Ole Miss Slams Past Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Midweek Baseball

OXFORD, Miss. – No. 3 Ole Miss (35-11) used the early long ball to propel them past Arkansas Pine Bluff by a score of 10-3 in Wednesday’s final home midweek game. The victory means the Rebels will finish the midweek slate with a perfect 8-0 record at Swayze Field on the year and take a 12-1 midweek record into next week’s final matchup at Arkansas State.

Nick Fortes’ ninth home run of the year got the Rebel bats going early in the first, while Anthony Servideo’s first career homer put away any hope for a Golden Lions comeback as Ole Miss stormed to a 6-0 lead after two innings.

Grae Kessinger recorded his second career four-hit game, going a perfect 4-for-4 on the day with three runs scored, a trio of singles and a double. The Rebel shortstop’s hit total matches his previous best set earlier in the year against Memphis when he went 4-for-5 with an identical box score.

Jordan Fowler (5-0) picks up his fifth win on the year in just six starts and improves his record to a perfect 5-0, tying him with James McArthur and Houston Roth for best record on the team. Connor Green and Austin Miller each went an inning and a third in relief, the former recording three of his four outs unassisted.

Dallas Woolfolk made his first appearance since April 15 against Vanderbilt, working the eighth while striking out two and allowing just one baserunner. Greer Holston took over for the final frame of the game, allowing two baserunners but striking out three to seal the game.

The Rebels led off their first appearance at the plate with three consecutive hits. Grae Kessinger began the first inning with his first of four hits, a single to left, before Thomas Dillard followed suit, singling through the right side to put two aboard for Fortes. The Rebel first baseman delivered with a three-run homer over the left field wall, giving Ole Miss the lead it would not relinquish all game.

Servideo made the second just as interesting, adding two more runs on a homer to right field that scored himself and Cooper Johnson. The home run, the first of Servideo’s young career, comes in the freshman’s 25th game played and his 13th start. Cole Zabowski added an RBI later in the inning on a single that scored Kessinger, and the Rebels took a 6-0 lead into the third inning.

The Rebels would strike twice more throughout the game, plating two on a shortstop error in the sixth inning, and striking again in the bottom of the eighth inning on a Will Golsan two-RBI single.

Fowler threw in a quality start, going 4.1 innings with only three hits allowed, striking out three in the process. He allowed just one run while on the mound, an RBI double in the third, but was credited two more, one earned, following his departure in the fifth. Green picked up where the freshman left off, allowing two to score on back-to-back singles, but quickly made up for it with an inning-ending strikeout to strand two.

Both Green and Miller would go 1.1 innings on the mound without allowing a run to their name. Woolfolk and Holston, meanwhile, would each garner one scoreless frame with a combined five strikeouts between them.

Ole Miss improves to 35-11 on the year and will be back in action Friday night for an away series against the South Carolina Gamecocks, set for a 6 p.m. first pitch in Columbia.

Quick Hits
– The Rebels improve to 35-11 on the year, and 12-1 in midweek matchups.
– Ole Miss will finish the season with a perfect 8-0 record at Swayze Field in midweek games.
– Anthony Servideo notched his first career homer today with a two-run blast in the second inning.
– After Servideo’s home run, now 14 different Rebels have gone yard this season.
– Nick Fortes smacked his ninth home run on the year, placing him one behind Thomas Dillard for the team lead.
– Will Golsan now has 19 two-out RBI on the season, the most on the team.
– Grae Kessinger recorded his second career four-hit game on the day after three singles and a double.
– Jordan Fowler picked up his fifth win of the season, improving to a perfect 5-0 on the year.
– Mike Bianco picked up his 797th win today (697th at Ole Miss), needing three wins to earn his 800th of all-time (700th as a Rebel).