Ole Miss Baseball Hammers Alabama In Game One

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI Sports / Ole Miss Athletics) – The Ole Miss baseball team claimed the series opener with Alabama 10-2 Saturday afternoon at Swayze Field.

Freshman and former New Hope Trojan Will Golsan went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs, and two walks.

Junior right fielder Cameron Dishon went 4-for-5, setting a career high for hits, and sophomore third baseman Colby Bortles tied a career high with five RBI.

The Rebels (22-21, 9-10 SEC) pounded out 17 hits as five players recorded multi-hit games. In addition to a career high for hits, Dishon also set a career high with three stolen bases, giving him 15 for the season, to go along with two runs scored. Bortles went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, a three-run shot in the fourth for his seventh of the season.

“All this week, we have swung it better and collectively through the lineup,” Ole Miss Head Coach Mike Bianco said. “There were some good days for a lot of people, especially Cam, who started 4-for-4, and the last ball he hit, he lined out to (Georgie Salem), who made a diving play in center field. And Bortles continues to swing a hot bat and has been huge for us.”

They were joined by sophomore shortstop Errol Robinson (3-for-4, one run, one walk) and junior designated hitter Connor Cloyd (2-for-5, two runs, two RBI).

On the mound, junior left-hander Christian Trent (6-4) worked a season-long 8.0 innings, giving up two runs, one earned, and scattering six hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Junior right-hander Drake Robison worked a scoreless ninth, helped by an outfield assist from left fielder Kyle Watson for the final out of the contest on a play at the plate.

Each of the first four batters reached base for Ole Miss in the first. Cloyd drew a hit by pitch, and then sophomore center fielder J.B. Woodman, Golsan and Bortles followed with three straight singles. Ole Miss scored its first run on a well-executed hit-and-run with Golsan, scoring Cloyd from second on the play. The Rebels added another run on an RBI single by Bortles.

Alabama answered back with a solo shot to left-center in the second, cutting the Ole Miss lead to 2-1. Ole Miss got the run back in the third on an opposite-field, RBI double to left by Sikes Orvis, scoring Golsan all the way from first, giving the Rebels a 3-1 lead.

“Early on, we made some spectacular defensive plays that either kept us even or allowed us to take a lead,” Bianco said. “Watson had an assist in the second inning, and then later that inning, they hit a home run, which would have made it 2-2. Errol made two great plays in the first inning. There were a lot of good defensive plays to make it a little easier on Trent.”

Bortles gave the Rebels a 6-1 lead in with a three-run home run in the fourth, his fourth in his last eight games.

“I swung it well today,” Bortles said. “As a hitter with the wind blowing out, I wanted to get a ball in the air and see if it could fly, and I did that. I saw some pitches up, and I drove them.”

The first two batters reached base for Alabama in the fifth, but Trent limited the damage to a single unearned run, recording his fourth strikeout for the final out of the inning, stranding two runners on base.

Ole Miss added two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth, closing out the scoring for the 10-2 win. In the fifth, Cloyd delivered with an RBI single, and after two walks, Bortles drove in his fifth run of the game with a sacrifice fly to right. In the sixth, Watson and Cloyd each recorded an RBI single.

Ole Miss and Alabama play the second game of the doubleheader Saturday night with first pitch set for 7 p.m. on the SEC Network. The teams close out the weekend series Sunday with first pitch set for noon on ESPN. Both games will also be broadcast on the Ole Miss Radio Network.