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REBELS USE BIG FOURTH INNING TO DOWN MURRAY STATE 11-5
OXFORD, Miss. – The
Rebel offense put together a nine-run fourth inning and got solid
relief pitching to hold the Thoroughbreds in check as No. 24 Ole Miss
(30-16) defeated Murray State (21-25) by a score of 11-5 on Wednesday
night at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
After falling
behind early when Murray State put four runs across the plate in the
first inning, the Ole Miss offense came alive – paced by three
multiple-hit performances – and rallied to claim the win heading into
the
Chris Ellis (4-0) picked up the win in relief, entering
the game in the first inning with the bases loaded and the Rebels down
four runs. He struck out the first batter faced on his way to 4.1
scoreless innings of work and allowed three hits with five strikeouts.
Kyle
Cornett (3-3) suffered the loss, allowing eight runs – five earned – on
seven hits with three walks and strikeout in 3.1 innings of work.
“This
game was a game that we needed. We needed a game that we won
offensively. They came out swinging the bats well. They are a team that
scores a lot of runs. We needed to fall behind early and hit our way
out of it. Chris Ellis was a big part of our success. He was able to
have four scoreless innings and that helped. It was good too that we
put together that big inning. We stayed patient.”
Murray State
jumped out to the early lead, loading the bases with a pair of singles
and a walk for the first three batters. An RBI single brought home the
first two runs before a sac fly would make it 3-0 for the
Thoroughbreds. A fielding error at short loaded the bases for a second
time in the inning before a two-out single brought home the fourth run.
A
hit batter loaded the bases for the third time in the inning and the
Rebels called in Ellis out of the bullpen who struck out the lead-off
hitter to end the inning.
The Rebels got a first run across in
the third inning when Austin Anderson scored on a sac fly to left field
from Alex Yarbrough to make it 4-1.
Ole Miss then used the big fourth inning to move in front for good, plating nine runs and sending 13 men to the plate.
It
started with a lead-off double from Will Allen before a John Gatlin
single up the middle brought Allen home. A walk of Auston Bousfield put
two men on and brought Preston Overbey to the plate. Overbey laid down
a sac bunt, but a throwing error by the Murray State third baseman
allowed Overbey to reach safely, Gatlin to score and Bousfield to move
to third on the play. Anderson then lay down a sac bunt to advance
Overbey and score Bousfield and the game was tied at four.
Ole
Miss would go on to get an RBI double and an RBI single from Tanner
Mathis and Andrew Mistone in back-to-back at bats to put the Rebels on
top 6-4. Yarbrough then walked before Allen came up with his second hit
in the inning, an RBI single through the left side to continue the
scoring and put the score at 7-4.
Zach Kirksey then delivered a
two-RBI double to left that hit the top of the wall and bounced back
into the field of play. A Bousfield RBI single capped the scoring in
the inning and left the score at 10-4.
Murray State cut the lead
back to five runs with a sac fly in the seventh inning, but Ole Miss
pushed it back out to a six-run lead with a single run in the eighth
inning when Austin Knight came up with an RBI single to left to make it
11-5.
The Rebels will return to action this weekend, hosting No.
4 LSU in a three-game series at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
Friday night’s series opener is set for a 6:30 p.m.
#24 Ole Miss 11, Murray State 5 (May 02, 2012 at Oxford, Miss.)
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Murray State........ 400 000 100 - 5 10 2 (21-25)
Ole Miss............ 001 900 01X - 11 12 1 (30-16)
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Pitchers:
Murray State - CORNETT, Kyle; FINCH, Cameron(4); SALTSMAN, Tyler(6);
ROBERTS, Mark(7); McNEELY, Curran(8); MAJOR, Joe(8) and RHODES, Jacob.
Ole Miss - Sam Smith; Chris Ellis(1); Casey Mulholland(6); Jon Andy
Scott(8) and Will Allen; Austin Knight.
Win-Chris Ellis(4-0) Loss-CORNETT, Kyle(3-3) T-2:45 A-5331
McNEELY faced 3 batters in the 8th.
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