pitch, advancing Utermark to second. The Rebels’ following three batters punched out to end the top of the frame.

Ole Miss starter Hunter Elliott followed with a bit of a heart-attack inning, seeing runners on the corners. He collected a hard-hit ground ball after knocking it down, sending it to home to get the lead runner and keep the game scoreless. Two batters later, the bases were loaded with two outs, but no problem for Elliott, who recorded a strikeout to end the first inning. The game was a scoreless tie after an eventful first inning.

After a slow second inning, the Gators struck in the third when Cade Kurland slapped an RBI single through the hole on the right side, before Elliott loaded the bases and walked in a run that would give Florida a 2-0 lead.

The game soon slowed down offensively. Elliott got in a groove, but he had notched 102 pitches in the fourth inning and ended his night with 9 strikeouts, 2 runs allowed, across 4.o innings pitched. Landon Koenig replaced Elliott for the fifth and sixth, keeping the score at 2-0 with a solid outing.

For the Gators, King concluded the sixth with just 79 total pitches on the night, picking up 7 strikeouts along the way, holding the Rebels scoreless.

King continued to cruise as he entered the seventh, and with the tying run at the plate and eclipsing 90 pitches on the night, he got a big inning-ending strikeout for his eighth of the evening to hold Ole Miss scoreless.

Wil Libbert entered for Koenig to start the seventh and needed just 10 pitches to get through three batters, keeping Ole Miss in the game entering the eighth.

Ole Miss threatened with the go-ahead run at the plate with runners on first and second, but an inning-ending double play sent Ole Miss into the ninth still trailing, 2-0.

Libbert continued to give Ole Miss a chance as he held the Gators scoreless in the eighth and brought the Ole Miss ptchers’ collective strikeout count to 16 for the night.

The Rebels found themselves in the same situation in the ninth, unfortunately, runners on first and second with the go-ahead run at the plate with one out in the ninth. But after a fielder’s choice to second and a strikeout, Ole Miss dropped game two, setting up a crucial rubber game for Saturday.

A Look Ahead

The Rebels and Gators will return for the series finale tomorrow at 6:30 P.M. CT, with the winner taking the series victory.